Once upon time a draw with Italy would have been considered a good result for Spain. In light of past results between the two nations, it still should be – Spain have never beaten Italy in normal time in a world cup or European championship match. But, they care little for history, their extraordinary success of late after decades of underachievement clearly suggests this. The country’s expectations have changed accordingly, too; they are now much higher. Trudging off the pitch [...]
That was that. Well, not yet quite, but, everything seems to be signalling that this is the end. The end of Luis Enrique’s troubled tenure at Roma. And, with it the end of the club’s bold and ambitious Barcelona-inspired project. From the start it was always going to be a monumental task for a coach with no prior top level experience. Italy’s Serie A is demanding for a coach of any stature. But, for a relative novice like Enrique, it [...]
“Everybody talks about violence, but violence is another thing,” said Fabrizio Fileni, one of the ultras that brought a halt to Genoa’s home match with Siena over the weekend. It is remarkable, not only does he defend himself, but, that he actually remains convinced that his actions and those of his fellow Ultras were not violent. Let us recap then the supposedly ‘non-violent’ events at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday. Genoa - a team fighting for Serie A survival – [...]
Ahead of tomorrow night’s mouth-watering Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Milan, former Rossoneri striker Marco Simone has claimed that, “Milan have 50 per cent chance to win the second leg against Barcelona in my opinion.” Simone would be right were the game to be decided by the flip of a coin. But, this is not how the winner will emerge. Rather, what the teams produce on the pitch is what will determine just who progresses to the semi-finals. And [...]
Tuesday night’s Coppa Italia match between Milan and Juventus was a fantastic advert for the Italian game. This season’s two best teams by some distance, eights point to be exact, played out an entertaining draw at Juventus’s new and impressive stadium. There were goals, two splendid ones at that, and the two strongest sets of players in the Serie A on display. Off the field guiding their troops forward were two coaches who represent the best of a new generation [...]
“I think that Napoli are superior to this Chelsea team, Mazzarri’s Napoli are doing better and they have all the cards in their favour to give the English trouble - even at home,” said former Napoli player Moreno Ferrario earlier this week. Whether this is true or not, this is probably not the attitude the Partenopei will want to take into their date with Chelsea at the Bridge tomorrow night. Admittedly, following their 3-1 defeat of the Londoners in the [...]
Italian football is on a high. After years in the mires, more than partly brought about due to the calciopoli scandal of 2006, there is reason for hope. One aspect of this hope is embodied in the fact that the Serie A, for the first time since the mid-1990’s, has more representatives in the Champions League knockout stages than either England’s Premier League or Spain’s La Liga. For a league that has fallen down the pecking order, evidenced by its [...]
Following Italy’s shock 1-0 loss in Genoa to the USA on Wednesday night, Gigi Buffon told reporters, “there’s no need to get worried” and that “we absolutely did not deserve defeat tonight”. The Juventus ‘keeper was absolutely correct. The Azzurri dominated proceedings at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris from start to finish and as Giorgio Chiellini opined, “we deserved at least a draw from this performance.” Still, with any loss, no matter the significance, questions will always be raised. But, Italy’s [...]
It was barely two years ago that Inter, guided by the inextricable genius of Jose Mourinho, were the proud torch bearers of Italian football. As Milan were embarrassingly crushed 4-0 at Manchester United and as Juventus failed to even progress past the group stages, against the odds, the Nerazzurri overcame Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea as they went on to claim European football’s most coveted prize, the Champions League. As the old cliché goes, a week in football is a [...]
It could not have been any better. It could not have been any sweeter. Four unanswered goals from Milan against Arsenal ensured the Italians have at least one foot in the quarter finals. For coach Max Allegri, it was his most significant moment in the Champions League of his short managerial career. But, Allegri was not the star of the night. Led from the front by an inspired Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it was the collective performance of Milan that shone the [...]
As the old cliché goes, history repeats itself. And this could not be truer come every February for Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Whether at Barcelona or in the blue or red half of Milan, the ‘big’ Swede’s scoring record often leaves something to be desired at this time of the year. Goals, to be precise. In each of the last five seasons he has just managed one solitary goal in this month. While in the last two seasons he has [...]
On October 11 last year in the provincial city of Pescara, Italy ended their qualifying campaign with a 3-0 win over Northern Ireland. It was the perfect ending as Italy finished top of their group. It was also just reward for coach Cesare Prandelli who managed to rebuild a strong Azzurri from the wreckage of the 2010 World Cup disaster. The undoubted star man for Prandelli’s new look Azzurri was Milan’s Antonio Cassano. A player who came to prominence at [...]
