Soccer update-- cancellations and more

Today's La Liga match between Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano was cancelled due to sabotage. (Apparently an electrical cable was cut.)

Above and below: Workers attempt to fix the lights 

Below: Fans outside the Estadio de Vellecas

In Italy, today's match between AS Roma and Cagliari was cancelled due to a dispute between Cagliari and Serie A authorities about whether home fans would be allowed to attend the match.

And finally, Milan's disastrous season continued with a 2-1 loss to Udinese. Highlights included two Milan players sent off with red cards (Cristian Zapata and Kevin Prince-Boateng) and continued speculation about whether Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri will be fired.

Below: Milan players after the match

World Cup Preview: Players to watch out for

Above: Diego Milito (Argentina/Inter Milan)

Above: Wesley Sneijder (Holland/Inter Milan)

Above: Antonio Di Natale (Italy/Udinese)

Above: Nadir Belhadj (Algeria/Portsmouth)

Match report: Milan 3 - Udinese 2

• Goals scored: Huntelaar 7', Pato 39', Floro Flores 45', Huntelaar 57', Di Natale 86'
• What happened: Milan kept scoring but also played sloppily, so they kept letting Udinese back in the match. I spent most of the match worrying about injuries.
• Milan players who could not play due to injury: Seedorf, Borriello, Antonini
• Milan players who returned today from injury: Nesta, Pato
• Milan players who had to leave early due to possible injury: Mancini, Thiago Silva (!)
• Milan players who appear to be quite rusty despite having scored a goal: Pato
• Milan player who made the pass that led to each of Milan's goals: Ronaldinho. The second one, a long pass down the middle of the field to Pato, was especially nice.
• Famous visitors to the San Siro to watch the match: Sir Alex Ferguson
• Strange sightings from today's match: Escorting the referees down the tunnel to the pitch were three men dressed as admirals/hotel doormen. (Sorry, no photo was available)
• What this match teaches us: Manchester United are coming on Tuesday.

Match report: Udinese 1- Milan 0

• Goals scored: Di Natale 22'
• Milan's offense: Milan held the ball for much of the game, but they did not look close to scoring, especially for the first two-thirds. Pato and Inzaghi looked sluggish and unimaginative. When Ronaldinho and Huntelaar were brought on to replace the two starters, things became more exciting. But they still did not score.
• A word to describe the match: Brutal. It was surprising that no one was seriously hurt.
• Best impersonation of Gattuso: Flamini for getting two yellow cards in under 90 seconds. (See photo above)
• It is not nice to point fingers, but other players played badly also: Massimo Oddo spent most of the evening ruining the offside trap and single-handedly putting Udinese players on onside. Also, Gianluca Zambrotta does not appear to be able to kick the ball with his left foot.
• What this match teaches us: It may never be possible to figure out why this team can't score goals.

All's done in Serie A: Game day 38

BOOOOO!

This morning, nothing was decided in Italy. Relegation, scudetto, and Champions League spots were all still very open. Unfortunately, some teams were on the losing end of the games. Inter, Catania, and Fiorentina all grabbed the wins (or draws, in Catania's case) they needed. Milan and Roma won, but their efforts were "truly academic," as their destinies were really determined by Fiorentina and Inter. Parma lost, sealing their own destiny: to return to Serie B.

Inter 2- Parma 0
Inter are the scudetto winners for the third consecutive year, and the 16th time in history.
Parma will be relegated to Serie B, along with Empoli and Livorno.

Roma 1- Catania 1
Roma finish the season second. Their win was irrelevant as Inter won anyway.
Catania narrowly escaped relegation (by one point!).

Fiorentina 1- Torino 0
Fiorentina pull off the win they need to participate in the 2008-09 Champions League.
Torino were safe from relegation and had little to play for. They could have given Milan a hand, though.

Milan 4- Udinese 1
Milan finish two points behind Fiorentina, so they will have to settle for the UEFA cup. This will make certain Italian prime ministers unhappy.
Udinese were also playing for very little, as they have already qualified for the UEFA cup.




Above (right to left): Pato, Pirlo, and Kaka celebrate after Pato scores the equaliser against Udinese, Luciano Spalletti looks sad after his team (Roma) fails to win the scudetto, Javier Zanetti lifts Inter's scudetto trophy.