Azzurri back on glory track

Last week, world champions Italy put their Euro 2008 qualification back on track after beating the highly-charged Scotland 2-0 in Bari. It was a five-star display by Italy that brought to memory last year's triumph in Germany.

A 1-1 home draw against unfancied Lithuania on their group debut in September and a 1-3 away upset to France, a few days later, had immediately left the Azzurri with a mountain to climb to make it to the finals to be hosted jointly by Switzerland and Austria next year.

Italy would have jeopardised their qualification had they not beaten Scotland. Roberto Donadoni's side now have 10 points from five matches and are two behind France, Scotland and Ukraine.

The only significant difference as far as the front-runners are concerned is that France, Ukraine and Italy all have a game in hand with respect to Scotland.

Last weekend, Italy had to beat the Scots. Donadoni, who came under severe pressure from the press following Italy's lacklustre performances in recent months, deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation, very similar to Roma's module in Serie A.

Donadoni's men stood up for the occasion. From the word go, they seemed more determined than ever. The rest happened too recently to recount.

France are favourites to top the group especially if they avoid defeat when travelling to Italy in September. Italy, Scotland and Ukraine will do contest for the other spot. Italy have beaten both Ukraine and Scotland at home.

But with seven games to go, Italy are far from qualified. First and foremost, they have to grab maximum points from their upcoming fixtures (both away) against Faroe Islands and Lithuania in June, just a few days after the end of the Serie A.

The game against Lithuania can be rather tricky but anything less than the three points would derail Italy's march.

Scotland (2-1) and France (1-0) have already prevailed in Lithuania and Italy have no other option but to follow suit.

The crunching part of Group B is in store for the beginning of next season. Italy host France on September 8 and four days later travel to Ukraine in what may prove to be the most decisive qualifier from the remaining fixtures.

One augurs that the 2007/08 Serie A will start at least three weeks before these two crucial clashes are played because otherwise, Italy would risk going out due to lack of physical fitness to key players.

Two drawn results may prove to be insufficient for Italy especially if Ukraine beat either Scotland (away) in October or France (at home) on the last qualifying day, when the chances are that Les Bleus would have already qualified.

It is here that those two points which Italy dropped on the opening day against Lithuania could have come handy. With this in mind, one would be tempted to state that Italy need to beat Ukraine to be 100 per cent sure of qualifying.

The home matches against Georgia and Faroe Islands should, on paper, represent six points under Italy's belt. The penultimate game - away vs Scotland - could be decisive as well especially if the Scots are still in contention.

Many critics reckon Scotland are an awkward team to face on their home soil.

Indeed, they have already beaten the likes of France at Hampden Park.

Bar the two matches against the Faroe Islands and Georgia (at home), the remaining fixtures are all tricky and represent potential banana skins for Donadoni and his men.

The road towards the finals is still far and unclear but, definitely, within Italy's reach.

Serie A statistics

1st win for Livorno after a barren run of five games (three draws and two defeats). On Sunday, they trounced Catania 4-1. It was a must-win game for both sides who are in the mire of relegation. Livorno were under the charge of new coach Nando Orsi. With this defeat Catania have made it nine setbacks from their last 12 outings. Cagliari claimed a crucial home win over third-from-bottom Messina to emerge from troubled waters. Messina's reaction was poor and Cagliari's return to winning ways, after a draw and a defeat, was never in jeopardy. Messina, who recalled coach Bruno Giordano on Monday, have an awful record in Sardinia, where they have never won in four visits.

3rd successive draw for Sampdoria as they forfeited an early lead to share the spoils with Chievo at the Bentegodi Stadium. For Chievo, it was the third draw from four home encounters against Samp. Luigi Del Neri's Chievo, who have never beaten Samp at home, are undefeated in their last three outings (one win and two draws). Fiorentina surrendered what seemed a cushion 2-0 lead to share the spoils with Atalanta in Bergamo. Had they held on to that lead, then it would have been Fiorentina's first win at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium since December 17, 1995 (3-1). Atalanta have not recorded a single win in their last nine games (six draws and three defeats).

6 players - Marco Zoro (Messina), Marco Del Vecchio (Ascoli), David Baiocco (Catania), Gaetano D'Agostino (Udinese), Daniele Corvia (Siena) and Alessandro Lucarelli (Reggina) - were sent off last weekend. There were also seven penalties. Cristiano Lucarelli, of Livorno, scored his second of the day from the spot. Antonio Di Natale reduced the arrears for Udinese by converting a 60th-minute penalty. Barely two minutes later in the same game, Tommaso Rocchi re-established Lazio's lead from the spot. Empoli's Luca Saudati claimed his second goal from a penalty. Even in Atalanta-Fiorentina there were two penalties, scored by Giampaolo Pazzini and Cristiano Doni. The latter scored his 11th goal of the term for Atalanta. Francesco Cozza, of Siena, was the only player to miss a penalty.

7 straight wins saw Lazio becoming prime favourites to accompany Inter and Roma in next season's Champions League. Notwithstanding the fact that Palermo and Milan were more active than Lazio on the transfer market, the side from the capital clearly have an edge over these two teams at present. Coach Delio Rossi has fostered a healthy dressing room and at the same time installed a winning mentality in his players. On Sunday, Lazio went on to beat Udinese 4-2 away. Lazio had not beaten Udinese since November 1, 2003 (2-1). Overall, Lazio are undefeated in their last 12 outings. Siena ended their eight-match winless streak (three draws and five defeats) by conquering Reggina's Oreste Granillo stadium for the first time in four Serie A visits.

10 points won by a rejuvenated Torino side in their last five outings. After beating Cagliari 1-0, Catania 1-0 and Messina 3-0 in direct end-to-end clashes, Torino were held at home by Palermo. The drawn result was only the third time in 17 Serie A home meetings between Torino and Palermo. Palermo have conquered Turin only once - 1-0 on October 16, 1932. Francesco Guidolin's side have now gone eight successive games without a win (six draws and two defeats). Fifth-placed Empoli closed in on Palermo courtesy of an emphatic 4-1 home victory over Ascoli. Empoli and Ascoli have never shared the spoils in four meetings in Tuscany.

20 points now separate leaders Inter from second-placed Roma. The latter were held to a 1-1 draw by Milan who stay in the hunt for the fourth spot. Inter edged closer to winning their first scudetto on the field of play since 1989 after beating Parma 2-0. Goals from Andrade Maxwell and Hernan Crespo, his 10th so far, handed Inter their 25th win this season and Mancini's 100th with Inter. This was Parma's first upset after a five-match positive run. Their only win in 17 Serie A visits to San Siro dates back to May 1999 (3-1).

29 goals were scored on the 30th day: 18 coming from the hosts and 11 from the visitors. Foreign players contributed with five goals and there were 14 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 729. Livorno's Cristiano Lucarelli grabbed the only hat-trick. Empoli duo - Luca Saudati and Nicola Pozzi - scored a brace each. Meanwhile, Alberto Gilardino (Milan), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese) and Cristiano Doni (Atalanta) came off the bench and scored. Roma's Francesco Totti leads the scorers' list with 18 goals. He is followed by Bianchi (Reggina), Ibrahimovic (Inter), Lucarelli and Toni (Fiorentina), all on 15 goals.