All things considered, Laurent Blanc’s France find themselves in a similar position to the Azzurri heading into the 2012 European Championships. Both sides are headed by a dynamic coach with exciting ideas, neither are expected to pull any trees up this summer, both are rebuilding in the fallout of a golden generation and both have seen their integrity rocked by scandal in recent times. Calcio scommesse continues to rock Italian football with Stefano Mauri and Antonio Conte among the latest [...]

Serie A was flush with top performances this weekend and the Team of the Week award could easily have gone to Bologna, Napoli or Lecce for their respective three-goal victories. The standout performers, however, were Palermo. Bortolo Mutti’s men put on a five-star goalscoring clinic to thrash Champions League-chasing Lazio 5-1 and continue a run that’s seen them win four of their last six games. Despite lining-up without Abel Hernandez, Edgar Alvarez and Armin Bacinovic, things looked good for Palermo [...]

If you told a group of people at the start of the season that Novara would beat Internazionale twice in 2011/12 you’d have been laughed out of the room. The fantasy became a reality on Sunday, however, when the relegation-threatened Biancoazzurri left the Giuseppe Meazza with another Nerazzurri scalp. Novara put three past Inter in September, but last weekend they needed just a solitary goal to deepen the Nerazzurri’s mid-season mire. Things looked grim on paper. Novara were firmly rooted [...]

Lecce claimed only their fourth Serie A win of the season after a Guillermo Giacomazzi goal ended Inter Milan’s seven-game winning streak on Sunday. Lining-up in a 3-5-2 formation with new signings Manuele Blasi and Leonardo Miglionico thrown straight into the XI, Lecce produced one of the shocks of the season so far. Not even the returning Wesley Sneijder or on-form Diego Milito could halt the Salentini’s unlikely victory. Inter should’ve been 1-0 up when Milito robbed Lecce ‘keeper Benassi [...]

Juventus were crowned Serie A Winter Champions after one of their most controlled performances of the season on Saturday night. Atalanta have proven to be tough opposition for any team, especially at home where their only defeat prior was to champions Milan. But, the Bianconeri overcame early frustration to eventually overcome the Nerazzurri with relative ease. Giorgio Chiellini took Leonardo Bonucci’s place at centre-back in the only change from the XI that disappointed against Cagliari one week prior. Atalanta, meanwhile, [...]

Interazionale sprung a big surprise on Sunday night to claim their biggest win of the season with a 1-0 victory in the Milan derby. Both teams entered the fixture in fine form (Milan were unbeaten in 12, Inter had won five in-a-row), but it was the Nerazzurri who prevailed after one of the season’s great stifling performances. Wesley Sneijder returned to the match-day squad for the first time since early November, giving Inter a clean bill of health save for [...]

Lazio welcome Atalanta to the Eternal City hoping that last week’s humiliation at Siena was a freak performance. Down to 10-men after the sending-off of first choice ‘keeper Albano Bizzarri’s , the Biancocelesti were thrashed 4-0 by the relegation-threatened Robur. It was nothing less than they deserved. Recklessness and defensive mistakes cost Lazio dearly and allowed Mattia Destro and Emanuele Calaio to grab two goals each. Andre Dias and Mobido Diakité will be welcomed back with open arms after last [...]

This week we saw 31 goals, four red cards and no draws for an exciting return to Serie A action this past weekend. Cagliari and Bologna upset higher-ranked opposition, Inter’s revival continued with a 5-0 hammering of Parma and Milan cruised through surprise package Atalanta, but nothing caught the eye like Siena’s humiliation of Lazio. Despite widescale reshuffling necessitated from missing the likes of Stefano Mauri and Federico Marchetti, Lazio were confident. The Aquile boasted an unbeaten away record and [...]

Roma relieved all pressure on their previously under-fire boss Luis Enrique with a Sunday evening victory at Napoli’s San Paolo. Lining-up without regulars Miralem Pjanic, Fernando Gago and Simon Kjaer, the Giallorossi took the lead after just three minutes. Erik Lamela’s cross deflected off Salvatore Aronica and bounced over the line after striking ‘keeper Morgan De Sanctis’ arm: a freak goal, but one that gave Roma a dream start. The first half progressed at a frenetic pace with both sides [...]

Inter Milan took a toothless Fiorentina side apart on Saturday night to claim three valuable points that see them move up to 11th in Serie A. Missing the likes of Javier Zanetti, Dejan Stankovic, Diego Forlan and Wesley Sneijder through injury and suspension, Claudio Ranieri had to shuffle his pack. Maicon, Yuto Nagatomo and Lucio came into the backline while Philippe Coutinho replaced Ricky Alvarez on the left flank. The Jovetic and Montolivo-less Viola, meanwhile, handed Adem Ljajic a rare [...]

This week’s round of Serie A games wasn’t exactly full of outstanding team performances. Napoli scored four but still managed to concede twice to relegation-threatened Lecce, Juventus and Milan recorded routine victories against struggling opposition and Bologna took three valuable points from Siena. On paper, Fiorentina’s 3-0 win over Roma seems the weekend’s most notable performance, but there was more to this game than met the eye. Both teams were in need of a win. New Viola coach Delio Rossi [...]

Win one, lose one, win one, lose one. That’s the Palermo way at the moment. The Aquile are consistently inconsistent: they’ve alternated between wins and losses in each of their last six games and haven’t strung two wins together all season. They’re hopeless on the road and have failed to score a single goal, but they’ve been unbeatable at home with six wins from six. On Sunday Fiorentina became the latest team to fall at the Renzo Barbera. Delio Rossi [...]