Your Friday Goals for March 8, 2013

The 2013 MLS season has started, Real Madrid has bumped Manchester United from the Champions League, and David Beckham road the bench for PSG, it's time for your Friday Goals.

More after the jump:

Your Friday Goals

Always good to unwind on Friday with some videos of goals:

More videos after the jump:

Mexes Apologizes for Punching Borriello

This past Saturday's match between Milan and Juventus at the San Siro had been billed as the decisive battle for the top spot on the Serie A table; however, the match ended in a 1-1 draw thanks to goals from Antonio Nocerino in the 14th minute for Milan and from Alessandro Matri in the 83rd minute for Juventus. In the end, the occurrence during the match that proved to be the news maker of the day was Philippe Mexes' off the ball punch of former Roma teammate Marco Borriello.

Although the match referee did not see the incident during the match, the television cameras picked it up and the hot headed French defender was given a three match ban.

Mexes is now attempting to make amends, having apologized to the referee, Paolo Tagliavento, who was officiating this week's friendly between Germany and France, and is now expressing the desire to apologize to Borriello.

Milan, who are one point ahead of Juventus on the table, head to Sicily on Saturday to play Palermo while Juventus host Chievo Verona on Saturday evening.

May Juventus Stadium Be the First of Many New Stadiums in Italy

Last week, Juventus unveiled its new stadium, called Juventus Stadium until naming rights are sold. The 41,000 seat stadium is smaller than the Old Lady's previous home, the Stadio delle Alpi, but that is a good development in that there is no longer a running track between the fans and the pitch. The more intimate venue will provide a better football atmosphere not only for those in the stands but also for those watching on television. In recent years Italy's bigger football clubs have been expressing the desire to escape their cavernous multi-use stadiums, such as the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, for soccer specific venues. As it is, security issues concerning the large, aging stadiums that many of the clubs play in result in tickets not being sold for entire sections during most matches, something that has been clearly noticed by football fans in other countries watching Serie A matches on television - they might hear the fans, but rarely do they see the fans.

While I am not a Juventus fan, I respect the club's history, and I hope that the new stadium will prove a successful venture for the club and prove to be the first domino of many falling when it comes to the building of new soccer stadiums in Italy. FYI, Juventus won its first game in its new stadium this past weekend, beating Parma 4-1.

[VIDEO] Juventus in Philadelphia

I'm not a Juventus fan, and, yes, Juve hasn't recovered from the troubles of 2006, but it's good to see The Old Lady in the United States.

[VIDEO] Samuel Eto'o Submits his Entry for Miss of the Season

The evening of Sunday February 13, 2011 featured the Derby d'Italia as Juventus hosted Inter in Torino. Inter, after a rocky start under Rafa Benitez, has found new life under the coaching of Leonardo and came into Torino on a 3 match win streak. Meanwhile, Juventus has been suffering an inconsistent season in which hopes of winning the Scudetto have switched to hopes of just making the Champions League cut. In Sunday's Derby d'Italia, Juventus took the early lead thanks to a Alessandro Matri goal in the 30th minute, but Juventus almost gave up 2 points in the 89th minute when Maicon's pass to Samuel Eto'o tricked Juventus keeper Buffon into diving, giving Eto'o a great view of the net:

Alessandro Del Piero on Chiambretti Night - April 28, 2010

I can't believe I missed this . . . I don't know how I missed this. Apologies good reader - mi dispiace - mi scusi . . ..

Back in April, Juventus' Alessandro Del Piero was on the Italian television show Chiambretti Night. I'm nine months late on this, but here is the video I've found on YouTube - the first few videos are just some excerpts, but the rest seem to cover his full appearance, though the quality is not great.











Here's the full version:

Serie A Report for January 13, 2008

Serie A returned to this pitch this weekend, and the big question was could Milan finally win a game at the San Siro and make a second half run at a table position that would return them to the Champions League next season. Milan came out strong this evening, with a convincing 5 - 2 win over Napoli. A game which included a goal from Alexandro Pato, the 18 year old Brazilian who made his competitive debut today.

The winter break clearly didn’t slow down Inter Milan, who survived a tough battle against Siena, a team that will spend the second half of the season fighting to avoid relegation, with a 3 - 2 victory, two of Inter’s goals coming off the foot of Ibrahimovic.

Inter’s victory keeps it well ahead of the pack with 46 points, but Roma’s 2-1 victory over Atalanta, a side that has given Roma trouble in the past, enabled them to secure second place and 36 points. Juventus on the other hand was lucky to walk away with one point after Saturday’s rain soddened 1-1 draw at Catania. Meanwhile both Udinese and Fiorentina won their matches this weekend, firmly holding onto fourth and fifth places, respectively.

The Eternal City’s other side came into this season with high hopes, but a string of injuries and some bad luck on the pitch has pushed Lazio into relegation territory. The second half of the season appeared promising when Lazio scored a goal in the 23rd minute of today’s match against Genoa. But the second half belonged to Genoa’s Marco Boriello who scored off a penalty kick in the 51st minute and then quickly scored a second goal in the 55th minute.