SOCCER/Euroscene: Three minutes from time on Sunday, reigning Italian champions AS Roma were losing 2-0 away to Venezia in a match that had defied analysis.
After all, Roma, notwithstanding their miserable Champions League exit at Anfield Road, are still a useful unit, whilst little old Venezia had already booked their ticket back down to Serie B 10 days ago.
In theory, the reigning champions should have wiped Venezia off the face of Serie A's most folkloric stadium, the Stadio Penzo on the Isola Sant'Elena.
Perhaps it was the boat ride through the lagoon to the island stadium that upset Roma. Or, perhaps, they are just a shade tired and disillusioned after that Champions League exit at the hands of Liverpool.
Whatever the reason, second-placed Roma struggled long and hard against a more lively Venezia who deservedly went two up in the second half thanks to goals from Filippo Maniero and Ivone De Franceschi in the 61st and 81st minutes.
Even the news that league leaders Inter, who had started the day three points clear of Roma, were being beaten by Atalanta failed to galvanise the champions.
In the end, it was the "world's number one" referee, Pierluigi Collina, who galvanised half of Italy by sensationally awarding two penalties in the last three minutes of normal time to see Roma carry off a 2-2 away draw, thanks to two conversions by striker Vincenzo Montella.
Not even Collina's reputation was enough to stop the flood-burst of angry speculation. In a land where two things - a love of football and of conspiracy theories - are heavily imprinted into the national DNA, Collina has inevitably been subjected to bitter criticism.
"It's stuff for the Guinness Book of Records, for any team. It's the height of good luck to get them (two penalties) but it's also the sort of good luck that never seems to come our way," exclaimed visibly annoyed Inter president Massimo Moratti, minutes after his side had been beaten 2-1 by Atalanta, thus allowing Roma to close the gap to two points.
While Roma and Inter were having their difficulties, down in Umbria, "Old Lady" Juventus overcame Perugia 4-0, to go just three points behind Inter and one behind Roma with four games to play.
Over the years, of course, Juventus have regularly been accused of benefiting from "favourable" refereeing.
Thus, it was with some malicious delight that Juventus director Luciano Moggi commented on Sunday night: "I'd just say this. If we'd been given two penalties in the last three minutes of a game, the newspapers and TV programmes would have hung, drawn and quartered us for an entire week."
While Moggi had time to laugh, his Turin colleagues at Torino were probably a lot less amused by media speculation, based on the lip-reading of TV footage of Torino defender Fabio Galante, which suggested that Torino and Bologna settled for a mutually convenient 1-1 draw on Saturday night. The footage in question appeared to show Galante telling team-mate, Daniele Delli Carri, "let them score a goal".
Immediately after those words, Bologna took a corner from which their Argentine striker Julio Cruz scored the equaliser, getting away from the less than over-zealous marking of, yes, Delli Carri.
Worse still - or better for those who love a conspiracy - Torino and Bologna went on to declare a "ceasefire" for the last quarter of an hour when it was obvious that both had settled for the draw.
Given the apparently fast declining level of Serie A football, you might think Italians would be worried about the technical and organisational aspects of their favourite game.
Not so, in the context of a fascinating three-horse race for the league title, critics, players, coaches, presidents and fans alike are all delighted to forget recent humiliations and round up the usual list of suspects, ranging from bent referees to fixed matches.
