Well, Roma hang on, but Udinese can quite rightly feel pretty aggrieved. The decisive goal simply wasn’t all the way over the line, while they could quite easily have had two penalties in the closing stages. Roma are now level on points with Juventus at the top of the table, where they will remain at least until Juve play Inter later tonight.
That was all quite fun, wasn’t it? We could all get used to more football at 11.30 on Tuesday mornings. Marvellous. Thanks for joining us.
Full-time: Udinese 0-1 Roma
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins + 5: One final chance for Udinese, from a corner, which Kone swings over from the left...but De Sanctis claims among a phalanx of competing heads.
90 mins + 4: Another great chance for Roma, as Florenzi finds himself clean through, but Karnezis is out quickly and smothers his shot. Should’ve been the clincher, there.
90 mins + 2: Close for Roma, as Florenzi does well to bring the ball down in the area, then feeds Emanuelson, but his shot is at the archetypal ‘good height for the keeper’, and Karnezis saves.
90 mins: Five minutes of added time.
89 mins: Bodies hit the floor as they wait for the third corner to come over, and Torosidis gets a yellow card - although having made that decision, quite why a penalty wasn’t given is a mystery. This referee - a Mr Marco Guida - might want to make some rather low-key travel plans to get out of here unscathed.
88 mins: Close for Udinese - twice, in fact, in almost identical fashion, as Kone fires a corner into the near post, the first is punched out by De Sanctis, the second headed behind by Astori.
85 mins: Big, huge shout for a penalty after Kone is felled in the area. Emanuelson seemed to get the ball, but Udinese think he had to go through their man’s legs to get there. And you can see their point.
84 mins: Udinese come close to carving something out again, with Geijo wriggling around to make some space, but his backheel isn’t quite good enough and Roma clear.
83 mins: After a decent amount of treatment Ljajic is taken off on a stretcher, and goes straight down the tunnel. Former Fulham great Urby Emanuelson replaces him.
81 mins: Ach, could be nasty. Ljajic goes to ground with a scream of pain, after Pasquale goes through the back of his knee in a fairly big way. He’s not happy at all, and doesn’t appear to be faking his pain either. Not even sure whether Pasquale was booked for that, and if not that’s scandalous.
80 mins: Sub for Udinese - Guilherme departs Bruno Fernandes enters.
79 mins: Said corner is curled in from the left, but Karnezis ambles off his line to catch it, under little challenge.
78 mins: Some belated purpose from Roma. Pjanic goes close with a shot after being teed up on the edge of the area, then Torosidis powers up from right-back to shoot from the loose ball, but it’s deflected and loops over the bar for a corner.
77 mins: Manolas should be OK to continue. Iturbe gets the ball again and drives through the middle, but his low shot is saved rather easily, then Ljajic is flagged offside as he goes for the rebound.
76 mins: Oooh, nasty that. Manolas and Thereau clash heads in mid-air, the Roma man seemingly coming off worse. If this was a cartoon, there would be little birds flying above his head.
75 mins: The TV commentator is sticking to his story that the goal was given legitimately. Meanwhile, Iturbe runs a bit then crosses to no-one. Some things truly do never change.
72 mins: The penalty area very briefly looks like a minefield as a couple of players throw themselves into the air/onto the ground with little apparent encouragement. De Rossi comes out laughing by being the one to boot the ball clear, though.
71 mins: Astori gets a booking after being thoroughly mugged off by Allan, to which he reacts by pulling the Udinese man down in the corner.
70 mins: Ooof, Udinese aren’t helping themselves. They work a nice chance with some neat passing in the Roma area, but with a man in space on the left, Kone decides to spin and volley towards goal, a term that I use rather loosely.
68 mins: Copycats Udinese make a double change, too. Di Natale is replaced by Cyril Thereau, while Silva goes off and Giovanni Pasquale is on.
66 mins: Double change for Roma - Maicon, who has been an entertaining hot mess for most of the game, is hooked, with Vasilis Torosidis replacing him, while Totti makes way for the younger legs of Alessandro Florenzi.
65 mins: Roma attack again down the right, it’s fed inside to Totti and all he needs to do is slip a simple pass left for Pjanic, but it’s just too short and Danilo is there to tackle and clear.
64 mins: Roma counter and Maicon finds himself in a shooting position, but his effort is low and a bit weak and is saved.
63 mins: Oh, that would’ve been delightful. Allan dances through a couple of challenges outside the Roma box, but just as he’s pulling his foot back to shoot Astori dives in with a last-ditch, vital challenge. Nearly something rather special from Udinese, there.
62 mins: Udinese nearly get through after Maicon is given a hospital pass and is thus caught out of position, but Di Natale can’t quite bring the thing under control to shoot, and his attempted cross from the right side of the area is headed clear.
60 mins: Both teams struggling to really create anything here. Resulting in a rather frustrating old game thus far.
57 mins: Maicon’s idea of a pass seems to be just hammering the thing directly at the player in question, which he does this time with little success, at Totti. And if he can’t bring the thing under, then one suspects nobody could. Perhaps he’s inspired by Patches O’Houlihan...
54 mins: Iturbe buzzes across the pitch from right to left, then feeds Ljajic out on the left, who does the tricky stuff well by skipping past a defender then just keeping the ball in, but whiffs his next touch, a relatively straightforward control, and it dribbles out.
52 mins: Yellow card for Pjanic, who has been pushing his luck for most of the game. You’d say he couldn’t complain after booting Kone in the calf, but he’s proving that statement wrong, and at some length too.
50 mins: Ha! Absolutely outrageous, flamboyant dive by hardman De Rossi in his own area, under the very faintest of brushes on his arm by Geijo, but he still wins the free-kick. It’s just Roma’s day, it seems.
49 mins: Nearly a chance for Udinese as Astori heads the ball back to De Sanctis with Di Natale lurking, but it eventually makes it back to the Roma keeper. Still, the last time Astori, the ball not going over the line and this ref combined a goal was given, so who knows what might happen.
48 mins: Second-half so far: lots of sideways passing, not much to get excited about. It is quite weird that for 80% of the time you can’t see any fans, what with two sides of the ground being a building site, but you can hear them singing.
46 mins: The teams are out, the sun is shining, the referee is a buffoon and we’re playing football again.
Some half-time reading, since you’re in a European football sort of mood. Here’s Phillipe Auclair on Marseille, France’s wildest club...
At any other stadium in the world, is there a stand named after a fan? Take a seat in the virage Nord of Stade Vélodrome in Marseille and you’ll find yourself in the Tribune Patrice de Péretti. There you’ll be surrounded by the 3,000 members of Marseille’s most raucous, intimidating Ultras: MTP, for Marseille Trop Puissant (“Marseille, all powerful”). De Péretti, or Depé, was their founder, their talisman, their bare-chested hero. Olympique de Marseille’s club scarf loosely knotted around his neck, megaphone in hand, exploding flares punctuating his exhortations to the crowd, he stood as a reminder of his club’s uniqueness in the usually placid landscape of French football – mad, bad, and sometimes dangerous.
The same could be said of the city itself, as the first-time visitor senses as soon as he exits the monumental Saint Charles station, built in 1848 on a promontory that oversees a vast carapace of plum-and-custard roofs. Life here bubbles and sizzles like in no other city in France. It is a bewitching mess, both ancient (the Greek Massalia was founded in the 6th century BC) and thrillingly young. Marseille – the age-old door to the Mediterranean populated by migrants, refugees, hoods, and fishermen – speaks and sings with a voice not everyone finds pleasant. It is strident and speaks out of turn; cacophonous, not fugal.
The city is home to France’s craziest club, and it couldn’t be otherwise. The Marseillais wouldn’t have it any other way. “Proud to be Marseillais” is a popular slogan here. Eric Cantona, who grew up in one of the town’s inner villages, was happy to display it on a T-shirt despite his falling out with the OM fans when his rebelliousness set him on a collision course with the club’s hierarchy in the late 1980s. A Marseillais is a Frenchman, true. But France will always come a distant second in the loyalty stakes.
Udinese are quite correctly rather cross to be going in behind - not that they deserve it, they’ve been pretty rubbish, but because the goal simply should not have stood. The whole of the ball wasn’t over the line, which should probably be a rather simple concept to grasp, but apparently not for some, including the bloke commentating on the telly.
Half-time: Udinese 0-1 Roma
And that’s the break.
45 mins: A minute of added time, which seems a tad stingy given the hi-jinx earlier in the half. Maicon goes into the book for a cynical block on the halfway line.
43 mins: A shot from Udinese, which is something of a rare event. The ball breaks back to Guilherme about 30 yards out, but he hoys the effort over the bar.
42 mins: James Elliott raises a salient point about Roma’s midfield options: ‘I don’t understand all the fuss about Strootman, Nainggolan (on the bench today) is a much better player. They both have physical defects though, Strootman doesn’t seem to have a right foot and Nainggolan has an utterly ridiculous haircut.’
De Rossi is lucky to escape a booking after booting Kone in the thigh. Perhaps the ref is scared of him.
39 mins: The other thing about the goal is, contrary to what I assumed at the time, is that it seemed to be given by the referee, somewhere near the edge of the penalty area, rather than the extra official who was around five yards away. Weird, but that would certainly explain it - from the front it looked in, from the side it didn.
Updated
38 mins: Oh, there’s one that goes a bit further. Iturbe breaks at pace down the right, and squares to Totti in the box whose shot is half-blocked by Danilo, and it’s easily saved. That block did neither attacker nor defender many favours, both down feeling something iffy from the collision.
37 mins: Neither side has really got going since the goal. Udinese again build half an attack that breaks down before it reaches the area, Roma counter with one that fizzles out somewhere in the Udinese half.
35 mins: Sorry to keep banging on about the goal, but from some angles, like this one, it looked quite over the line...
#Astori gol fantasma (inquadratura dall'alto) #UdineseRoma pic.twitter.com/WwLibbTZH9
— Giovanni Capuano (@capuanogio) January 6, 2015
...but from the side, I reckon...not so much.
Looks like the ball has crossed the line. Legitimate goal. #UdineseRoma pic.twitter.com/BUMvbRRe5I
— Tarek Khatib (@ADP1113) January 6, 2015
32 mins: The corner is wasted, but the ball eventually makes it out to Maicon again, who tries a shot that only troubles a few brickies on the building site behind the goal.
31 mins: Udinese have a free-kick from deep on the right, but the delivery isn’t great and Roma counter at some pace. Iturbe dashes forwards, nearly loses control of the thing but eventually gives it to Totti, who in turn dabs a nice pass into the path of the lumbering Maicon, but his low cross is blocked behind.
29 mins: While Pjanic gets some treatment after being sandwiched in mid-air going for a header, a pleasant email from Jörg Michner: ‘Just wanted to say ‘hi’, you seem a bit lonely on the MBM. Nobody likes that stupid 12:30 kick off…Not a Udinese or Juve supporter, but I hope Udinese win with their standard game plan since 2004 of ‘Toto’ll fix it!’ Wouldn’t mind a few Roma sending-offs either.’
See? It’s nice to be nice.
27 mins: Oh my, Udinese absolutely should be level. Di Natale dinks a cross over the defence to the far post, an absolutely delightful ball if ever you saw one, but Gabriel Silva slides in at the far post and somehow manages to put it wide.
24 mins: Some angles of the ‘goal’ suggested it was over the line, but the sideways shot clearly showed not all of it had crossed. Observe, the problems of perspective, as illustrated by FourFourTwo’s James Maw...
21 mins: Oh. Perhaps that anger isn’t being channeled quite so constructively. Danlio goes into the book for a nasty kick on the back of Totti’s leg.
19 mins: Udinese almost channel their righteous anger into an immediate equaliser, Di Natale set up by a cut-back from Widmer, but his effort is blocked.
17 mins: From the free-kick Davide Astori flicks the header towards goal, it strikes the woodwork and bounces down, and Karnezis gathers. For a moment everything carries on as normal despite the Roma celebrations/protestations, but then the referee, presumably on advice from the extra officials behind the net, gives the goal. The replays suggest that, at best, three-quarters of the ball was over the line.
GOAL! Udinese 0-1 Roma (Astori 17)
Well, at least I think so.
Updated
16 mins: Iturbe has seemingly spent more time on the turf than upright, but this time at least it’s justified. A kick to the Achilles from Silva.
15 mins: Some delightful passing by Roma outside the box sets up a good shooting chance for Pjanic, but instead of letting fly he tucks the ball inside for Strootman on the edge of the area, but the Dutchman can’t get the ball from ‘neath his feet, and the attack dies out.
13 mins: Udinese finally gather for something approaching an attack, winning a free-kick deepish on the right. However, even before the ball reaches the area the referee blows up for some foul or other in the box by an Udinese player.
12 mins: Ah. He smacks the first effort into the wall, then the second hits his own man (Iturbe) and goes wide. Just hurry up next time, eh Miralem?
11 mins: Pjanic has just spent a full 30 seconds pissing and whining to the referee about the positioning of the ball for the free-kick and the wall. After all that, the free-kick had better be good...
10 mins: All Roma so far. Udinese are having big problems getting out of their own half. Maicon gets the ball on the right and fires a shot which is deflected wide. From the corner, the ball breaks out to Iturbe who gives the impression of being booted up in the air by Geijo, but it was only quite a minor grapple. Free-kick to Roma, mind, about 30 yards out to the right of goal.
8 mins: Pjanic and Maicon attempt a one-two on the right side of the box which involves the former passing out wide to the latter, and the latter firing it straight back at the former’s head. It, erm, doesn’t work.
6 mins: The effects mic is doing a splendid job of picking up the thud of the ball being kicked. Plenty of bass. Evocative.
5 mins: Some men standing still, here.
#UdineseRoma: calcio d'inizio | kick off. FORZA ROMA! pic.twitter.com/j9VCEcQW2C
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) January 6, 2015
4 mins: First shot of the day, as Holebas gets down the left, clips back infield and Totti dummies the thing, leaving it for Pjanic who slices his effort high and wide from the left corner of the box.
2 mins: Maicon tries an ambitious volleyed cross-field pass, which obviously doesn’t find its target, although an iffy pass from Domizzi nearly puts Udinese in trouble early doors.
1 min: We’re away, Udinese kicking off at a half-built Stadio Friuli. The bloke on the commentary tells us that it’s chilly in Udine, but quite how he can tell that from a small, sweaty booth somewhere in a London TV studio, is unclear.
Kick-off is moments away, but you can kill the time by watching a compilation of the old boy Antonio di Natale’s goals. And what a delight he is.
Care for a summary of the Serie A season to date? Or at least before the winter break? Here’s Paolo Bandini from last month to oblige...
For the third year running, the Bianconeri stand alone atop Serie A at the winter break. The gap to second-placed Roma is just three points – down from five last year – yet any sense of progress the Giallorossi might feel is tinged with the knowledge they should have been even closer.
Held to a 0-0 draw at home to Milan on Saturday, Roma could count themselves unfortunate not to have received a penalty for one blatant handball by Nigel de Jong, but otherwise struggled to find openings against opponents who played the last 20 minutes with 10 men. Only Gervinho was able to carve through the Rossoneri’s defence with any consistency. Worryingly for Roma, he is off to the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
Updated
Want an alternative guide to the visitors today? Look no further - here’s Roma, starting with just a list of the ultra groups...
Key ultra groups: Commando Ultra Curva Sud, Fedayn, Boys.
Other groups: Padroni di Casa, Giovinezza, Offensiva Ultras, XXI Aprile 753 aC, Lupi, Royalist, Roma Nord, PGU Roma, Arditi, Testaccio, Fronte Romano, Casal Bertone, Irish Clan Roma, ASR Front, FANS Roma, Tor Bella Monaca, AS Roma Ultras, Cuore Giallorosso, Ultras Romani, Tradizione Distinzione, Frangia Ostile, ASR Klan, Panthers Curva Nord, Yellow Red Wolves, Guerriglieri, Avvelenati, Orgoglio Capitolino, Opposta Fazione, Figli della Lupa, La Vecchia Guardia, Mods, Antichi Valori, Gioventu Romana, Curva Sud Roma 1973, Legio Invicta Roma, Eterna Legione, Roma Casual Firm, Avanzata Roman, Leginari.
So Kevin Strootman starts for Roma, which is a minor surprise given his slightly stuttering return to fitness after that knee injury last season. This is his second start this season, the other coming against Sassuolo back in December, when he was hooked just after half-time. Here’s what Garcia had to say about Strootman, of course linked with a move to Manchester United, this week:
With Kevin, we obviously knew he had such a bad injury that it would take him time to get back to 100 percent. He’ll basically only have half a season, but fortunately we play less games in the first half of the campaign.
The more he trains, the more he is improving. For Kevin, the break was important, even in a mental sense to get back to training with a freshness. Gradually, we’ll see whether he is 100 percent, but he is getting back to it in training.
Team news
Udinese
Karnezis; Danilo, Domizzi, Piris; Widmer, Guilherme, Allan, Kone, G.Silva; Di Natale, Geijo. Subs: Brkic, Scuffet, Fernandes, Belmonte, Bubnjic, Hallberg, Pasquale, Vutov, Jankto, Thereau, Jaadi.
Roma
De Sanctis; Maicon, Manolas, Astori, Cholevas; Pjanic, De Rossi, Strootman; Iturbe, Totti, Ljajic. Subs: Lobont, Skorupski, Yang-Mbwia, Cole, Nainggolan, Borriello, Destro, Florenzi, Paredes, Torosidis, Somma, Emanuelson.
Updated
While we’re waiting for the team news, here’s the Serie A league table as it stands. Lazio gave Sampdoria a sound thrashing last night, six of the best, trousers down. Well, three of the best, actually - it was 3-0, the goals coming from, Marco Parolo, Felipe Anderson and Filip Djordjevic.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juventus | 16 | 27 | 39 |
| 2 | Roma | 16 | 17 | 36 |
| 3 | Lazio | 17 | 12 | 30 |
| 4 | Napoli | 16 | 8 | 27 |
| 5 | Sampdoria | 17 | 5 | 27 |
| 6 | Genoa | 16 | 6 | 26 |
| 7 | AC Milan | 16 | 7 | 25 |
| 8 | Fiorentina | 16 | 8 | 24 |
| 9 | Udinese | 16 | -2 | 22 |
| 10 | Palermo | 16 | -4 | 22 |
| 11 | Inter Milan | 16 | 2 | 21 |
| 12 | Sassuolo | 16 | -4 | 20 |
| 13 | Verona | 16 | -9 | 17 |
| 14 | Empoli | 16 | -5 | 17 |
| 15 | Torino | 16 | -6 | 17 |
| 16 | Chievo | 16 | -7 | 16 |
| 17 | Atalanta | 16 | -10 | 15 |
| 18 | Cagliari | 16 | -8 | 12 |
| 19 | Cesena | 16 | -17 | 9 |
| 20 | Parma | 16 | -22 | 7 |
Pre-amble
So what, you might be entitled to ask, are we all doing here? This is mid-morning on a Tuesday. Everyone with a proper job is back at work, the hope and naivety that a new year might be different from the last is beginning to ebb away as the cruel realities of the world creep back in. This is not a time, even in this fevered world of strange kick-off hours and the demands of television, when football is traditionally played. Well, perhaps not in England, but today is a Bank Holiday in Italy, because you know what? They do what they like over there, and good luck to them.
In case you’re interested in a brief history lesson, January 6 is Epiphany in Italy, so here’s the website ‘Time And Date’ to provide a little background:
The Epiphany feast, known as La Befana, is an important part of the Christmas festivities in Italy. La Befana originates from a fairytale about a woman who flies on a broomstick bringing presents to children in Italy. La Befana is believed to be searching for baby Jesus, hence why she bears gifts for children. Many cities and towns in Italy organize festivities and parades to celebrate Epiphany on January 6....
Epiphany commemorates the first two occasions on which Jesus’ divinity, according to Christian belief, was manifested: when the three kings (also known as wise men or Magi) visited infant Jesus in Bethlehem, and when John the Baptist baptized him in the River Jordan.
In Italy, La Befana is loved as much as Santa Claus. She is usually portrayed as an old woman who wears a black shawl and rides a broomstick. Figures of this character are sold in shops in Italy around January 6.
The short version is that everyone’s off work, apart from the footballers: the poor, downtrodden, put-upon footballers who magically, gloriously, majestically, all play today, starting with Udinese v Roma this very morn.
If it’s possible for a club as big as Roma to be treated as the little train that could, their continued success is rather heartening, particularly as they’re the only serious challengers to the hated behemoth of Juventus. However, while a few things weren’t exactly going swimmingly for Rudi Garcia’s side before the Christmas break (elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Manchester City most notably), their league form has been holding up, with just one defeat in their last ten keeping them three points behind the Old Lady, who play Inter, Lukas Podolski and all, later on.
Despite the break, neither team look in especially healthy shape going into this one. Roma have of course lost Gervinho and Seydou Keita to the Africa Cup of Nations, while Francesco Totti, Salih Ucan, Lukasz Skorupski and Mattia Destro are all either out or doubtful with injury. Equally Udinese, managed by former Inter top dog Andrea Stramaccioni, could be without all/some of Luis Muriel, Maurizio Domizzi, Ivan Piris, Thomas Heurtaux, Giampiero Pinzi and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu.
Still, it’s football - and bloody good football, too - at 11.30am on a Tuesday. What’s not to enjoy? Come in and enjoy.
Kick-off: 11.30am.
Nick will be here in a bit.
