By Anna Italia
                                    PALERMO   0    -   0 FC INTER       

So much noise for this match and no goals. At the end, Palermo goalkeeper  Alberto Fontana won the battle. Fontana was able to stop the unstoppable Inter forward Sweden Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Palermo stopped Inter's run of six straight wins. 

Just like when AC Milan visited the Renzo Barbera stadium and most thought that Milan was going to beat Palermo, same happened with the current Serie A leader FC Inter.  Inter with their main arsenal could not score a single goal! 


In my Week 9 - Ninth Round Serie A Preview, I said that an upset might happen. Well, it did.  This draw helped the rest of the Serie A teams to shorten the distance with FC Inter and proved that after all Ibrahimovic was human. 

I was disappointed to see Palermo forward Fabrizio Miccoli on the bench instead of starting since the first minute.

Palermo coach Stefano Colantuono opted for a 1 forward with Amauri over Miccoli.  I think it was a bad choice.

In the 40th minute, the first clear opportunity for goal when Chivu hit the crossbar with a curling free kick but no goal. Palermo goalkeeper and ex-Inter Alberto Fontana blocked Inter's dream of obtaining a victory at the Renzo Barbera Stadium.

Palermo needed velocity in the first half with a faster forward like Miccoli. Instead Colantuono brought Miccoli only in the 41st minute for Palermo Australian midfielder Mark Bresciano.  Point was for Palermo to score within the first 15 minutes.

Sure, reasoning might be that Miccoli was returning from injury. But, hey, why calling him in the first place? Proof was that as soon as Miccoli entered, the velocity of the match changed.  Two minutes after entering, right in the 42nd minute,  Miccoli had to be stopped by defender Cristian Chivu.

Point here is that neither could score in the first half, neither in the second. At the end of the first half, in the 44th minute, Honduran David Suazo sends a pass to forward Ibrahimovic who shoots wide

While Inter did not lose the match but obtained a draw, it lost two main players: Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar and Serbian Dejan Stankovic.

Just at the end of the first half, at the 47th minute, Serbian Dejan Stankovic was stretchered off after hurting his leg when confronting Simplicio.

In the second half, Inter coach Roberto Mancini was forced to use the third goalkeeper Paolo Orlandoni after goalkeeper Julio Cesar injured in the second half.

I wonder why Colantuono did not use Jankovic either. He had 2 more changes available but waited until the 78th minute to substitute defender Capuano by another dfender with Casssani.  Last change he made was in the 82nd minute with another defender. He could have used Jankovic after the second change.  Although Miccoli tried, he could not scored. But the speed of the match was noticeably, including in the 15th minute of the second half where Miccoli almost scored after a tremendous run but it was over Inter goalkeeper Orlandoni crossbar.

After the Genoa 0 - 0 Fiorentina, the Serie A Standings sees Inter again the sole leader with 21 points followed closely by AS Roma with 18 points, FC Juventus and Fiorentina with 17 points.  In other words, Palermo did a favor to everybody. Unfortunately, AC Milan could not profit this draw after losing at home against AS Roma by 1 goal. Welcome to Serie A.

LINE UPS
Palermo - FC Inter
Ninth Round Serie A
Renzo Barbera Stadium
Palermo, Italy

Palermo :

Goalkeeper: 12 Alberto Fontana;
Defenders: 2 Zaccardo, 21 Biava (77 Rinaudo 82), 43 Andrea Barzagli, 3 Capuano (16 Cassani 78);
Midfielders: 32 Aimo Diana, 30 Simplicio, 14 Guana, 20 Caserta, 23 Bresciano (10 Miccoli 41);
Forwards: 11 Amauri.
Subs not used: 1 Agliardi, 4 Tedesco, 7 Cavani, 17 Jankovic.
Coach: Stefano Colantuono.

FC INTER ( 4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: 12 Julio Cesar (22 Orlandoni 46);
Defenders: 13 Maicon, 2 Ivan Cordoba, 25 Walter Samuel, 26 Chivu;
Midfielders: 5 Dejan Stankovic (15 Olivier Dacourt 46), 4 Zanetti, 19 Esteban Cambiasso, 31 Cesar;
Forwards: 8 Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 29 David Suazo (9 Julio Cruz 84).
Subs not used: 6 Maxwell, 7 Luis Figo, 18 Hernan Crespo, 24 Rivas.
Coach: Roberto Mancini.

Referee: Stefano Farina (Novi Ligure).