Survival fight hots up

Bottom side Bari caused the biggest surprise last weekend as they held Serie A leaders Milan to a 1-1 draw at the San Siro. Ironically, Sunday’s result was more beneficial to Milan’s nearest pursuers and city rivals Inter than to Bari as the latter are still 12 points away from safety.

Although Bari still have a mathematical chance of beating the drop, in reality Bortolo Mutti’s men are virtually doomed. They have collected only 17 points in 29 outings (winning only three games).

It is still possible that, between now and the end of the season, Bari will reduce the gap on their relegation rivals but to do that, they need to embark on a winning run. Nevertheless, a positive streak could still prove futile for Bari to keep their heads above water because they are too far from the other teams at the lower end of the Serie A table.

As things stand, and assuming that Bari go down come May, there are seven sides involved in the fight to avoid the drop. Chievo and Catania (32 points), Sampdoria (31), Parma and Cesena (29), Lecce (28) and Brescia (26) are only separated by six points. Thus, it is impossible to predict the two sides who will follow Bari into the Serie B.

Last August, Sampdoria were on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League proper. Fast forward seven months and Samp are in the relegation mire, out of the Euro club competitions and struggling to hold their own after losing Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini.

Earlier this month, Sampdoria dismissed coach Domenico Di Carlo and appointed Alberto Cavasin but results have not improved. Samp lack punch up front and if their scoring problem persists, they may well end up losing their Serie A status.

Up to a month ago, Chievo looked home and dry but since beating Napoli 2-0 at their Bentegodi Stadium, the Verona outfit have gone backwards, gaining only two points from a maximum of 18.

Catania, now under the charge of Diego Simeone, are pinning their survival hopes on home form. So far, this ploy has worked wonders as Catania have achieved three straight home wins.

Parma have a strong squad but their players cannot click. Their ongoing eight-match winless run does not augur well for their future.

Second-from-bottom Brescia have improved in the last month. Suffice to say that, since going down to Lazio (0-2), Giuseppe Iachini’s side figured in credible draws against Udinese (0-0), Lecce (2-2), Napoli (0-0) and Inter (1-1).

But, Brescia have won few games, six in all, to improve their plight. They have conceded fewer goals than most of the other strugglers, but their weak attack (23 goals) has undermined their efforts.

Brescia’s coming fixtures are tricky. They will not be involved in a direct basement clash before the 35th day when they travel to Sampdoria. After that, Brescia host Catania and go to Cesena before meeting Fiorentina in their last home game.

On Saturday, Cesena made a bold comeback to salvage a precious 2-2 home draw with crisis-hit Juventus. The Serie A newcomers enjoyed a brilliant start to the season as they won seven points from their first three games.

However, from the fourth day, the campaign became a constant struggle for Massimo Ficcadenti’s side as they amassed just 22 points in 26 outings.

Despite signing several utility players in January and playing some entertaining football, Cesena still have a mammoth task to retain their Serie A status.

Cesena’s hopes will probably hinge on their results in the direct home encounters against Bari and Brescia.

Last weekend, Lecce had a great chance to move out of the bottom three as they entertained Bologna, who are already safe.

Lecce appeared to have turned the corner after their headline-grabbing home victory against Juventus on the 26th day. However, this turned out to be a false dawn as Lecce managed only one draw in their next three games, including back-to-back home defeats against Roma (1-2) and Bologna (0-1).

Lecce face a daunting task in their next two games as they travel to Inter and then host the in-form Udinese. Lecce’s two remaining direct clashes are both away – vs Sampdoria (32nd day) and Bari (37th day).

Serie A statistics

1st draw for Inter since coach Leonardo took over from Rafa Benitez in January as the champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Brescia. A draw between these two sides had been missing since October 2003 (2-2).

2 defeats (vs Lazio 0-2 and Genoa 0-1) for Palermo in as many games under new coach Serse Cosmi. On Sunday, Palermo succumbed to their third defeat in their last seven winless visits to Genoa’s Luigi Ferraris Stadium.

5th straight away win for in-form Udinese who thrashed Cagliari 4-0. This was Udinese’s first victory at the Sant’Elia Stadium in over three years. Roma bounced back from their Champions League exit with a 2-0 win over city neighbours Lazio.

8 players– Daniele Galloppa (Parma), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Milan), Ivan Cordoba (Inter), Andrea Caracciolo (Brescia), Marco Motta (Juventus), Christian Ledesma, Stefan Radu (both Lazio) and Fernando Tissone (Sampdoria) – were sent off. Three penalties were awarded by referees in the past weekend. Francesco Totti (Roma) and Louis Jimenez (Cesena)scored from the spot but Brescia’s Caracciolo was denied by Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

22 goals were scored on the 29th day: nine coming from the hosts and the remaining 13 from the visitors. Total number of goals scored so far amounts to 700. Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Totti (Roma) and Alessandro Matri (Juventus) grabbed a brace each. Di Natale is still the leading scorer with 24 goals.