It would surely destro Gattuso's self-image to leave in such circumstances, and Milan are basically built around Pirlo. They'd both be mad to leave.

Of course Juventus could lose in CL qualifying next year. I'd be willing to chip in a few euro to bribing the ref of that game.

There have been rumours of Gattuso looking elsewhere for much of the year, but they are grounded more on money and his expressed desire to go back to Britain before he ends his career than on any sense of Milan under-achieving. This week's hypothetical destination was Bayern Munich, but it is really rather hard for me to see that happening, and not only because the idea of Rino in Lederhosen makes me giggle.

Pirlo will be 29 next month, and there hasn't been a hint of him looking elsewhere. One year (or even two) out of the CL isn't going to change that, particularly if Berlusconi loosens the purse strings now that he is back in power.

The Juve match ended 3-0, btw. In the first leg of the Coppa Italia semifinals, Roma beat Catania 1-0 and Inter (playing a B team) drew 0-0 with Lazio at home.

After the Euros in the summer Gattuso and Pirlo (Ancelotti always seems to play Pirlo in every game) might be glad of a season without the demands of the CL!

Due to some Lemony Snicket unforeseens I missed the Juve game last night: The timings for our 5 a side league went awry and someone nicked the smart card for the telly in the sports centre.

It sounds like a routine win for Juve and Parma were toothless, unambitious and rotten? From reading the reports it sounds like Corradi played up on his own in the end. Incredible own goal.

12 pts clear of 5th place 5 games to go, I think, looking good.

If I was an italian footballer, living by lake como, earning what pirlo or gattuso earn, I would find it very fucking hard to move to the north west of england. particularly at their time of life, and with the uncertainty as to whether or not they'd be able to make the physical step up every week.

Was watching the excellent Sfide last evening and they had a wonderful feature on Antonio Cassano.

Some nuggets: his first thought upon scoring a (great) goal against Inter on his debut for Bari: "I'm going to be rich!"

Why did he choose Roma over Juventus: "Mum didn't like the weather in Turin."

Then there was a chat with Sampdoria striker Claudio Bellucci who has been ordered by the club to keep an eye on Cassano during games "I either go to drag away Cassano or to protect the referee!"

Brilliant stuff.

Personally, can't help liking him, even if he can be,erm, a bit petulant.

Sfide really is an excellent program, and I don't get to watch it anywhere near as often as I would like to. Do you have direct access to Sky Italia in Malta, or is it broadcast locally?

I also admit to having a small soft spot for Cassano (rather like the one in his head, perhaps), but it seems to be the case that such feelings tend to be reserved for supporters of clubs for which he has not played. Romanisiti in particular almost all detest him with a passion.

Post-election euphoria and the need to avoid the reality of a fight for fifth place are conspiring to inflate Milan transfer rumours even beyond their usual ebullient state. Today's Gazzetta features them signing Frey, Zambrotta, Ronaldinho, Flamini, Shevchenko and another "world class striker", perhaps Drogba or Adebayor.

I have a feeling the silly season is going to be even sillier than usual.

Dunno if we mentioned it before, but the Gazzetta now has an English site which has a small amount of content in, amazingly, English. Which may or may not be useful to non italophone Serie A fans.

If anyone has any comments on the site, I am in no way remotely connected to it and would not at all find them in any way useful or helpful. *gazes at sky*

And that lack of connection would in no way whatsoever have any thing to do with the fact the quality of the translations has improved notably since it was launched . . .

Those translations are not as helpful as I had hoped. It turns out that in English, Inter are still winning and Totti is still injured.

<smiley thing>

She doesn't have editorial control . . .

If I in any way knew to what you might be alluding then I would thank you. But of course I don't. *wears false beard*

and Gramsci: the alternate reality site is still very much in the pipeline.

I don't think that RCS would look kindly on you moonlighting for Corriere dello Sport . . . .

haha the CdS is no more biased than the Gazzetta (or Tuttosport). Really.

thought seeing as the CdS only launched a proper website earlier this year I think an english version is a long way off.

Il Giornale isn't as biased as Tuttosport.

Even our recently arrived Juventino admitted that in one of his first posts.

It would be hard to find a more biased organ than Tuttosport, which is why I love it!

Indeed, if I feel I need a more balanced view, I reach for Hurrá Juventus.

Are you holding out hope for pipping Roma to second place, or don't you particularly care?

And where do you stand on the ADP to Euro 2008 "debate"? I'd be hard pressed to leave him at home, though if he goes, he should play.

I definitely care, and would love to overtake Roma not least because this would mean no nervy preliminary in August. I don't think we will do it, though. Next year will be tougher, as a decent run in the CL, hoefully, will also place a greater strain on the squad, some of the ley players like Del Piero and Nedved are not getting any younger.

I think that if Donadoni wants to play Toni and two wide attackers then ADP isn't the man. Though I have noted that Di Natale gets a lot closer to Toni down the middle than was the case with others, including Del Piero, in this system.

I would choose Di Natale over Del Piero on the stren