Roma can make life difficult for Fiorentina

While Juventus, Inter and Milan continue in the 'league of their own' to determine who, between them, will claim the scudetto, just behind these three giants one finds a number of teams currently engaged in a battle for the remaining fourth Champions League berth.

Fiorentina, three points adrift of third-placed Milan, are favourites in this race but they have to keep a watchful eye on the team-of-the-moment - Roma.

Cesare Prandelli's Fiorentina, together with Roma, Sampdoria, Palermo and Udinese, were always considered likely candidates for a Champions League berth. Palermo and Udinese have stuttered on many an occasion this season and look to be out of contention for a slot in the lucrative competition in Europe. Udinese and Palermo are currently 18 and 17 points adrift of Fiorentina respectively.

The departure of Luca Toni left a huge void in Palermo's attack, a gap which neither Andrea Caracciolo nor Stephen Makinwa managed to plug. So much so that in the ongoing transfer window, the southerners have snapped up unsettled Udinese striker David Di Michele. Palermo can be a good side but they lack consistency and a prolific striker that can spearhead their challenge.

Besides, like Udinese, Palermo do not boast enough strength-in-depth to survive the double challenge of the Serie A and European cup football.

Indeed, the Champions League proved to be a drain on Udinese's restricted resources in the first part of the season. But even on the continent, they failed to make their presence felt and were subsequently 'relegated' to the UEFA Cup.

To make matters worse for Udinese, they had to do for most of the season without the injury-plagued Vincenzo Iaquinta, whose goals were a key factor behind Udinese's fourth-place finish last season.

Sampdoria are currently 12 points behind Fiorentina. Many consider them as perhaps one of the biggest disappointments in the Serie A. The misfiring Blucerchiati remained practically unchanged with respect to the side that finished fifth last term.

But, instead of showing progress, Samp have performed rather poorly lately particularly in terms of goals conceded.

Sampdoria flop

Walter Novellino's team have alternated very good results, like for instance a win vs Milan and a draw vs Inter, and lacklustre performances that saw them going down to less quoted sides. Even in Europe, Samp were a complete flop this season after going out of the UEFA Cup in the group stage.

Surprisingly enough, Fiorentina's main challengers for the fourth spot so far have been Roberto Donadoni's Livorno. At the start, their chief objective was to avoid relegation, but now that they are almost home and dry, Livorno can play without the pressure of a team struggling to collect the points necessary to stay up.

Livorno, only six points off the fourth place, have the advantage of playing home against Fiorentina on February 12.

Although Fiorentina should never underestimate Livorno, the team most likely to give the Viola a good challenge until next May are Roma.

The Giallorossi, fresh from five straight league wins, will take on Livorno at home on Sunday, a match which they have to win to leapfrog the Tuscany outfit in fifth place.

Although Roma's season started full of promise with a 3-0 away win at Reggina, they soon hit rock bottom. The Antonio Cassano saga had a devastating effect on the dressing room and once the ex-Bari stalwart was off-loaded to Real Madrid, Roma started to play better. Ironically, Roma have threaded this streak of successive victories at a time when all their strikers were unavailable.

Take last Sunday's 4-1 win at Udinese for instance. Roma played without captain Francesco Totti, Christian Panucci and Vincenzo Montella among other players. But the players' willpower to overcome adversity and, at the same time, to stay within sight of Fiorentina saw them through in style.

Roma are now seven points behind Fiorentina, but the impression is that they can bridge the gap before the two teams clash in Florence early in April.

Serie A statistics

0 wins for Messina at Fiorentina's Artemio Franchi stadium since March 29, 1964 (1-0 in Serie A). Last weekend, the southerners conceded a goal in each half to suffer their first defeat in four games. Fiorentina's hero was Luca Toni, scorer of a brace that helped him consolidate his leadership in the scorers' list with 21 goals. Treviso were on the verge of recording their second win in nine league visits to Livorno as they were leading 1-0 until the 93rd minute. But, with virtually the last kick of the game, the hosts scored an equaliser that deprived the bottom team of their first win in Livorno since 1952.

2nd win for Milan against Siena in Tuscany as the Rossoneri remained 'within sights' of Juventus courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Luigi De Canio's side. Milan's second straight win coincided with Siena's sixth winless game on the trot. Inter, too, remained in the hunt after beating Palermo 3-0 at home. Inter are undefeated since going down to Roma on the ninth day. As for Luigi Del Neri's Palermo, they have recorded only one win in their last six outings, of which they lost four.

5th straight win for in-form Roma, who tomorrow take on Juventus in a titanic Coppa Italia quarter-final clash. Roma's latest victims were Luciano Spalletti's former club - Udinese. Prior to Sunday, Roma's most recent success in Udine was on August 31, 2003 (2-1). After successive victories against Lecce and Fiorentina, Sampdoria suffered their first away defeat against Reggina since September 10, 2001 (2-0 in Serie B). This result becomes even more significant when one considers that it was Reggina's first win after a barren run of six games.

6 winless games in a row (two draws and four defeats) have hindered beleaguered Lecce's chances to avoid the drop. On Sunday, they went down 0-2 to Ascoli in a clash where vital points were up for grabs. This was Ascoli's third straight home victory. These two sides have last shared the spoils on October 29, 1995 (2-2 in Serie C1) and Lecce's only win in 14 league visits to Ascoli dates back to April 1990 (2-0). Lazio could not go beyond a 1-1 home draw against relegation-threatened Cagliari. They have now extended their positive run to six games (one win and five draws).

11th win for Juventus in as many home outings this season as they came from behind to beat minnows Empoli 2-1 on Sunday. New Empoli coach Gigi Cagni opted for a prudent set-up which made life extremely difficult for Juventus. The Tuscany side opened the score after barely three minutes. On a day when David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero failed to leave their mark, Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro grabbed his first ever double to help Juve record their sixth victory in seven home games vs Empoli. The only time Empoli came out of Turin with a positive result was on November 22, 1998 (0-0).

28 goals were scored on the 21st day: 16 coming from the hosts and the remaining 12 from the visitors, who managed only two wins. Foreigners contributed with 16 goals while there were 15 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 553. Neither own goals nor hat-tricks were recorded. Four players - Luca Toni (Fiorentina), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Kaka (Milan) and Mancini (Roma) - grabbed a brace each to help their respective sides cruise to significant wins. There was a marked increase in the number of dismissals as no fewer than eight players - Sebastiano Siviglia, Fabio Liverani (both Lazio), Alberto Fontana (Chievo), Marco Rossi (Parma), Cristiano Del Grosso (Ascoli), Giampiero Pinzi (Udinese), Lazzaretti Gustavo and Emanuele Filippini (both Treviso) - saw red. Serse Cosmi (Udinese) and Mario Beretta (Parma) became the latest two coaches to be ordered off their bench. Three penalties were awarded by referees, from which Fabio Simplicio (Parma), Christian Chivu and Mancini (both Roma) made no mistake.