2007–08 Serie A


The 2007–08 Serie A was the 106th season of top-tier Italian football, the 76th in a round-robin tournament. It started on 25 August 2007 and ended on 18 May 2008. Internazionale successfully defended the championship on the final day of the season, finishing first with 85 points, three ahead of Roma.

Events

''Plusvalenze'' investigation

Inquiries are being conducted by the CO.VI.SOC. into the finances of four Serie A clubs who stand accused of falsely inflating player values - a practice known as plusvalenze in Italian - in order to qualify financially for the 2005–06 Serie A. If the allegations prove true, penalties could range from fines to point deductions, relegation to Serie B, and even the stripping of Internazionale's 2005-06 scudetto.

Lazio fan killed by police

On the morning of 11 November 2007 26-year-old Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri, a DJ from Rome, was killed by a shot in his neck while sitting inside a car, by a policeman, after some other fans of Lazio violently assaulted a group of Juventus ultras with stones on the A1 Motorway service station of Badia al Pino in Arezzo. Early reports suggested that a stray bullet from a gun, set to distract the group of ultras, hit the Lazio fan in the neck as he sat in a car and killed him. An emergency meeting set up between Lega Calcio president Antonio Matarrese and police chief Antonio Manganelli decided that the game between Inter and Lazio would be called off, but the rest of the fixtures would go ahead that day, starting at a slightly later time. The Atalanta–Milan game was eventually suspended following unrest caused by local ultras attempting to break off the protection glass in order to invade the pitch and stop the match. Later in the afternoon, the Italian Football Federation chose to postpone also the game between AS Roma and Cagliari, whose kick off was scheduled for 8:30 pm at Stadio Olimpico, Rome. However, this did not prevent violent riots, as hundreds of armed hooligans attacked a police barracks and the CONI headquarters in Rome.
Though Sandri's death was later held by some to have been caused by a tragic error by a policeman who claimed his gun went off as he was running. Prosecutors then opted initially to open an inquiry into manslaughter against the policeman, nevertheless the initial hearing held that Sandri's death was culpable homicide, and the policeman involved was condemned to 6 years imprisonment. On appeal, the higher court not only confirmed this judgment, but increased the punishment to 9 years and 4 months as an element of intentionality was found.

Final week

The championship was decided in the final week, as Inter, who managed to secure even an 11-point advantage to rivals Roma in mid-season, lost almost all of it in the final weeks, maintaining only a one-point advantage with only one match to play. In the final week, both Inter and Roma were scheduled to play away matches opposed to relegation-battling sides, respectively Parma and Catania. Both matches were successively forbidden to be attended by Inter and Roma fans. In the end, Inter secured the scudetto with a 2–0 win, with both goals being scored in the second half by Zlatan Ibrahimović, who recovered from a long-time injury in time to play the game, whereas Roma only managed to achieve a 1–1 draw at Stadio Angelo Massimino against Walter Zenga's Catania, a result which allowed the Sicilian side to escape relegation at the expense of Empoli and Parma.

2007–08 teams

Personnels and Sponsoring

League table

Positions by round

Results

Top goalscorers

Updated to games played May 17, 2008
RankPlayerClubGoals
1 Alessandro Del PieroJuventus21
2 David TrezeguetJuventus20
3 Marco BorrielloGenoa19
4 Antonio Di NataleUdinese17
4 Zlatan IbrahimovićInternazionale17
4 Adrian MutuFiorentina17
7 AmauriPalermo15
7 KakáMilan15
9 Goran PandevLazio14
9 Tommaso RocchiLazio14
9 Francesco TottiRoma14
12 Massimo MaccaroneSiena13
12 Julio Ricardo CruzInternazionale13

Coaches

2007–08 events

Footnotes