Revenge of the 'Tinkerman'

The dramatic derby at the San Siro and Inter's 2-0 victory over Milan stole most of the limelight last weekend in the Serie A.

Not surprisingly, the champions drew most of the attention following their deserved success despite having two men sent off.

Juventus were also in the headlines but for the wrong reasons after succumbing to their sixth defeat, the third in a row, at the hands of Claudio Ranieri's Roma.

The 2-1 comeback win was Roma's first in Turin in nine years.

Roma's run of 11 positive results on the trot (eight wins and three draws) saw them consolidating their third place and now they're favourites to claim a Champions League berth at the end of the season.

Saturday's victory was sweet revenge for coach Ranieri, the man who led Juventus to third place in season 2007/08 on their return to the top flight.

The affable Tinkerman, as he is popularly known in England following his stint with Chelsea, was sacked towards the end of last season following Juve's barren run in the Serie A which had almost jeopardised their top-four status.

Ranieri is a key figure behind Roma's ascendency of late. They were off to a stuttering start that led to Luciano Spalletti handing in his resignation after only two matches and leaving his successor with a mammoth task to rejuvenate a side that clearly lacked cohesion and fine play.

To complicate matters for Ranieri, himself a Roma player between 1973 and 1974, the close season transfer window had just come to a close when he was unveiled as Roma's new coach in September. But this was a minor detail for Ranieri. He knew that Roma were facing financial difficulties.

Ranieri, 58, accepted the challenge and gradually transformed Roma from a mediocre outfit into a formidable team capable of breaking into the top four within four months of his arrival.

Roma's gain is Juve's loss.

Ex-Chelsea and Valencia mentor Ranieri was only Juve's third choice when he took over in 2007.

On Juve's return to Serie A, following demotion to the Serie B due to their involvement in the match-fixing scandal, Didier Deschamps quit over a disagreement with the club with regards to the transfer policy.

Juve's two-year absence from the Champions League had left the club with limited financial resources for the purchase of new players.

Former club hero Gianluca Vialli refused the Juve job because, like Deschamps, he demanded considerable financial backing to bolster the squad. Eventually Ranieri plugged in the void left by Deschamps.

Although Juve's transfer kitty was always going to be an important factor, it was not the chief aspect behind Ranieri's acceptance of the job.

His three-year contract represented a medium to long-term project to bring Juve back to where they were before the summer of 2006, mainly by launching the careers of some promising lads from the youth academy.

When Ferrara took over from Ranieri, he was supposed to continue building on the good work of his predecessor. He was off to a blistering start but then things turned sour, particularly for the club bosses who over the summer had splashed millions of euros to sign Felipe Melo and Diego, among other high-profile transfers.

To help Diego fit into the team, Ferrara discarded Ranieri's solid 4-4-2 module and instead deployed an attack-minded 4-3-1-2, like he did on Saturday. But this tactical change saw Juve lose composure and suffer goals.

Many thought Ranieri wasn't treated fairly by Juve.

He was not backed by the board when things started getting tough. Up to now, Ferrara has survived in his position despite a series of poor results. Keeping faith in his operate has utterly proved to be Juve's loss this season... as, perhaps, was the sacking of Ranieri last year.

Serie A statistics

1st win for Sampdoria after a winless streak of seven matches (three draws and four defeats) as they came from behind on Sunday to beat Udinese 3-2 away. For Udinese, this was their fourth defeat in their last six winless games.

5 wins and two draws in their last seven home fixtures have kept inconsistent Genoa with an outside chance for a place in Europe. Genoa's latest victims were Atalanta, who succumbed to their first defeat in three games since new coach Bortolo Mutti took over from Antonio Conte.

6 players - Buffon (Juve), Sneijder, Lucio (both Inter), De Lucia (Livorno), Cribari (Siena) and Larrivey (Cagliari) - received marching orders last weekend. Meanwhile, no fewer than seven penalties were taken. Totti (Roma), Matri (Cagliari), Di Natale (Udinese) and Pazzini (Sampdoria) all scored from the spot. However, Mascara's spot-kick went wide for Catania. Cristiano Lucarelli's penalty for Livorno was stopped by Morgan De Sanctis and Julio Cesar denied Ronaldinho in the derby.

9 points separate leaders Inter from second-placed Milan following the weekend's results (Milan have a game in hand away vs Fiorentina on Feb. 24). In a highly-contested derby, Inter were in a class of their own as they scored a goal in each half to interrupt Milan's run of three straight wins.