Coppa Italia: Fiorentina's last dream

From Bleacher Report

In terms of prestige it is pretty much accepted that the Coppa Italia ranks somewhere between the European tiddliwinks championship and the World conkers title.

It is almost always compared very unfavourably with its English equivalent, the FA Cup. Crowds are small, most big teams field understrength sides and you can count the number of shocks on the prongs of your pizza fork.

Poor scheduling, two-legged ties and an often cumbersome seeding system have never really given the competition a chance. It is in need of the kind of emergency makeover that could even kill the undying enthusiasm of Ty Pennington. It needs demolition and complete reconstruction.

This week, however, it has thrown up one of its more intriguing ties. The reason, quite simply, is that it means quite a lot to one of the participants and not very much to the other.

So all of the elements are there for an exciting semi-final clash between Fiorentina and Inter.

The reigning league champions won the first leg by a single goal in the San Siro but a packed Stadio Artemio Franchi will be hoping the Viola can turn the tie around on Tuesday. They warmed up with a thrilling 2-2 draw when they met in the league on Saturday.

Cesare Prandelli shocked a few pundits by fielding an apparently weakened side for that game. The Tuscan team has little hope of finishing in a top four spot in Serie A and getting back into the Champions League. He seemed to favour the cup clash.

That might seem puzzling given the lack of stature of the Coppa but look a little closer and it starts to make more sense. Fiorentina have a strong tradition in the tournament with six victories to their credit. More importantly, their coach has yet to win a trophy with this side.

Praise for their fine performances in Serie A and Europe has been nice, but there is really no substitute for a bit of silverware.

Up north in Milan, however, the TIM Cup (to give it its sponsor's name) is a less welcome distraction. Jose Mourinho's side are still in the hunt for the league and Champions League. There is little doubt this is the least attractive leg of their potential treble.

Yet they would be well advised not to snub the competition too much. Imagine how they might feel if they went out to Fiorentina and then missed out on their other two goals? Bad results can be contagious and the cup would at least be a small consolation if everything else goes wrong.

The Milanese, of course, have a squad designed to cope with such situations. Even their reserve side is one which most Serie A managers would love to have at their disposal. Defending a single goal lead should not be beyond them.

Even with Dejan Stankovic, Davide Santon and usual Coppa goalkeeper Francesco Toldo missing there is a formidable look to the Inter team. Fringe players like Marco Materazzi, Macdonald Mariga and the recently rehabilitated Mario Balotelli will all hope they get a chance to shine. There may even be room for young talent like Rene Krhin and Marko Artaunovic.

Fiorentina hope to respond with a trio of important returns. Cristiano Zanetti, Marco Marchionni and Juan Manuel Vargas are all likely to be reappear after missing the weekend clash.

The match comes, of course, at an unwelcome time for Inter. They face Juve in the league on Friday and Barcelona in the Champions League after that. That may just trip them up.

Mourinho will not be too worried about elimination if his side can secure at least one of its other seasonal targets. For Fiorentina, a final spot against either Roma or Udinese would be a major consolation for European and Serie A heartache.

The script should be that the game matters so much to the Viola that they grab the victory they need. But since when has football ever followed any kind of logic?

Martino Uno Di Noi!

They know how to say goodbye in Florence...

Say It Ain't So Adrian

I have always thought that when life gives you a second chance you should seize it.

Think about Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol who gets the chance to see how little the world would mourn his passing.

You would cherish every day after that experience, wouldn’t you?

And, more importantly, you would surely never make the same mistakes again.

It struck me that the same was true for Fiorentina’s errant striker Adrian Mutu, a man who has known his share of sporting turmoil – some of it self-inflicted.

He was banned from the game for taking cocaine but he served his time and looked to be completely rehabilitated.

Indeed, it seemed there was a renewed zest in his approach to enjoy the sport which had been denied him for some time.

Just one text message changed all that. “Have you seen your man Mutu has tested positive again?” it said.

I hoped the information would prove incorrect but confirmation soon followed with a news story outlining the outcome of checks following the recent Fiorentina match with Bari.

The Romanian had indeed tested positive for sibutramine, an appetite suppressant, and could face a four-year ban.

It is news which has left Fiorentina fans reeling.

The best case scenario is that there turns out to be some fault with the tests and he is cleared of any offence. But the worst case could effectively end his career.

If he did take a banned substance, it smacks of sheer stupidity given the price he already had to pay for a previous infringement.

He will have let himself, his club and his supporters down and thrown away a second chance which some people are not lucky enough to get.

Mancio's next mission

From Bleacher Report

Watch out England, the Italians are taking over.

The national team is in the hands of Fabio Capello, the league leaders belong to Carlo Ancelotti, and struggling West Ham is under the guidance of Gianfranco Zola.

Now the biggest of your big spenders have Roberto Mancini.

If things keep going at this pace, we’ll be able to change the Premiership brand into Serie A by the end of the next decade or so. But what are Manchester City getting for their many million pounds?

Well, Mancio was certainly one heck of a footballer. His elegance, class, and improvisational skills made him a star performer for Bologna, Sampdoria, Lazio, and Italy.

The less said about his brief spell with Leicester City the better.

As for his coaching career to date, it has certainly carried one key component more than any other—trophies.

He started out as assistant to Sven Goran Eriksson (where have I heard that name before?) at Lazio but got his first proper job at Fiorentina in 2001. In something of an emergency situation due to their financial difficulties, he took a patched-up Tuscan side to the Coppa Italia final and won.

He also ensured their Serie A survival, but with the club in turmoil off the pitch, he moved on to pastures new just a year after taking his first managerial trophy.

It was, however, out of the frying pan and into the fire.

The big-spending days at Lazio had gone and Mancio once again found himself trying to manage a club obliged to sell its best players. A Coppa Italia was delivered again as he triumphed in adversity.

It was only in his third coaching position, at Inter, that he got a bit of money to spend.

With Italian football in the eye of the Calciopoli storm, he delivered three league titles in a row.

His supporters saw that as confirmation that he was one of the finest young managers of his generation. Detractors complained that he had been handed one title and won the others because his major rivals were either not in the league or significantly penalised.

Manchester City fans can reach their own conclusions.

It was Europe, however, which ultimately proved fatal to Mancini in Milan.

All conquering at home, he could not deliver a team which performed to the same levels in the Champions League. Mind you, it has also proved beyond Jose Mourinho so far.

Now he takes up the fresh challenge of the Premiership and, presumably, trying to break into the top four some time soon.

As a player he was known for attacking flair and he likes his teams to play with a certain panache too. However, over time he has learned to give them the bite necessary to produce results.

Only time will tell if he can prove himself in a different country.

But one thing is for sure. If he can put Manchester City into the Champions League it would rank alongside anything he ever achieved in Italy.

Gilardino hits 120th

With his weekend goal against Atalanta, Alberto Gilardino made it 120 in Serie A.

Not bad for a boy born in 1982 and likely to have some of the best years of his career ahead of him.

I know Milan don't miss him but we're sure delighted in Florence that he made the move from the San Siro to the Artemio Franchi.

Grazie Gila!

The Crazy World Of Milan

From Calcio Italia

Carlo Ancelotti has got it easy. While his new team Chelsea stroll past average opposition almost every week, his successor at Milan is having kittens. You can say what you like about Leonardo’s Rossonero regime, but definitely not that it is boring.

Sunday’s rollercoaster display came against in-form Cagliari and the result was in doubt from beginning to end. Ultimately, it took four goals from four different scorers to see off the battling islanders. No wonder the new man on the bench in the San Siro looks a little older every time we see him.

How Carletto must chuckle down at Stamford Bridge if he ever switches on the Serie A highlights. He can lord it over a League where there are teams tactically inept enough to concede nine goals in a single game. Poor Leonardo seems to find himself involved in a knife-edge thriller every week.

Doubts have to remain about the sustainability of this approach. Surely the wheels must eventually fall off the Milan challenge. However, a bit like one of those plate-spinning acts, it is good fun to watch – at least until it all comes crashing down.

Meanwhile, Inter brushed off Bologna on Saturday evening after a Marcelo Zalayeta strike had threatened to spoil their build up to Barcelona on Tuesday. The Nerazzurri remain far and away the most solid team in Italy. The only negative element was a red card for Douglas Maicon which might make them suffer while he is suspended.

Juve kept up their challenge by seeing off Udinese courtesy of Fabio Grosso but it was a workmanlike display. The Bianconeri were never troubled, to be sure, but they rarely produced much attacking flair either. It will not, one suspects, have had Inter quaking in their boots.

Resurgent Roma enjoyed the fruits of a Francesco Totti hat-trick as they saw off revelation side Bari. But Fiorentina were unable to defeat another surprise package – Parma – as they succumbed 3-2 in the Artemio Franchi. The result catapulted Francesco Guidolin’s men into Champions League contention.

At the bottom end of the table the most significant results were wins for Livorno and Atalanta over Genoa and Siena respectively. It allowed them to join Bologna and Lazio on 12 points after the latter played out the only game without goals in the top Division at Napoli.

A quick scan of the standings suggests there has rarely been a more balanced season in Serie A – at least if you clip Inter off the top. You can argue about the quality of play but not the openness of all the major issues, bar the Scudetto. And, you never know, a steady Juve and this madcap Milan might yet have something to say about that.

Divin Jojo

Twenty years have passed since a frail-looking youngster with long dark curls lit up European nights in a purple shirt. His virtuoso performances put a huge smile on the faces of Fiorentina fans. I can feel echoes of Roby Baggio in Stevan Jovetic.

Back in 1989 I was living in Borgo San Lorenzo about 20 miles from Florence and the city's visceral love for its idol emanated across Tuscany. The club had helped to nurse him back from serious injury and was now beginning to see that faith earn its reward. He dragged the Viola all the way to the UEFA Cup final.

Fast forward a couple of decades and it's Jojo in the Champions League. Last season Cesare Prandelli kept the boy snuggled up in cotton wool and used him as sparingly as Luciano Spalletti works a hairbrush. This term that softly, softly approach has allowed the young Montenegrin to grow.

This Fiorentina side is streets ahead of the team that lost its UEFA final to Juve. That year the talk in the bars around Campo di Marte was all about avoiding relegation and hoping for a brighter future. Nowadays, some supporters get grumpy if the club drops out of Serie A's top three or four.

Yet a similar magic links Baggio and Jovetic. Each one sends a frisson of anticipation through the fans which nobody else can match. The ponytailed one did it with his breakneck dribbling. The young pretender manages it with a first touch as gentle as a snowflake brushing your face on a winter morning. And then a crack of imagination like a hypnotist snapping his fingers to end his victim's slumber.

One night does not a career make, of course. But we should all be allowed a little indulgence from time to time. Sinking Liverpool was the football equivalent of one of those giant ice creams that makes your daughter's eyes light up with glee. There's time enough for indigestion - let's savour the flavours for now.

The Sick Men of Europe

If ever you needed a feeling of impending doom, then our European candidates provided it at the weekend. Of all seven Italian sides involved in the Champions and Europa Leagues, just one of them recorded a victory. And that was courtesy of a Stevan Jovetic penalty.

You could argue, I guess, that what is Europe’s loss is Serie A’s gain. The top of the table has an interesting look with Samp sitting pretty, Fiorentina and Udinese in the hunt and Inter and Juve already losing precious points. But while the domestic battle is entertaining, the omens for continental conflict are decidedly grim.

Certainly, there was no shame in Jose Mourinho’s men losing by a single strike to Samp (Vai Pazzo!). They tried their hardest to get back on level terms but could not muster a goal. However, having quietly accepted a draw in their opening clash with Barcelona, surely nothing more than a win will do this week. Rubin Kazan might sound more like the magic words of a sorcerer than a football team but they would love to make Inter’s Champions League dreams disappear.

Our other two “big guns”, Juve and Milan, were both held at home by the BB gunners – Bologna and Bari. I tend to think Juve’s result was the more disappointing, only because the Bianconeri have shown more promise this term. It was very unlike them to throw away a lead and an away trip to Bayern is never a simple prospect. The least said about the Rossoneri, the better. I like little Bari’s attitude – with pace and flair on the break – but they should have been no match for Leonardo’s men. Even Zurich must think a trip to the San Siro is not as daunting as it once was.

The only weekend winners were Fiorentina – courtesy of the talismanic Jojo. They were far from impressive against Livorno while their Tuesday night opponents, Liverpool, were dishing out a summary thrashing. Mind you, as my father pointed out, it was only against Hull.

In the Europa League corner, Roma left it late to salvage a draw with Catania. Lazio could do no better than a share of the spoils at home to Palermo and Genoa slumped to defeat against in-form Udinese. Our capital teams both face sides from Sofia this week and must get back to winning ways. The Grifone, I suspect, would be happy with a draw away to Valencia.

It does not look good, I admit. But hope still springs from somewhere in my soul. Every so often Italian football produces the goods in adversity. I hope this turns out to be one of those weeks.

Addio Andrea

I admit, at first, I had some trepidation. I felt a bit like somebody on the rebound from a bad relationship not wanting to get hurt again. How could I know if their intentions were good?

Over time, of course, Andrea and Diego Della Valle have won me over. Yet, at the outset, even their names caused me concern. I had just watched another set of double-barreled names almost kill the club I love. It seemed like a short step from Cecchi Gori to Della Valle. OK, this time they were brothers but it was not such a big difference from the previous father and son team.

In truth, they could not have been more different. While Cecchi Gori Snr was a figure of some substance, his son was more concerned about appearance. The Della Valles are no slouches in that department either - as befits shoe-making millionaires - but that is where the similarities end. They helped to rebuild Fiorentina without the smoke and mirrors of the last regime.

It has taken time, however, to warm to ADV as president. He comes across as a slightly cold character and a little bit timid under the harsh stare of the television cameras. But, if you listened to what he had to say, it always seemed to make plenty of sense. In a cauldron like Florence post-collapse and Serie C2, he was just what was needed.

No doubt, the club's involvement in Calciopoli tarnished his reign. Nonetheless, he seemed to emerge from it stronger and more determined to learn the lessons which it had taught. Eventually, he gave us a Fiorentina worthy of the Champions League once again.

I await an open letter to fans which is apparently in the offing. It is unclear whether Andrea's decision to step down as president is a question of reorganisation or an actual distancing from the club. The former would be perfectly acceptable but the latter could prove highly harmful.

These things have a habit of having repercussions for a team, no matter how much people protest they should not. On the one hand, the owners seem committed to building their new Cittadella training ground. On the other hand, they may have got sick of a rump of fans for whom even getting to fourth place in Serie A was not enough.

I signed up this afternoon to the Facebook group saying thanks to Andrea Della Valle. My memory is not so short that I don't recall where Fiorentina have come from in the last few years. He can't take all the credit but he at least deserves his share. It's the end of an era, that's for sure. But, as one fan wrote in a typical piece of dark Tuscan humour, "Come on now, he's not actually dead or anything!". We owe the Della Valle a debt of thanks but if it's time to move on then so be it. Comunque e per sempre, Forza Viola!

Grim viewing

The evening was clear, the children in bed and a nice espresso sitting at my right hand. Everything in place for a sporting battle between Roma and Fiorentina. It was all going so well ... until the game started.

Obviously, from a Giallorosso perspective it was a fine match. After a few setbacks, they are back on track in Serie A with a resounding victory. But the wheels came off the Viola campaign spectacularly.

The opening phases were well balanced enough but once Roma went ahead through a penalty it seemed like Prandelli's men lost all cohesion. They were three nil down before half time. Never before has my coffee tasted so bitter.

I guess I should be used to it by now, following Fiorentina. They always give you more pain than pleasure. Yet I had a sneaky feeling they could have got something out of this game. Instead, they put in their worst display of the season so far.

Now the job is to bounce back against high-flying Samp. Giampaolo Pazzini could really make us regret selling him, Antonio Cassano can send out another message to Marcello Lippi and Angelo Palombo may make us wonder what might have been if he had stayed. I feel pessimistic again. Back to normal service, I guess.

Dead and buried?

It's the first real chance to take the temperature of Italian football in a European context. Many have been rushing to pronounce the patient dead already. Over the next three nights we will get a better diagnosis.

The departures of Ibra and Kaka have been cited as symptoms of our illness. Well, the Swede-you-would-most-like-to-slap is coming back to the San Siro - all attitude and arrogance. The rest of Italy's Champions League contenders will go up against the best that France has to offer.

I fear for Milan and Fiorentina, I am hopeful for Inter and optimistic for Juve. They could all deliver a real tonic for Serie A if they manage to grab any kind of positive result. Then we will get an indication of our strength in depth when the Europa League takes centre stage.

By late Thursday night we will have the readings from the heart monitor. Is Italian football's decline terminal or is it responding to treatment?

ROUND ONE: He may be old but Super Pippo still knows where the goal is. His second strike was pure class to defeat Marseille. Juve got a draw which was probably fair on balance of play - but annoying after taking the lead.

ROUND TWO: Inter content with a draw, I reckon, typical Jose Mourinho approach - happy to hold Barca at bay. Still seething about Fiorentina. With 11 men against 11, we produced a very efficient display - better than last year's 2-2. Gila sending off compromised the whole night. Still, take it on the chin and move on.

ROUND THREE: Maybe the worst night of all. Genoa record a handsome win but Roma and Lazio lose to the might of Switzerland and Austria. Deary me...

Twin wins to secure South Africa trip

Let's put it simply. A win on Saturday away to Georgia and another at home on Wednesday against Bulgaria will ensure we defend our world title. Even if we went and lost to the Republic of Ireland, a win at home to Cyprus in the final match would see us home.

It is a straightforward enough equation but the Azzurri rarely do things easy. The Confederations Cup was a debacle but the young generation looked alright in the Switzerland friendly. Now is the time to show everything can click together.

I don't really care about personnel. Yes, I would probably have liked to have seen Cassano get a call up but, as with all such omissions, he will only be missed if results go wrong. Even without him we should be able to get the twin wins.

After Fiorentina sneaking into the Champions League this would be another chance to blow away the cobwebs around Italian football. Are you too fed up reading that Serie A and the Nazionale are dead? If we could be sitting nicely clear at the top of our group by Wednesday night it would be the best answer to that possible. Vai, Italia!

Euro draw reaction

Remember the days when Milan blasted their way through Europe, gunning down their rivals along the way? Those times may well be long gone but I have used them as a yardstick to assess Italian teams chances of progress in Europe this year. Each side gets an "Arrigo Rating" with a maximum of five awarded to the team most likely to progress.

MILAN - Our only top seed could have landed more comfortably, but their prospects must be reasonable. They face the unknown element of the Galacticos and old boy Ricky Kaka at Real Madrid. They could be brilliant but, I suspect, they might be rusty in the opening rounds. The other teams are Ligue 1 runners-up Marseille and Swiss side Zurich - both of whom should be beatable either home or away. Rinaldi's rating - Three Arrigos.

INTER - Our top dogs only merited second seeding and paid the price by landing champions Barcelona. A first chance to see who got the best out of the Ibra-Eto'o deal. Dynamo Kiev and Rubin Kazan make up the numbers, surely able to be swept aside by Mourinho's men. Rinaldi's rating - Four Arrigos.

JUVENTUS - Potentially got the kindest draw with the weakest top seed in the form of Bayern Munich. Bordeaux are French champions with old acquaintance of Serie A Yoann Gourcuff in top form. Maccabi Haifa should be a tricky away trip and no more. Rinaldi's rating - Four Arrigos.

FIORENTINA - Always likely to face the toughest task and no doubt it ended up that way. Liverpool and Lyon have an impressive track record in the Champions League in recent years. However, they do have the comfort of little Debreceni as their last opponents. Rinaldi's rating - Two Arrigos.

In the EUROPA league the draw has also been made too. Roma get to take on the English with Fulham in their group along with CSKA Sofia and Basel. Got to fancy their chances (Five Arrigos). Lazio meet Villareal, Levski Sofia and Salzburg (Four Arrigos) . While Genoa are in the hunt along with Valencia, Lille and Slavia Prague (Three Arrigos if they use their full team).

A night of living dangerously

It began with talk of important arrivals at the Artemio Franchi. Sting was in the crowd, apparently, as well as new signing Lorenzo De Silvestri. Both, however, declined to speak to the waiting Sky Italia microphones.

The Fiesole was in the mood for a big European night. Showing off its full colours and voice, the Curva declared its faith that the Viola could make it to the Champions League group stages. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell the team.

Lacklustre would be the most kind description of Fiorentina's first half against Sporting Lisbon. The visitors bossed the game pretty much from the outset as Cesare Prandelli's men looked unsure of their approach. They knew they really should attack - but somehow could not bring themselves to do so.

When Joao Moutinho gave the Portuguese the lead it was no more than they deserved. You could grumble about a clear handball in the build-up to their free-kick but you could not argue they were the better team. Some dressing-room half-time magic was in order.

That's where Stevan Jovetic came into play. The introduction of JoJo and, hopefully, a verbal rocket in the direction of Riccardo Montolivo, transformed the team. For about 15 pulsating minutes the boys in purple revealed their true colours.

This is a team that only gives its best when going forward and taking the initiative. Vargas, Marchionni, Mutu, Montolivo, Gilardino, Jovetic and the rest are drawn towards goal. Ask them to simply "control" a game and they just can't do it.

The proof came in the last desperately defended 15 minutes. Sporting had lost some of the crispness to their play but they still hemmed the Florentines in. It would not be the Viola, if they did not make you suffer.

Now we look forward to the Champions League group stages. A kindly draw would be nice. But, whoever we land, we know it will be torture all the way.

Franchi focus

How much would I give to be in Florence tonight? The warm weather, the view of the Fiesole hills and a Champions League berth to be secured...

Instead, I am in the chill rain of Scotland, watching from my living room. But I will be there in spirit, willing the Prandelli Show to go on into Europe's elite competition. I think I read somewhere it would be the first time we had made consecutive group stages. If so, it would be quite some achievement.

It's all about attitude tonight, I reckon. If we take that typically Italian approach of trying to defend what we have, we will never get anywhere. However, if we are 100% concentrated and 100% clinical in taking our chances we just might do it. Come sempre, Forza Viola...

Let the games commence...

Ah, it has been a long summer. Too long. There has been the Ashes, I suppose. And there was that thrilling finale to the British Open with the elderly Tom Watson so cruelly denied. But - just the same - give me this Sunday my Serie A.

In fact, things start on Saturday. Fiorentina head to Bologna to try to pick up their form after a shaky display but good result at Sporting Lisbon. Later in the day we get a chance to see how the new Milan is shaping up. They face a tricky wee trip to Siena. This is the post-Maldini, Kaka and Ancelotti era. It hasn't looked great so far but the crunch comes with competitive matches.

Reigning champs Inter have a pretty straightforward looking debut at home to Bari on Sunday. Pick of the days fixtures are last year's revelations Genoa at home to last year's disasters Roma and a potentially red-hot Palermo v Napoli match. Should be plenty to debate following those matches.

It is also the dawn of a new era for UK-based Calcio fans. We get ESPN covering Serie A for the first time this weekend. Initial signs look quite good. I enjoyed their coverage of the Scottish Premier League clash between Dundee Utd and Hearts the other night. Here's hoping they get some cracking matches to get the ball rolling.

Seeds of despair in Champions League

I know UEFA want to encourage smaller nations but the last play-off round of the Champions League has some bizarre seeding arrangements. The 20 teams fighting it out for 10 remaining group places have been divided into two pots and then divided into seeds and non-seeds.

On one path you have the seeds Arsenal, Lyon, Sporting, Panathinaikos and Stuttgart with the NON-SEEDS Fiorentina, Celtic, Atletico Madrid, Anderlecht and Timisoara.

On the other you find the SEEDS are Olympiakos, Copenhagen, Levski Sofia, Maccabi Haifa and FC Zurich. The non-seeds are FC Salzburg, Apoel, Ventspils, Debreceni and FC Sheriff.

Spot anything there? The strength difference between the two paths is enormous. I would say the non-seeds in the first section are stronger than the seeded sides in the other. If they wanted to guarantee a few useless teams getting through to get thrashed in the groups they have gone the right way about it.

Bitter Viola fan? You bet.

Et tu, Felipe?

Twenty years ago, more or less, I was an English language assistant living in a little town about 30km from Florence. The Viola were flirting with the bottom end of the table as usual but heading off on an amazing run in the UEFA Cup. Our undisputed idol was Roby Baggio.

Yet even as we made progress in Europe - I recall an icy night in Kiev in particular - there was the sound of distant thunder. Our Special One was being pursued with a pot of gold and the club did not seem likely to offer much resistance. It only aggravated matters that his suitor was dressed in black and white.

In my late teens, I tried sticking my head in the sand, I think. Hoping the deal might fall through. Nothing was signed and sealed, we could still see our magical number 10 in purple again next season. How foolish I was.

Enough has been written about how badly Fiorentini took the transfer to the Bianconeri when it was confirmed. I wasn't one of the ones out on the street throwing stones at the club's HQ. Instead, I was brooding in a one-bedroom flat in Borgo San Lorenzo.

I was angry, I guess, but it wasn't directed at Baggio. I don't believe in that fickle approach - one minute a hero, the next minute a Judas. Besides, even at the time it seemed pretty clear he could have done little to halt the process. To some extent, I could even understand the club for selling him. After all, why not cash in on your most valuable asset?

My biggest emotion, I think now, was one of emptiness and a feeling of powerlessness. You buy into your team so much that it feels like they belong to you - maybe are part of you in some way. Then they sell off the player you idolise and you realise just how far apart you actually are. Sometimes you feel that it is your world, but this just brings it home that it really is not the case.

Disillusioned is the right description.

Those same feelings have been stirred up now as I stare down the barrel of 40. In his brief time in Florence, Felipe Melo was a kung-fu kicking breath of fresh air. He brought a verve and vigour to our midfield in place of the surgical but often sluggish precision of Fabio Liverani. I loved the whole-hearted gusto with which he played each game.

His sending-off against Juve was the perfect calling card.

Nowadays, however, loyalty is a word which belongs only on store cards. You can't blame big Fil, really, nobody has it installed on their brain's hard-drive any more. The rush for honours, glory and personal gain has swept everything else to one side. The path of using a provincial club as a "shop window" is so well-worn it takes nobody by surprise.

Still, however, in the pit of my stomach, there is a sick feeling when I think about the Melo move. It says that Juve are back to their position of pre-eminence after just a couple of seasons of penance for their part in the Calciopoli affair. It also underlines that Fiorentina will only ever be a stepping stone for players with aspirations of playing at the top level.

I don't mind that, really, but it is sometimes hard to accept. I have seen what it can do to a club to spend beyond its means and I don't want to go back to Castelnuovo Garfagnana to play our games again. I admire the salary cap in Florence and the way they are using clauses in players' contracts not as a way of "trapping" them but rather as a method to assess their commitment to the cause.

All the same, it hurts to see a good player leave. Especially to Juve.

The first cut, with Baggio, was the deepest. This pain will pass. I will come to accept seeing Felipe in black and white and probably join the jeers when he comes back to the Artemio Franchi as our enemy. There will be new idols, other players in whom to invest my dreams.

But still, deep down, I know - as I did a couple of decades ago - that a little something has been lost and it will never return.

Feel my pain

Fiorentina tumbled out of the Champions League - not through lack of effort but rather through lack of clinical finishing in front of goal. They lost at home to Lyon in a game which underlined their main failing in Europe - not turning their chances into goals.

It was a good game and the French were a good team but I felt the Viola were worth at least a draw. The trouble is they shunned opportunities with too much regularity. Zdravko Kuzmanovic, in particular, hit one shot nearer to the corner flag than the goal when put clean through.

It is a skill which Fiorentina have lacked all season. They can put the opposition under pressure for long spells but (apart from the second half against Udinese) fail to turn it into goals. Against a sharp finishing side like Lyon it was always going to spell trouble.

So, there is only the UEFA left to play for. It seems a little hollow. However, until we get more experienced and battle-hardened in the Champs League it is probably about our level. Unless we lose to Bucharest, of course, in which case there is nothing...

A curse upon the French!

The Viola stood on the brink of one of their greatest European results last night before the nasty football fates intervened. Well, the referee anyway.

With Luciano Zauri lying pole-axed on the floor in the penalty box after a head knock the ref failed to stop play. Then Lyon showed a distinct lack of sportsmanship by continuing to play themselves. It was child's play to roll the ball into the net with Zauri effectively playing everybody on side while clutching his head.

Yes, the Viola were naive. Yes, they should have played the whistle. Yes, they should not have tried to play the offside trap.

Just the same it left a bitter taste. Eventually Lyon equalised from being 2-0 down (from a dubious free-kick) and a draw in France ended up feeling disappointing when it should have been a good result. When my rage dies down I may realise that. In the meantime, I am furious.