Leksand - Linköping1 - 2
CESENA - JUVENTUS 2 - 2
JAG ÄLSKAR OCH ÄR SÅ STOLT ÖVER DIG MIN MAGISKA CESENA!!!
Let me be clear over this, even if Vidal had scored that penalty and Cesena had lost the match it wouldn't change one comma my total appreciation and gratefullness for what Cesena did tonight. Honestly, the seahorse played way better and much much more aggressively than Juventus. I do think all the Juve fans were somehow shocked to see their team THRASHED during the first 15 minutes of the match, when it's usually the Turin team which play all-out attack and try to crush the opponents (and often manage to score).
Even before Milan Djuric's goal on the 16th minute the romagnoli black and whites had no less than three clear goal chances, two with Defrel, both times stopped superbly by Buffon, and one with Ze' Eduardo. Two of these chances were actually brought about by clear mistakes made by Juventus defense players because the Cesena forwards foamed at the mouth and did manage to intimidate them. The first goal by Cesena (16') is a counter-attack masterpiece, with Defrel capitalising on Pirlo's mistake in half-field and delivering his last pass to Djuric just one fraction of a second before the Bosnian giant could turn offside.
But as it happened so many times in this tournament, as soon as they take the lead, some Cesena players start to panic, so the seahorse gave away two goals in 6 minutes on account of their very frail defense line, with Krajnc and Lucchini losing sight of Morata first (26') and an amatourish, unwatchable miss by Lucchini which Marchisio was quick to transform into a (shitty) goal (32').
We're talking about Juventus here, the undisputed first of the class, a team that does not forgive any mistake by their opponents and is particularly skilled at punishing the weaker teams (quite another matter when they take on their European counterparts, when they usually end up bloodied and crushed... but that's another story...).
Cesena lose and basically stop to play until the end of the first half. I'm sure that, like me, all Cesena fans by now start to shiver in fear of a Juventus "goleada". Fortunately for us tonight Pogba, Vidal and Pirlo appear dull and uninspired, and the first half goes by without any further pain.
The second half begins a bit like the first for Cesena, which plays more aggressively than Juve, the difference is that this tiime the Piemontesi defend with order and don't make any mistake. But on the 69' the Juve defense can nothing when our giant Milan Djuric jumps half meter above Evra and heads down a fantastic assist to Franco Brienza who strikes a great left-footed shot which Buffon cannot stop. Cesena now wants more and tries to capitalise on the enthusiasm and actually manage to get two free-kicks from a very dangerous position near the 16-metre line, but in both cases Franco Brienza's shots are very poor, absolutely not up to his standards. And, as it usually happens, you can't make these sort of mistakes with Juventus, because they will punish you. On the 79' Fernando Llorente is superb in he Cesena's 16-metre area. Lucchini pulls his sweater and than stops his "rovesciata" with an overstretched arm. It's a clear penalty, and the referee (who, by the way, bears the same last name as the author of this article, Russo) blows the whistle.
Before goin' on, I'd like to go three years back in time, precisely the last time Juventus took on Cesena, at Turin. Ten minutes to the end, Juventus ahead 1 - 0, the referee makes a present to Juventus with an absolutely horrendous goal-kick decision and even expels Cesena's keeper Francesco Antonioli. Cesena has already made all its substitutions so it's defender Rodriguez, and not the secnd goal-keeper, who replaces Antonioli. It's Vidal who transforms the easiest of goal kicks but, and that was something that in my opinion represented an offense to Cesena, instead of taking a low profile given the circumstance, celebrates his goal as if it had been the world cup final. From that moment on I strongly despise the (undoubtedly very skilled) Chilean forward.
Back to now. It's again Vidal goin' on the penalty spot. He shoots... and he misses!!! I really wish you could have seen my face when I saw the ball go wide. I turned so nasty at the Chilean and screamed the worst possible kind of abuse at him and his 'oh-so flashy' dumb haircut. I can't explain the sheer joy I felt when he missed the goal-kick like the twat he is. I so wished I was on the stands jeering my scorn for him and the team he plays for.
Soon after an exhausted Milan Djuric leaves the pitch in a standing ovation and is replaced by Alejandro Rodríguez. Our Spanish Peter Pan is downed in the Juve area, and soon after there seems to be a hand touch by Leichsteiner in the Juve 16-metre box. In complete honesty and frankness it seems that in both cases a penalty kick would have seemed excessive, but one can't but wonder how the referee would have acted if it had been Juventus on the attack, especially considering that soon after Leichsteiner is spared a clear second yellow card for foul play on Defrel.
Another digression here, Juventus did not steal anything today and I think the referee did a pretty good job, but, make no mistake, we're talking about Juventus here, the greatest scoundrels in Italian football, a team that has historically turned bribery and fraud into their code of honour. I don't care if my words will piss off Juventus fans, as an Italian I say that if there were a little notion of decency and justice in the corrupt Italian football world (which is but a reflection of the Italian political system and social lifestyle) they would have been forced to start all over again not from the Serie B with -17 points, but from the serie D, if at all, and their DT Luciano Moggi would still rot in prison instead of giving speeches in Universities (this does not mean that they were the only ones guilty for "Calciopoli", but definitely the greatest beneficiaries of the corruption scandals of the '80s and '90s).
Considering the odds, 2 - 2 is a result that most Cesena fans would have signed for before the match started, even if it does not really help Cesena so much in their struggle to avoid relegation to Serie B. Let's not forget that the whole Cesena team is the poorest in Serie A and gains less than the Chilean twat Vidal alone. I honestly do not think that Cesena will make it (we foolishly lost too many points on the way, especially with other teams who struggle for that fourth-last position) but that does not mean of course that we will give up the fight and that if it must be Serie B, then be it with honour!!!
The last word goes out to our wonderful arena (one of the few "English-style arenas" in Italian professional football, without athletic tracks, and the only one without barriers between the stands and pitch). I'm sure that all of you who watched the match had a very positive impression (something that can't be said of other arenas). The sold-out on the terraces also helped of course. The Cesena fans were wonderful, as usual, shouting and singing all the way.
After a very long absence I will try to write again on Cesena on Svenskafans.com. I will probably write in English 'cause it's too difficult for me to write about foootball in Swedish. You're very welcome to leave your comments.
Fine alla fine FORZA CESENA!!!
Pierpaolo
