Roberto Gotta




Beyond The Pitch show

Summary: Anto is joined by Roberto Gotta, Serie A correspondent with ESPN Soccernet from Bologna, to take a look at what has been a rather interesting past week in calcio involving any number of clubs. We look at the emerging fortunes for Bologna who have been a great surprise under Stefano Pioli as well as the events at Catania under Vincenzo Montella where both clubs have landed mid table at this juncture, rising well above expectations. We also review the situation at Palermo where Zamparini has appointed yet another manager in Christian Panucci with a detail still to be sorted as he will need to divorce himself from his duties with Sky Sports Italia. Divorce is also the operative word for Pantaleo Corvino at Fiorentina who is largely seen as a convenient fall guy for what has gone on at the club since great days in the Champions League before Cesare Prandelli moved on to lead the Italian national team. We get into both the on the field and off the pitch ugliness at Fiorentina which also involved some problems between fans of the local side and visiting Juventus over the weekend and we try to dissect some of the complex history between these two clubs to determine exactly where the problems began. Roberto gives us some background into the rivalry which has been mostly one-sided over the years in terms of the results, but largely falls on the head of one legendary player who was sold to Turin many years ago. We also examine a rather controversial match between Udinese and Napoli over the weekend to take a look at whether the local side has a legitimate complaint and if Napoli is getting some sense of big club preference in terms of calls from match officials, as some of the Udine locals were suggesting post-match. Then we turn to the matter of Inter where the problems continue to mount and we examine what choices Massimo Moratti has going forward knowing that a top three finish in Serie A is not likely at all and that means dropping out of the Champions League.