Another week, another resounding victory for the league leaders. Sound familiar? Juventus are Serie A's resident Special Ones, and on Sunday night they handed alleged rivals Internazionale 'Two slaps from the Old Lady', as La Repubblica put it, to claim their sixth straight league win.
The Delle Alpi, a stadium that not even a George Bush relief plan could fill, was barely half-full as Inter - who'd prepared for the atmosphere by playing their latest Champions League game, against Rangers, behind closed doors - strode out for a hard fought but ultimately one-sided affair. With Patrick Vieira, Pavel Nedved and Zlatan Ibrahimovic constantly surging forward, Juve won free-kick after free-kick from the panicky Inter defenders and both the game's goals were from set pieces. The first when David Trezeguet was fastest onto Ibrahimovic's rebounded shot, the second after Nedved blasted his kick straight past the hapless Julio Cesar.
Inter eventually threw on Alvaro Recoba and Julio Ricardo Cruz to join Obafemi Martins and a very anonymous Adriano up front, but with Vieira, 'the Lord of the midfield '(Gazzetta), and Emerson ruling the middle of the park like a gang of suburban hoodies, it was to no avail, and the nerazzurri slunk back to Milan and the drawing board with a 2-0 defeat. "Not another lesson!" fumed long-suffering owner Massimo Moratti. "I'm fed up with them. Still, there's no room for demoralisation, not with all the money we've spent."
Which, at around ￡500m and rising, is a lot. It's tempting to write Inter's title chances off here and now, so vast was the difference between them and the defending champions on Sunday. The league leaders did come out of the game weakened - after Lilian Thuram, Trezeguet and Ibrahimovic all went off injured, the Swede following a horrendous scissor tackle from old Evertonian Marco Materazzi that caused outrage in the Italian Senate - but even with the B team on for the second half, they still looked, in the Gazzetta's word, 'Scary'.
Juve's perfect run means they now lie six points above Inter, and five clear of joint second-place sides Fiorentina and Milan, both of whom also won this weekend. Fiorentina saw off Livorno 3-2 in one of the 12 Tuscan derbies we're due to have this year (four Tuscan sides in Serie A, you see), defeating the previously unbeaten port side thanks largely to Cristian Lucarelli's early red card for dissent.
Milan, meanwhile, beat low-flying Reggina 2-1 - the news here being that both rossoneri goals came from Paolo Maldini. In his 20 years in football Maldini had never before scored a brace, and while he'd found the net just this May in Istanbul, his previous league goal was all the way back in 2002. "I get few chances but I know how to take them," quipped the legend, who, since moving to centre-back, now gets even fewer chances to get forward. On Sunday the 37-year-old looked like a born striker, nut-megging his marker to score the first and leaping to head in the second, despite his famously worn out knees. "He's an example to us all," marvelled Rino Gattuso post-game. "He's a symbol - we've seen him suffering, so to watch him celebrate now brings us all a special joy," added Andriy Shevchenko, another fully paid-up member of the Maldini fan club.
Elsewhere in the league Lecce, now under Silvio Baldini, got their first win with a stylish 3-0 defeat of Cagliari. Otherwise it was a big week for teams in black and white: Udinese welcomed back Vincenzo Iaquinta, whose recent contract spat with the club saw them play three games without him and lose all three. Armed with a new deal, Iaquinta duly opened the scoring on Sunday as Udinese got back to winning ways with a 3-0 hammering of Lazio.
Ascoli, sporting similar stripes, claimed their first win with a 3-1 victory at home to notoriously poor travellers Parma. However, the biggest bianconero achievement of all belonged to Siena, who went to Roma, played with ten men for the last half hour and still beat the giallorossi 3-2. All three Siena gaols came from ex-Lazio players: Paolo Negro, Enrico Chiesa and Francesco Colonnese; and none saw a bigger celebration than Negro's opener. "It's Me it's Me, it's Me!" he screamed, running the length of the Stadio Olimpico. "Do you remember?!"
They almost certainly do. Back in 2000, when Negro was still at Lazio, he went down in Roman football history with a famous own goal in the derby - a wayward ball from his then Lazio team-mate Alessandro Nesta bouncing off him and into the net. Roma won that game 1-0, and Negro spent the remainder of his time in the capital hounded by delighted romanisti, who founded supporters clubs in his name, cheered him on at the Olimpico and even paraded around town in Roma shirts with 'Negro' on the back.
Seventeen minutes into Sunday's game came his long awaited revenge. "For five long years they robbed me of my smile, but now they cannot take it from me anymore," Paolo told reporters in a kind of post-game trance. "I suffered the romanisti for five years, all for an own goal that wasn't my fault. This is my revenge, and Lazio had better watch out too; because they said I was finished, but their turn will come."
Well, it's nice to see a player who keeps things in perspective. Next weekend will be a rest weekend for Serie A, which certainly sounds a salutary thing for some players. I'll be back in a fortnight for news of round seven - the black and white derby of Siena v Udinese, Milan's trip to Cagliari and Juve's win over Messina.
Results
Chievo 0 - 0 Treviso
Udinese 3 - 0 Lazio
Ascoli 3 - 1 Parma
Fiorentina 3 - 2 Livorno
Juventus 2 - 0 Inter
Lecce 3 - 0 Cagliari
Messina 1 - 4 Sampdoria
Milan 2 - 1 Reggina
Palermo 2 - 2 Empoli
Roma 2 - 3 Siena