Super Pippo

Hey I called something correctly! As usual, the player to pop up with a spectacular effort when Milan needed it the most was none other than Filippo Inzaghi. A hat-trick featuring his usual poaching style sunk Atalanta and with Fiorentina going down to Palermo, Milan has tightened its grip on 3rd place in Serie A. A good performance by David Beckham as well.

Let me just take a minute to declare my admiration for Pippo Inzaghi. If you were to see the man on the street and someone asked you to guess his profession, you would never guess a professional athlete of any kind. He's under 6 ft. tall and stringy as hell and looks much older than he actually is (35). But I love the passion that he plays with. Inzaghi celebrates every goal as if it were his first. The best part is that they are often what you might call "garbage goals". The ultimate poacher has poked balls in after they hit both posts, claimed wild deflections, and even nudge one in with his nose like a seal and celebrated them all as if he'd gone upper-90 from 30 yards away. You might forget about him all game as he gets caught offside time and again. But in the biggest games and at the biggest moments he always seems to pop up.

Sir Alex Ferguson has been quoted as saying that Pippo "was born in an offside position," and I've read at least one other editorial saying his face looks "like a smacked arse." Most people I know can't stand him. But I bet even they would admit that they would rather have him on their side.