Adriano following on Ronaldo's footsteps?

Inter fans are currently praying that one of the club's best foreign imports of late - Adriano - will not be consumed by his own celebrity status.

On Saturday, Inter could not go further than a two-all draw away at Sampdoria. After the weekend matches, they are now fourth in the standings behind dominant duo Juve and Milan and surprise package Fiorentina. At the Marassi stadium, apart from a suspect defence, Inter coach Roberto Mancini also confirmed that his talented striker Adriano is clearly off form.

The absence of the Brazilian from Inter's team-sheet in recent games created news, almost the type that had gripped the soccer world when compatriot Ronaldo was, at first, missing from Brazil's initial line-up for the '98 World Cup final in France.

Inter have lately won games without Adriano also thanks to the fine form of Julio Cruz and Alvaro Recoba, in particular. This was a message in itself... Mancini is looking for different options in attack.

Certainly, Adriano is in a tangle at the moment. He seems to lack motivation and it is not the first time that he returns to Italy a day or two later than South American team-mates Juan Sebastian Veron and Esteban Cambiasso after international duty.

Only last month, Veron publicly criticised Adriano for delaying his return after a World Cup qualifier and defined him as unprofessional.

Everyone at Inter, including club supremo Massimo Moratti, is known to be unhappy with Adriano's behaviour. However, a special treatment is being reserved for him which brings to mind the way Inter used to treat their former talisman Ronaldo.

Mancini said Adriano is still 23 and therefore immature and prone to such amateurish behaviour even in the light of the huge pressure he has to live with on a daily basis. In other words, Inter are being too soft with Adriano.

A year ago, Adriano enjoyed one of his best ever starts to a season.

His goals and exquisite finesse ignited a team that before had found it extremely hard to take off. But his golden patch came to an abrupt end when the first round was over. It was at that stage that he went into hibernation. Suddenly he became a far cry from the player that had been so sharp a few months back.

Last Saturday, it seemed crystal-clear that Adriano is not even match-fit. He is slow and not deadly in front of goal. According to Mancini, the recipe for Adriano to rediscover his touch is simple - he has to train harder and now that the World Cup qualifying campaign is over, he has to limit his travelling abroad to a bare minimum.

But stopping Adriano's appearances for Brazil will not be an easy task due to the Brazilian FA's sponsorship deals which make it mandatory that the best players are always recruited.

One other reason why Adriano is playing well below par could be the World Cup finals next year.

Did not Ronaldo underperform in 2001/02 before he finished top scorer in the 2002 World Cup finals. And, wasn't Ronaldo instrumental for Brazil to lift their fifth world title?

Whatever the case, Inter badly need Adriano back to top form because only with his contribution can they hope to ever bridge the gap with Juventus and Milan in the Serie A.

Serie A statistics

1st upset for Juventus as the Bianconeri went down to a heavy 3-1 defeat to Milan at the San Siro. Milan, buoyed by six successive league wins, looked somewhat hungrier on Saturday night against a team who had just established an unprecedented positive opening of nine straight wins. Although Juve were off to a promising start, the two goals they conceded inside the opening 20 minutes dented much of their aspirations. This victory propelled Carlo Ancelotti's Milan to only two points behind the champions. Who are lagging behind at the moment are Inter. On Saturday they continued to fall off the pace after failing to beat Sampdoria at Marassi for the second season running. Inter were an improved side with respect to the team that lost at home against Roma three days before. At least, on Saturday Inter looked determined and never threw in the towel despite falling behind twice.

5 defeats in as many home outings for Treviso as Ezio Rossi's side agonisingly went down to Siena to remain in deep relegation trouble. Buoyed by their unexpected away win over Reggina, Treviso went all out in search of victory. But it was always going to be difficult against Siena because the latter have a knack of snatching positive away results lately as big guns Roma and Sampdoria discovered to their detriment. Treviso have the poorest scoring record in the division with only five goals in favour. That against Siena was a particularly awful result because it was Treviso's first ever home setback in six home league meetings with the Tuscany side. Prior to Sunday, all Siena had to show from their visits to Treviso was only a 1-1 draw on December 8, 1946 (in Serie B). Reggina caused perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend when they rose to the occasion by beating Lazio 1-0 at their Oreste Granillo stadium. Lazio are without an away league win since beating Bologna on April 17.

6 positive results in a row (two wins and four draws) have steered Chievo within sights of a Euro cup berth as they came from behind to grab a 2-2 draw with in-form Empoli. Had Empoli preserved their lead, then it would have been their first win in Verona against Chievo since April 27, 1997 (1-0 in Serie B). High-flying Fiorentina are third after coming from behind to beat bottom-of-the-class Cagliari at the Artemio Franchi stadium. This was Fiorentina's third straight win. The southerners, whose most recent of three wins in 27 league visits to Florence dates back to April 9, 1972 (1-0 in Serie A), are the only top division side still without victory. A draw between these two sides has been missing since January 17, 1982 (1-1 in Serie A). Roma cruised to their second successive win over a determined Ascoli side who came within a whisker of coming out of the Olympic Stadium unbeaten for the first time since September 3, 1989 (0-0). For the record, this was Roma's first home success over Ascoli in over 13 years.

7 matches without a win for Mario Beretta's Parma (two draws and five defeats). They slipped further down in the table as they were soundly beaten by Livorno 2-0. Sunday's defeat confirmed Parma's truly dire record in Livorno, where they have never won in 10 league visits. Parma's most recent of five draws in Livorno was on October 23, 1977 (1-1 in Serie C). Udinese-Palermo shared the spoils for the first time since March 19, 1995 (0-0 in Serie B). Luigi Del Neri's Palermo have collected only six points out of the last available 18 whereas Udinese are winless in their last three outings (two draws and one defeat). Palermo's latest of four wins in 17 league visits to Udinese dates back to May 31, 1964 (1-0 in Serie B).

13 years had to pass for Messina to conquer Lecce's Via del Mare stadium again as Bortolo Mutti's side left it late to grab their first win of the season. Lecce had plenty of chances but they failed to take any of them. Messina, playing a containing game, always remained in the match. When it seemed that it would end up in a draw, Messina hit two quick goals to cruise to their first away success since beating Reggina on March 13 (2-0). This was Lecce's fourth straight defeat and the fourth successive game in which they failed to find the net.

24 goals were scored on the 10th day: 14 coming from the hosts and the remaining 10 from the visitors, who managed only two wins. Foreigners contributed with eight goals while there were 14 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 268. Luca Toni hit an early second-half equaliser for Fiorentina against Cagliari. For the current top marksman in Serie A, this was his 12th strike of the term. No hat-tricks were recorded. Aimo Diana (Sampdoria) and Gaetano D'Agostino (Messina) grabbed a brace each. For the ex-Roma midfielder it was a special double because he had just came on as a second-half substitute. Roma's French defender Philippe Mexes was the other substitute who found the net. Luciano Zauri committed the only own goal of the day that enabled struggling Reggina to beat Lazio 1-0. Three players - Christian Chivu (Roma), Daniele Conti and Michele Canini (both Cagliari) - received marching orders . Referees awarded no penalties last weekend.