| The championships of Italy and France went on vacation European clubs are slowly gathering for the winter holidays. A week ago, German teams said goodbye to their fans until next year, and after last weekend, football players playing in the championships of Italy and France began preparing for Christmas.
Italian Championship
Italian tifosi will rest until January 6th. But before the break, they got the opportunity to enjoy the confrontation between the two leaders of the championship - Juventus and Milan. However, hardly anyone would dare to call this match spectacular. High tempo, fighting in all areas of the field, competent and tough defensive play - all this was present in abundance. But the teams created very few scoring chances. And most of them ended up in Milan's account. The inspiration for his team's attacks was Andriy Shevchenko, who had just received the Golden Ball. But he also failed to crack the Old Lady’s defense, and it all ended in a goalless draw. “ We showed a good game,” the Ukrainian forward said after the match. - But, unfortunately, a draw gives an advantage to Juve. Personally, I think I did my job well. "The Ballon d'Or didn't affect my play because I always try only for the team."
Thus, Juventus retained a four-point handicap over Milan. And few doubt that these two teams will play for the Scudetto. Everyone else can only fight for the two remaining places in the Champions League. So far, Udinese is following Milan. Inter is a little behind, having still not suffered a single defeat. True, it doesn’t matter when it comes to victories for the “black and blues”. In the last round, only the fourth in sixteen games was achieved, and that was thanks to the strike of the defender, the Serbian Mihailovic.
Not far from Inter are Sampdoria, dreaming of its former glory, and Roma, looking for a way out of the crisis. True, the Romans only dream of calm times, and new scandals are replacing old ones. Moreover, it is mainly the players of the Roman club themselves who muddy the waters. For example, team leader Francesco Totti recently made harsh statements again. The famous brawler, which, however, does not prevent him from being a fan favorite, announced that he is not going to renew his contract with the club. "I don't want to play in a team whose most important goal is fourth place," Totti said. “The Tiffosi want me to stay in Rome forever, but they are doing everything to ensure that I leave.” I'm tired of jumping from "black" to "white". So, when things are going well, everyone calls me captain, when not so much - a huckster and a carefree millionaire. I received offers to transfer from leading clubs in Europe. I would like to point out right away that neither Lazio nor Juventus will ever see me.” But if Totti is only speculating on the possibility of his departure, then Delvecchio will definitely leave the club. In recent matches he is not even included in the lineup. There are rumors about a possible sale of Cassano to Juventus, and Sampdoria is interested in Montella.
So if Roma does not solve its internal problems during the break and does not provide an influx of recruits, it may slip back into the middle of the standings. As well as the main troublemaker “Messina”, which, having made noise at the start of the championship, has already taken a more appropriate place among the outsiders.
French Championship
Lyon, as expected, became the winter champion of France. For 19 rounds, Paul Le Guen's team did not know the bitterness of defeat. True, the champion has slowed down lately, and Lyon’s leadership no longer makes his mentor happy. “We have not suffered a single defeat in the championship, but in the last three matches we scored only three points,” Le Guen said after the last draw with Marseille. - This is very bad for a team that aspires to the championship. After the winter break, I hope my team will play better football.”
Saying these words, the head coach of Lyon may be counting on replenishing the ranks of his team in the winter with a couple of not very expensive, but certainly scoring forwards. Now Olympique Lyon is not very productive, scoring 23 goals in 19 games. And it is unknown how everything would have turned out for Le Guen’s team if not for his phenomenal ability to build a competent defensive game. And there will definitely be purchases. Moreover, Lyon managed to get into the playoffs of the Champions League.
Following the Lyon team in the French Championship standings are Lille. Moreover, the gap from the leader at the break could have been less than three points if championship outsider Ajaccio had beaten Lille in the 19th round. However, the current team of ex-mentor of “Alania” Roland Kurbis managed to defend a goalless draw, by the way, the tenth already in this championship. Only Bordeaux, located at the top of the table, has more. But a draw's disease could be fatal for Ajaccio. And during the holidays Kurbis will need to find a way out of this situation.
The only Russian representative currently playing for Lille in the French championship is Peter Odemwingie. So far, a Nigerian who graduated from the CSKA football school and has a Russian passport has no one to talk to in Russian. But it is likely that he will soon have such an opportunity. Almost every day the French press woo Sergei Semak to their clubs. Both PSG and Monaco are interested in the army captain. But if talk about Semak moving to France is mostly rumors, then the transfer of Belarusian midfielder Vladimir Korytko to Monaco may soon become a fact. The Belarusian has already been tested in Didier Deschamps' team and is now awaiting the verdict of the young but already eminent specialist at home.
Italian Championship. 16th round. Bologna - Regina - 2:0, Fiorentina - Chievo - 2:0, Inter - Brescia - 1:0, Lecce - Sampdoria -- 1:4, "Roma" -- "Parma" -- 5:1, "Siena" -- "Livorno" -- 1:1, "Udinese" -- "Lazio" -- 3:0, "Palermo" "-"Cagliari" - 3:0, "Juventus" - "Milan" - 0:0. Team position: Juventus - 39 points, Milan - 35, Udinese - 31, Inter - 24, Palermo - 24, Sampdoria - 24, Roma - - 23, Fiorentina - 22, Cagliari - 22, Lecce - 21, Livorno - 20, Chievo - 20, Regina - 19, Messina - 18, Lazio - 17, Brescia - 17, Bologna - 16, Siena - 13, Parma - 12, Atalanta - 7.
French Championship. 19th round. “Nantes” – “Sochaux” – 2:2, “Monaco” – “Bordeaux” – 1:1, “Strasbourg” – “Rennes” – 1:0, “Ajaccio” – “Lille” -- 0:0, "Auxerre" -- "Nice" -- 4:3, "Caen" -- "Toulouse" -- 0:2, "Istres" -- "Saint-Etienne" -- 0:2, Lens - Bastia - 2:1, PSG - Metz - 3:0, Lyon - Marseille - 1:1. Team position: Lyon - 39 points, Lille - 36, Auxerre - 32, Monaco - 30, Marseille - 29, Toulouse - 28, Bordeaux - - 27, Sochaux - 27, Saint-Etienne - 26, PSG - 26, Nice - 25, Lens - 24, Rennes - 23, Metz -- 23, "Strasbourg" -- 19, "Caen" -- 19, "Nantes" -- 18, "Bastia" -- 17, "Ajaccio" -- 16, "Istres" -- 12. Andrey VDOVIN |
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