Serie A, Week 24: Lazio Demolished By Palermo, Cagliari Hold Udinese

Palermo vs. Lazio

Lazio might have pretenses of finishing in the Champions League spots, but they're going to finish nowhere near the top four if this sort of display is anything like the norm. Within twenty minutes of kickoff in Sicily, the visitors were down 2-0, and the scoreline reflected the balance of play. By early in the second half, it was 5-0, and the last consolation goal Libor Kozak notched was not enough to make the game feel like anything less than an embarrassment. Fortunately for Lazio, they hardly was hardly a first-choice team, but that shouldn't really make anyone feel better after a 5-1 loss.

Udinese vs. Cagliari

With Lazio losing, Udinese had a chance to go two points clear in third place with a home game against 12th place Cagliari. They failed to take it, drawing 0-0. The absence of injured captain Antonio di Natale - as well as midfielder Mauricio Isla - was keenly felt by the hosts as Cagliari set up to defend all match. The visitors did virtually nothing with the ball, their attacking portfolio consisting of a couple of speculative long-range efforts. Udinese were perhaps unfortunate not to have notched at least one goal with second-half chances falling to Michel Pazienza and Antonio Floro Flores.

Round 24 of Serie A began with Napoli recording a solid 3-0 victory over Fiorentina, while Inter Milan were humiliated at home to Bologna, also 3-0. Yesterday saw Juventus come from behind to defeat 10-man Catania, 3-1, with Andrea Pirlo scoring his first goal in the bianconeri strip. Later on, Palermo host Lazio and Cagliari travel to Udinese. But first, a quick round-up of the early Sunday matches:

Lecce 4-1 Siena

After two consecutive scoreless draws, Lecce finally realized they wouldn't be staying in Serie A if they didn't score some goals. Not sure if scoring them all in one match is the way to go, but the salentini have pulled themselves into within two points of safety. Unfortunately, Siena still have a game in hand. Cristiano Del Grosso actually scored first for the visitors, but Luis Muriel, Juan Cuadrado, and Davide Brivio all scored for Lecce, while David Di Michele converted a penalty.

AS Roma 1-0 Parma

Parma must be regretting allowing Fabio Borini to move to Roma, as it was his lone goal that separated the two sides this afternoon. The win puts the giallorossi back up in fifth place, but with Roma this season, it's more about finding consistency than anything else.

Cesena 1-3 AC Milan

Was there ever really a doubt that Milan would pick up all three points against the seahorses? The win moves the rossoneri back into first place, although Juventus still have a game in hand. With both teams racking up three goals against their opposition this weekend, next week's match should be a thriller. Max Allegri gave Sulley Muntari his debut, with the Inter loanee repaying the Milan manager with the first goal of the match. Urby Emanuelson added another just two minutes later, and Robinho got the third in the second half. Daniel Pudil scored for Cesena in the 65th minute, but no true comeback ever materialized.

Novara 0-0 Atalanta

I have never been more surprised in my life. Did you know Novara have scored just once in their last six league matches? It's hard to believe they'll find a way out of the relegation zone.

Genoa 0-1 Chievo Verona

When Genoa beat Udinese, Lazio and Napoli after the break, many thought the grifone had turned it around under Pasquale Marino. But the loss to Chievo, coming off the foot of Cyril Théréau, gives Genoa three straight defeats -- is it time to board the Serie A managerial merry-go-round once again?

Goals. Attack. A sending-off. Bianconeri hate vs contempt for defensive calcio. Juventus - Catania was truly a match for the neutrals, although most with ties to Serie A were hoping the visitors could bring down the Old Lady. Instead it was the undefeatable Juventus that walked away with all three points. It started off so well for the rossazzurri, with Pablo Barrientos scoring in the fourth minute. But Andrea Pirlo equalized in the first half, and Giorgio Chiellini and Fabio Quagliarella added their goals in the second.

The home side were stunned when Catania scored so quickly, possibly because they're used to visitors simply parking the bus and praying for a point. That's not the style of Vincezo Montella's side, and Barrientos showed why. He picked up the ball on the right side of the box and turned, setting up a left-footed, curling shot to the back post.

Around twenty minutes in, the bianconeri remembered there was a football match to be played and finally started to threaten, even forcing a goal line clearance from Mariano Izco. But it was Pirlo who stole the show, bending in a free kick to get his first goal for Juventus. Tomas Kosicky lent him a hand, the goalkeeper misplacing his wall and giving a glimpse of his inexperience.

There would be no more goals in the half, but both sides rattled the woodwork. Quagliarella, remembering just how much he loves scoring on Slovaks, hit the crossbar first, with Gonzalo Bergessio rattling Gigi Buffon's frame just two minutes later.

The first half made it seem as though the second half would be just as thrilling, but Montella had other plans. With the score still 1-1 60 minutes in, he made defensive changes more typical of Antonio Conte. Francesco Lodi came off, replaced by defender Nicolas Spolli. But everything really fell apart when Marco Motta made a foolish challenge on Paolo De Ceglie, earning a second yellow and a sending-off.

And suddenly, Juventus loved their on-loan defender. His rash action meant it was only a matter of time before they were able to break through the Catania defense. Sure enough, it was another Pirlo free-kick that did it, although this time Chiellini got the goal, rising up to head the ball past Kosicky.

It was Kosicky, the poor builder of walls, who was at fault for the third goal as well, having thrown the ball directly at a Juventus player's feet. Quagliarella pounced, going one-on-one with the hapless Slovak as he rushed out to try and contain the damage. A cheeky chip and Quags had his goal. One can only assume that the head wound he sustained from Marco Storari in the celebration was a slight consolation for Kosicky.

Either something's going on with Juventus that most of us aren't aware of, or Antonio Conte honestly doesn't see Catania as a threat. It's not as though they need to conserve players for Champions League play midweek, so what's with this lineup? Marco Borriello and Fabio Quagliarella start up front, while Mirko Vucinic and Alessandro Matri are on the bench. Perhaps Conte wasn't paying attention when the rossazzurri demolished Genoa last weekend, 4-0.

Juventus Starting XI: Gigi Buffon; Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini; Emanuele Giaccherini, Claudio Marchisio, Andrea Pirlo, Simone Padoin, Paolo De Ceglie; Marco Borriello, Fabio Quagliarella

Juventus Bench: Marco Storari, Martin Caceres, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Simone Pepe, Mirko Vucinic, Alessandro Matri, Alessandro Del Piero

Catania Starting XI: Tomas Kosicky; Marco Motta, Giuseppe Bellusci, Nicola Legrottaglie, Giovani Marchese; Mariano Izco, Francesco Lodi, Sergio Almiron; Alejandro Gomez, Gonzalo Bergessio, Pablo Barrientos

Catania Bench: Juan Pablo Carrizo, Nicolas Spolli, Marco Biagianti, Felipe Seymour, Adrian Ricchiuti, Osarimen Ebagua, Andrea Catellani

Napoli's preparations for hosting Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League next week went off virtually without a hitch as they dispatched Fiorentina in fine fashion at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. Napoli started off brilliantly with an Edinson Cavani goal inside the first three minutes, and continually soaked what pressure their hosts were able to throw at them before breaking out in swashbuckling style.

The Partenopei were perhaps unlucky not to be further ahead at the break, with Miguel Britos missing a virtually empty net from two yards out and right back Christian Maggio rattling the woodwork in the 24th minute. However, Fiorentina were giving a decent account of themselves when they did have the ball -- Riccardo Montolivo and Juan Vargas were particularly impressive, and they came close to testing stand-in goalkeeper Antonio Rosati on a number of occasions.

Without that second goal, it was going to be a nervy second half for the visitors, but Cavani was once again left in space 10 minutes after the restart and the Uruguay star did what he does best, beating Artur Boruc at his near post to make it 2-0 and effectively kill off the game. Ezequiel Lavezzi missed a sitter in stoppage time before making up for it with a delightfully cool finish seconds later, and Napoli emerged as comfortable 3-0 victors.

The only thing that might have darkened coach Walter Mazzarri's day was the withdrawal of starting centre back Hugo Campagnaro 12 minutes in, although the move looked more precautionary than forced.

Inter Milan were humiliated at home by 16th-place Bologna for their third straight Serie A loss. The hosts, who less than a month ago were enjoying a seven-game winning streak, have won none of their last five matches and have now earned just one of 12 possible points in the month of February.

Bologna haven't won against Inter at the San Siro since before the turn of the millennium, and for much of the first half, the match looked as though it would involve the visitors looking to hold on against an Inter attack that didn't really look so bad. The hosts looked confident and determined, and nearly took the lead on a number of occasions, which mostly involved Maicon missing free headers.

And then Bologna struck. More specifically, Marco di Vaio struck. Twice.

The first came after some excellent buildup play by the visitors. After Gastón Ramírez did brilliantly to set up a cutback, the ball was presented to Diego Pérez at the top of Júlio César's box. Instead of shooting, the midfielder played a clever pass out to di Vaio, who cut inside Yuto Nagatomo before blasting home from eight yards to make it 1-0.

Worse was to come a few seconds later when walking catastrophe Andrea Ranocchia opted to chest back a long pass forward to his goalkeeper, forgetting that di Vaio was in attendance. A simple finish got the striker his brace and gave the visitors a 2-0 lead.

The second half mostly featured Inter throwing men forward in a desperate attempt to get back into the match, but Diego Forlan and the aforementioned Ranocchia found good chances saved by Jean-François Gillet. Bologna struck once more in the 85th minute to kill the match off entirely, as Roberto Acquafresca walked through four defenders to slot it home at the far post to make it 3-0. The move rather epitomized Inter's day.