Wednesday January 17, 2007

There is a title race in Italy that features no less than seven different contenders, separated – as we approach the midway point of the season – by just three teeny-weeny points. It’s the battle for the Serie B title, and it promises to be about a billion times more dramatic than it’s Serie A counterpart. Up in the top Division, by contrast, Inter have now all but won the title and with a huge gap between third placed Palermo and the rest too, the only major question still in doubt, aside from relegation, is the battle for fourth place.

Here again, seven teams lie within just three points of each other, stretching from the current fourth placed team, Lazio, down to Milan and Udinese in ninth and tenth – Catania, who are tied on points with the Biancocelesti, do have a game in hand however. Lord knows we’ve seen some surprises this season, but Lazio and Milan have to be the front-runners to snatch that coveted Champions League spot. Their clash this coming weekend at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome should be a cracker.

My current daydream is seeing our old friend Ronaldo run, alright, amble out of the tunnel in a Milan strip for this game. Given relations between Real and the Rossoneri his prospective return to Italy is unlikely to come off so quickly, if it comes off at all, but the Olimpico would make a fascinating stage for El Gordo’s return. It was there that he suffered both the worst of his knee injuries and his worst and final defeat with Inter. No stadium sums up so completely his unfulfilled promise in the Italian game.

Some feel that Milan’s bid for Big Ron – their second in six months – is an ill-advised move. Certainly his form in 2006 for both Real Madrid and Brazil was disappointing, and memories of the Rossoneri’s ill-fated signing of Fernando Redondo are still fresh. Still, for Milan this is a gamble worth taking. Ronaldo is only 30, which makes him something akin to a youth team player for the Rossoneri.

Roni’s goal ratio for Real has been incredible, something like 83 League goals in the past four seasons. What he’s been missing lately at Madrid is attitude, and in this sense his reported decision to agree terms with a highly competitive club like Milan in a proper League, rather than do one to the Red Bull Metrostars is a very positive sign. I’m no Milan fan, but I’d concede that at Milanello, Ronaldo would discover what Andriy Shevchenko now misses at Chelsea – one of the finest clubs in the world for a centre forward.

It’s a risk then, but given all that and the fact that the alternative is more Pippo Inzaghi, it’s a no brainer. Here’s hoping Milan sign him up ASAP.