Relegation issue far from settled

The first verdict of the 2006/07 Serie A was known last weekend when Inter chalked up their 15th scudetto. There are other pending issues left in the Serie A though with only five games to go.

The indications are that Roma, Lazio and Milan will accompany Inter in the Champions League next season while the UEFA Cup berths should be booked by Empoli, Palermo and Fiorentina.

At the wrong end of the table, Ascoli and Messina are almost doomed to the Serie B. But, there are eight other teams still in the mire of relegation.

Not long ago, Parma looked likely candidates to slide in division two. But Claudio Ranieri's side have started to win points and many think they can escape the dreaded drop.

Back-to-back wins over Fiorentina (2-0) and Palermo (4-3) saw Parma out of the drop zone for the first time in several weeks. Not only that, but their positive run of late have put in jeopardy teams like Torino, Livorno and Cagliari.

Parma have three direct clashes in their remaining fixtures. Next weekend, they host Cagliari and then travel to Verona to cross swords with Chievo. Parma also face Messina at home on match day 36.

On the last two days of the campaign, Parma have matches against Lazio and Empoli. By that time, these two teams should have already made sure of their berths in Europe. This factor could make life easier for Ranieri's team.

Third-from-bottom Reggina have a tough calendar ahead.

The play Ascoli next and the southerners then face Samp (away), Chievo (home), Empoli (away) and Milan (home).

Without the -11 points penalty Reggina would have already made sure of survival. They have been playing some spirited football lately. Indeed, it would be a huge achievement for coach Walter Mazzarri if Reggina stay in Serie A.

At present, Livorno have a five-point lead over Reggina and that puts them in pole position to stay up. Four or five points from their last five matches (vs Palermo, Lazio, Sampdoria, Torino and Atalanta) would be enough for Nando Orsi's side to retain their status.

Gianni De Biasi's Torino still have to play against Milan, Roma and Inter. At first glance, the task ahead seems to be beyond Torino's reach.

However, once the big guns do not have anything to play for, then we might witness some surprising results.

Otherwise, it will be tough for Torino to stave off relegation because a two-point lead over Reggina and two home fixtures against Ascoli and Livorno might still not be enough for them. Even worse for Torino is the fact that they have not done well in direct encounters.

Siena and Cagliari are level on points - three ahead of Reggina.

Siena do not have direct clashes coming up. Against Sampdoria, Atalanta, Empoli, Palermo and Lazio, Mario Beretta's side have to get anything between six to eight points to be sure of salvation. No easy task... but not mission impossible.

On their count, Cagliari's future rests on Sunday's duel with Parma at the Tardini Stadium. Avoiding defeat will be a huge boost for the Sardinians. Following that, Cagliari have three tough fixtures against Udinese, Fiorentina, Roma and a 'bonus' match against Ascoli on the last day of the season.

I think Chievo have the toughest calendar. Gigi Del Neri's side have to play away at Fiorentina next weekend before taking on Parma at home.

An away fixture against Reggina follows and then Chievo play Ascoli at home. A tricky away game against Catania brings to an end Chievo's campaign.

Today's fixture against Ascoli is of paramount importance for Catania.

Failure to win this match would put their stay among the elite in serious jeopardy. Catania then have successive away matches against Udinese and Empoli. A home match against Milan will be followed by an away trip to Sampdoria and a decisive home fixture against Chievo.

Serie A statistics

1st defeat for Lazio after a 15-match run (10 wins and five draws) as the team from the capital were edged by back-to-form Fiorentina following a solitary Adrian Mutu goal. Fiorentina had to wait until 20 minutes from time to claim only their 11th victory in 58 Serie A visits to the Olympic Stadium. Fiorentina's sixth away win of the term coincided with Lazio's third home upset (following defeats against Palermo 1-2 and Inter 0-2). After eight straight wins, Lazio have now gone three successive games without a victory. Next weekend they take on Roma in what promises to be a crunching capital derby. Delio Rossi's Lazio, currently third, seem to have made sure of a place in the Champions League as seventh-placed Fiorentina have a UEFA Cup berth well within their sights.

3 wins for Chievo from as many home Serie A encounters with Livorno. In a basement clash at the Bentegodi Stadium, the Verona outfit had to come from a goal down to keep alive their chances of avoiding relegation for yet another year. Gianni De Biasi's Torino put an end to a barren run of three straight defeats (vs Sampdoria 0-1, Atalanta 1-2 and Siena 0-1) as they held on solidly to a goalless draw against Empoli at the Carlo Castellani Stadium. This was the third drawn result in four Serie A clashes in Tuscany between these two sides. Empoli claimed the remaining fixture on March 1, 1987 (2-0).

4 wins in a row (vs Empoli 3-1, Messina 3-1, Ascoli 5-2 and Cagliari 3-1) propelled Milan to the fourth spot. On the day Milan opted to rest most of the players but the Rossoneri were still good enough to beat relegation-threatened Cagliari for the third year running. The winning streak of late amply confirms that Milan have peaked at the most crucial part of the season to practically make sure of competing in next season's Champions League. Walter Mazzarri's Reggina left it late to salvage a home draw against Udinese. Had the Friulani conserved their lead, then it would have been only their second win in seven Serie A visits to Reggio Calabria.

4 penalties were taken last weekend. David Suazo pulled one back for Cagliari by scoring a 75th-minute penalty against Milan at the San Siro. Nicola Amoruso, formerly of Juventus, grabbed a vital last-gasp equaliser from the spot for Reggina against Udinese. David Di Michele's penalty goal proved futile for Palermo against Parma but Marco Materazzi was decisive from the spot as he ably converted a 60th-minute penalty to give Inter a 2-1 win over Siena. That goal enabled Inter to clinch the scudetto. Three players - Marco Pisano (Palermo), Kakha Kaladze (Milan) and Matteo Ferrari (Roma) - were sent off in the weekend's fixtures.

11 consecutive games without a win (seven draws and four defeats) have seen Palermo losing touch with the front-runners and in danger of missing out on a berth in Europe. Last week, they were beaten by Parma 4-3, a defeat that cost coach Francesco Guidolin his job. Sampdoria bounced back from their midweek 0-1 defeat at the hands of Udinese by beating second-from-bottom Messina 3-1. Although Sampdoria saw more of the ball, they only made sure of their fourth success in five home Serie A meeting with Messina in the dying minutes of the game. For the southerners, that of Sunday was their sixth straight defeat.

15th league title for Inter - the first on the field of play since 1989 - as they were crowned champions last weekend. Inter confirmed their truly positive away record against Siena as they emerged winners for the second time - the first since September 14, 2003 (1-0) - in four Serie A visits to Tuscany. Roma - Inter's nearest pursuers for most of the season - gave up hope after a 1-2 setback against back-to-form Atalanta. Roma's first upset after a nine-match positive run (five wins and four draws) coincided with Atalanta's third win in their last five outings. Prior to Sunday, an Atalanta home win over Roma had been missing for over four years.

27 goals were scored on the 33rd day: 15 coming from the hosts and the remaining 12 from the visitors, who managed three victories. Foreigners contributed with 10 goals. There were 11 first-half goals. Neither hat-tricks nor own goals were recorded. Total number of goals scored is 829. Two players, Ronaldo (Milan) and Marco Materazzi (Inter), scored a brace each to help their respective sides cruise to significant wins over Cagliari and Siena respectively. Five players - Daniele Franceschini, Gennaro Delvecchio (both Sampdoria), Andrea Gasbarroni (Parma), Erjon Bogdani (Chievo) and Andrea Pirlo (Milan) - came on as substitutes and scored. Francesco Totti still leads the scorers' list with 21 goals (four from penalties). The Roma captain is closely followed by Cristiano Lucarelli of Livorno. He is trailing Totti by three goals.