 25-07-07, 07:58 PM | #212 (permalink) |
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 Torino - Sampdoria 2nd of March 2008 Stadio Olimpico, Turin Italian Serie A 2007/2008; Week 26     27'  Roberto Stellone, 28'  Antonio Di Natale - 29' Martin Petrov, 56' Fabio Bazzani  Match Highlights (3:55)
Antonio Di Natale's red card right after Roberto Stellone's goal could prove costly to Torino's Scudetto challenge as they lost to direct contenders Sampdoria at home 1:2.
Torino was having several problems with missing players ahead of all-important face to face match with one of the contenders for thrown of Italy's football - Sampdoria. Midfielder Simone Barone did return to trainings after his broken leg had recovered, but it takes a lot of time for him to get back into match fitness.
Alongside him were missing first teamers Silva, Elvis Abbruscato and Marco Pisano. Also third choice central defender Andrea Mei sat on sidelines.
Match started off slow and Sampdoria got the first chance when the game had gone for over quarter of an hour as Sergio Volpi was at the end of a cleared ball of defence, but his one-touch shot flew over the bar as Marcelo Grohe helplessly watched the ball flying.
Grohe was the man to thank for Torino just minute later when he brilliantly reacted to save a Fabio Bazzani header from Martin Petrov's cross.
Torino was struggling slighly with quick counters of Sampdoria and Marco Andreolli allowed Martin Petrov to have a easy shot from a long ball foward, but luckily for the right-back, the shot flew wide of the goal.
And Andreolli made up for his mistake when he got the ball from Jerzy Dudek's clearance on the edge of the area and sent a nice pass foward to Roberto Stellone who powerfully slammed the ball in at near post with Dudek closing down on him.
Though party turned into a nightmare in two minutes. Straight after the kick-off, Antonio Di Natale mis-timed his two-footed challenge in the wet surface and blatantly hacked down Rodolfo Arruabarrena. Referee sent the winger off for an immediate shower with just 28 minutes gone.
And Torino couldn't even hold on for a minute as Marcelo Grohe's wrong decision to come out allowed Petrov to tap a rather clever Andrea Gasbarroni corner in at near post.
Sampdoria took good use of their extra man, but couldn't score as Bazzani hit wide and Volpi over, before Grohe also had to produce a fantastic save on Volpi's curling shot from the edge of the area.
Torino got close to getting back to the leading role, but Jerzy Dudek made a brilliant stop on Alessandro Rosina's free-kick from 23 metres.
Torino got another chance minute later when Alessandro Rosina recieved brilliant pass from Simone Padoin, but quickly found himself surrounded by three Sampdoria defenders and could only sidenet the ball.
Petrov was brilliantly denied by Grohe as the Bulgarian turned around in area to send a powerful shot under the bar which was matched by the Brazilian goalkeeper's reaction.
Tursk hoped to keep Torino team more fresh in these tough conditions with one man down and bringed in Marco Rossi as Cecilio Velazquez, making his first start, couldn't continue thanks to a knock. Nikola Lazetic also joined the game.
Simone Padoin had been in hot form in past weeks, but his long-range free-kick was brilliantly saved from top corner by Dudek who was continuing to enjoy his time between Sampdoria posts.
And on 58th minute, Sampdoria finally got what they wanted, Emiliano Bonazzoli's pass found clubs top scorer Bazzani for a brilliant half-volley which left Grohe absolutely no chance as it entered the goal at far post.
Rosina sent Roberto Stellone on a one on one situation minute later, but the striker couldn't grab his second to equalize the match as he sent the ball flying over instead of a classic low finish.
Volpi saw his long range effort parried by Grohe as Marco Rossi saw a yellow card soon after.
Stefano Fiore was bringed on as Tursk's final plea to save the match and the experienced winger did bring something extra to Granata's game.
Soon after Gabriel Tamas saw his header from Rosina's corner brilliantly saved over the bar by Dudek.
Stellone then recieved a nice pass from Lazetic, but found himself under too hard angle and hit wide of the far post in final minutes pressure of Torino.
Lazetic and Stellone combined once more when the Serbian pass found the striker in box, who turned around and shot just over the far top corner as Torino's luck had turned it's back this Sunday evening.
Stellone was in center of action, but was selfish when he shot Simone Padoin's pass to sidenetting from nearly 30 metres out while Alessandro Rosina had freed up for a possible through pass.
The loss saw Torino's lead cut into half, despite Juventus drawing as Inter's win rose them to second place.
Torino: 1-Marcelo Grohe; 4-Marco Andreolli, 5-Gabriel Tamas, 2-Raffaele Schiavi, 27-Cecilio Velazquez (45' 23-Marco Rossi); 13-Antonio Di Natale, 12-Simone Padoin, 36-Nicolae Mitea (45' 17-Nikola Lazetic); 10-Alessandro Rosina; 11-Roberto Stellone, 20-Cedric Konan (68' 7-Stefano Fiore)
Cautioned  : 68' Marco Rossi
Other Results
Atalanta 1:0 Milan
Bologna 0:0 Juventus
Chievo 1:0 Ascoli
Inter 2:0 Catania
Messina 1:1 Fiorentina
Palermo 0:1 Udinese
Roma 2:2 Siena
Napoli 0:0 Lazio
Parma 1:0 Empoli
Torino Position: 1st
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