Former Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli scored his fourth goal in three games to help seal a 2—1 victory at San Siro.

Signing with Milan after an enthralling three years with City, Balotelli, and an accidental own goal by Gabriel Palletta saw Milan put themselves into third sport, with goal difference the only thing keeping Lazio at bay.

Following his one match suspension, Riccardo Montolvio was able to make his return to Milan whilst teammates Pazzini and Bonera were left out injured.

Bad-boy Balotelli did not make the Parma defenders jobs easy, when a Boateng assist gave him a chance but his shot drew wide.

Milan’s chances came knocking again, when a run down the right by Biabiany provided another opportunity to put themselves in front, only for a lack of communication between Amauri and Parolo to see it wasted.

Parma’s best chances of the matches came early, with a Marchionni pass unable to be kept in play by Amauri. Struggling with the the top-four side, in the ninth minute Palette could’ve put Parma in front, having evaded two defaders in the box, but his shot went wide of the post .

But Paletta’s efforts early on were soon erased when he turned a pass from Boateng in the 39^th minute into an own goal.

Having not had the expected dominance of the match as expected, Milan looked to capitalise on their already incidental lead.

Soon after play resumed at San Siro, a Balotelli cross looked to give Boateng a notch on the goal scorers card for proceedings, but yet again the Milan shot evaded the net.

Trying to give his squad fresh legs, Roberto Donadoni brought Nini on to provide some pace and pressure up front, at the expense of Parolo and replacing Coda withBenalouane.

A venture that wouldn’t pay off, with, in the 77^th minute, a stunning free kick by new recruit Mario Balotelli sealing victory for Massimiliano Allegri’s men.

Trying to scrounge something from the game, Parma were able to get one back in the dying seconds of extra time with a low drive by Sansone negates average Milan defending.

But it was not enough to see the Crusaders snatch another away from home.

Have Roma got the burning passion within to overcome a tumultuous time at the club and defeat high-flying Juventus after their comfortable Champions League win over Celtic?...

Saturday 16 February 2013

Roma have started to self-implode, one could say. Not believing in the youth project course set under Luis Enrique, the Giallorossi brought in a tried and tested master in Zdenek Zeman. Now, the Czech has left the club and it hasn't quite gotten accustomed to assitant Aurelio Andreazzoli. The Lupi are winless in five, and this is the new coach's toughest test since taking over the club. A 3-1 loss to Sampdoria last week in his debut on the pine, Andreazzoli will not have Pablo Osavaldo at his disposal due to injury, but Daniele De Rossi and Maarten Stekelenburg are in the line-up after being frozen out by the former tactician. Erik Lamela and Francesco Totti in attack make for a dangerous combination if the two are allowed space to play and move the ball.

Juventus are keeping a lid on it after their convincing 3-0 win over Celtic in the Champions League midweek. However, it did come at a cost as Federico Peluso and Paolo De Ceglie will not feature on Saturday. Neither will man of the match Claudio Marchisio, who is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, which means Paul Pogba will be utilised by coach Antonio Conte - who is back on the bench after serving a three-match suspension. The tactician will also opt for Kwadwo Asamoah on the left, fresh from his African Cup of Nations performance, and Leonardo Bonucci returns from suspension.

One win in the last six matches for Roma between these two sides does not bode well for the Giallorossi. The second-worst defence in Serie A meets the best attack.

Prediction: Roma 1-2 Juventus

Juventus have one foot in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League after a clinical and calculated three goal win away to Celtic in the Round of 16 tie at Parkhead this morning.

Efe Ambrose took his place in the home side's starting lineup to the surprise of many, alongside Emilio Izaguirre in a 4-5-1 formation, while Georgios Samaras was omitted from even the bench after not recovering in time from a hamstring injury.

The Italian champions and current Serie A leaders opted to start with Federico Peluso, their recent acquisition from Atalanta, ahead of in-form Sebastian Giovinco and Paul Pogba. They utilised their traditional 3-5-2 system consistently employed under boss Antonio Conte.

It was la vecchia signora who stunned the parochial and passionate crowd in the east end of Glasgow in the third minute when Alessandro Matri nodded past forward approaching Fraser Forster in the Celtic goal.

Nigerian Efe Ambrose, who only arrived back in Glasgow hours before kick off from the African Cup of Nations was to blame, as he misread an aerial ball, allowing Matri to control the ball and look up to slot past the England number 2.

The goal stunned the Hoops, who started as the better side in the early moments, forcing Gianluigi Buffon into a number of saves prior to the opener.

They responded well, throwing men forward and being comfortable in possession throughout the rest of the first half.  

The bianconeri on the other hand seemed content to allow Neil Lennon's men to see the ball, although they were almost made to pay. 

Kris Commons had peppered Gianluigi Buffon's goal on a number of occasions, but his shots did not have the power to beat the Italian custodian. Kenyan Victor Wanyama, who scored Celtic's first goal against Barcelona went close heading over from a corner just before the break, giving Celtic plenty of encouragement going into half time.

They continued their positive approach in the second half, retaining possession, and cleverly weathering Juve's counter attacking ploys.

Ambrose then missed a gilt-edged chance after the hour, as he could only direct his unchallenged header from eight yards out directly at Buffon.

After failing to find the much sort-after equaliser, the home side were made to pay in the 77th minute when Matri set up Claudio Marchisio who landed the sucker punch, firing home past Forster's right hand side.

Just when things seemed as if they could not get any worse for Lennon's men, they did six minutes later when Serbian Mirko Vucinic calmly passed the ball home, leaving the majority of the 60,000 crowd to go home desolate.

After the match, Hoops boss Neil Lennon acknowledged that his side will need a football miracle to overturn the deficit in Italy.

"We need a miracle but it's the harsh reality of Champions League football," he told reporters.

The second leg at the Olympic Stadium in Turin will take place on March 6.

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Juventus made it two wins from two outings as they defeated Fiorentina 2-0 at the Juventus Stadium on Saturday evening.

Mirko Vucinic's rifling shot on 20 minutes opened the scoring and Matri secured the three points as he found the back of the net bootless.  

Despite a fluid opening stanza, it took Claudio Marchisio in his 200th club appearance to have the first reall attempt on goal. But his low effort on nine minutes narrowly missed the target.

Stevan Jovetic and Juan Cuadrado both had half-chances at the other end, but Gianluigi Buffon was equal to the task at keeping them at bay. 

Stephan Lichtsteiner also came close, but it was Vucinic in the 20th minute who brought down Stevan Savic's poor headed clearance and smashed a volley past Fiorentina goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano from 25 metres to make 1-0.

The Montenegrin almost doubled his tally just after the half hour as he stole the ball off Gonzalo Rodriguez on the edge of the box and went at goal alone as no viable option was available. His shot, though, went straight at Viviano.

Matri ensured the hosts would take a two-goal advantage into the half-time break as Arturo Vidal slid a pass to the forward in the area. Not fazed by losing his shoe in the process, he left his defender and swept a shot into the back of the net. 

Vidal could have had a goal himself three minutes after the restart as he was in the best position to meet a Paolo De Ceglie squaring pass on the edge of the box, but the Chilean international couldn't keep his shot down.

Matri was proving to be a handful for the Viola defence, and the striker should have had his second of the evening as he found himself in a good position to meet Lichtsteiner's through-pass, but he couldn't quite force the ball home.

Substitute Sebastian Giovinco almost made an immediate impact with a wickedly curling effort, forcing Viviano to parry the ball away, but the Bianconeri did enough to claim all three points.

The win temporarily extends the atop Serie A to six points with both Lazio and Napoli to meet later this evening.