Lights out 5 minutes into the Derby.

Rome supporters holding up their lighters, power ballad style.

I don't get it, how come energy companies are showing record profits and we're getting more and more electrical outages ?

Totti's brilliant backheel leads to a corner, and Lamela with a brilliant forearm to the back to get enough space for a diving header.

1-0 Rome.

Lazio ties it on a knuckleball free kick, Ass Crack misses a penal then gives up the 2nd goal to Fiorentina.

This Derby is being played in such a driving rain storm with lakes all over the pitch, but luckily both teams can cross pretty well. I'd figure the edge has to go with Klose.

Right on cue, Klose scores from Close-ay. Beautiful 2 touch goal, but awful knee-ripping slide for a celebration when he picks the one part of the pitch that was dry...thus turning a double knee slide on a wet pitch into a thrown-out-of-a-moving-car side roll.

Right on cue, DeCunti gets a red for a patented shot to the head.

Damn, was taking a dump and missed Lazio's 3rd at the start of the 2nd half.

3-1 LZ.

40-yard Ronaldinhoesque wonderkick by Pjanic to make it 3-2 and cause panic after a handball leads to a red for Lazio.

10 v 10 for the last 5 minutes.

FIN.

It was very nice to see Giostra del Gol again. It's been over 10 years.

This had just about everything I could ask for: Good game by Michael Bradley, midfield wizardry from Totti, a stupid violent red by DumbRossi, a goal by Klose, and a bunch of goals in the rain.

Viola win 3-1away to Milan.

Surely Allegri can't last much longer.

Will it be like Pablo Escobar's prison, with Berlusconi firing him inside along with a practice field for the team ?

Allegri gets a vote of confidence after a late night meeting between Galliani and Berlusconi.

Milan's got games coming up against Napoli and Juventus. Perhaps they decided to let him twist in the wind for those.

Milan v Juve. The home team are awarded a penalty when one of their forwards and a defender challenge for a cross. Replays show it was the Milan player who actually handled the ball. In the studio, pundit Joe Jordan criticises the referee.

"Satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." Tom Lehrer

Lazio got in a contender for world's all-time emptiest gesture with a special shirt for tonight's game against Udinese....

The Italian cameramen have spent several minutes before the Inter-Napoli game zooming in on attractive women around the ground before kick-off. Not a particularly enlightened attitude (as I type Mark Chapman in the studio makes a similar comment).

Anyway, Cambiasso starts in a back three for Inter. Napoli will win this.

Ciao! Maybe it's been done upthread but i'm a lazy bastardo so can anyone elighten me on the current rules of obtaining tickets for Serie A games? Been to Roma v Torino sth like 4 years ago and could get tickets after showing my ID (ok it was my outdated swimmingpool card but still) in one of club shops in the eternal city centre...

A mate is doing Milan v Lazio on March 3rd next year and wonders if it's better to get tickets earlier online (where?) or in the city on match day?

Any help much appreciated cheers.

Not sure what magazine this is, but this cracked me up in a worst-and-most-eyegougingly-garish-magazine-cover-ever kind of way.

Magik wrote:


Yes, you still have to do all the ID caper, it's a total pain in the arse. Milan do sell online, but only for a limited few small sections of the ground, which obviously are not the cheapest ones, let's just say!

To buy in person, if your pal is in the city earlier than match day, they can go to any branch of the bank Intesa San Paolo (weird, I know) and get a ticket. The Milan club shops in the centre DON'T sell tickets, only these banks. On match day you can buy from the box offices at the stadium, which usually open late morning, but are only open on the day of the game. The stadium won't be much more than half full for that one I would think, so they shouldn't have any trouble buying when they arrive.

In case it is of use to anyone, the answer to Magik's question for Inter home matches is essentially the same as Jobi's for Milan, with two exceptions:

1) The Inter bank is the Banca Popolare di Milano, and

2) Inter now sells tickets at its city centre club shop near Duomo, which only opened a few weeks ago.

These basic rules assume that the match in question is not one of those "high risk" games for which the Italian authorities, in their infinite "wisdom", have decided that only residents of Lombardy and holders of a Tessera del Tifoso can purchase tickets. Those are the matches that are a real pain for vacationing fans.

Grazie ragazzi! Ursus collective - are you not back in the US now? How do you know new Inter shop opened near Duomo? Oh i forgot you know everything!

Actually that shop has been open for the best part of a year, maybe longer!

I don't know why but there's never been a Milan game with that Lombardy residents only rule, thankfully, but visiting friends of mine have been denied entry to Inter games on that basis. Weird.