Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Alessandro Del Piero has written yet another chapter in his storied Juventus career to ensure the Old Lady reclaimed top spot in Serie A after a thrilling 2-1 win over Lazio at the Juventus Stadium on Wednesday. Coming on as a substitute in game number 700 in a Bianconeri shirt, Del Piero netted goal number 289. Arguably, it is one of his most important. It was also free kick number 42 which has been [...]
Hope may be lost for Roma. Another poor result this past weekend and Champions League football now appears to be an impossible dream. Luis Enrique’s men are currently 7 points back of city rivals Lazio for that third Champions League spot, and they have yet gone on a lengthy run of success, which does not bode well for the remaining 7 games. As Roma’s inconsistent season comes to the end, it seems the window for the third spot is now [...]
Michel Platini was born 21st June 1955 in the tiny commune of Jœuf in north-east France. With a population of less than 8,000 today, it is hard to believe this little village, just an hours drive from Luxembourg, is the birthplace of one of the finest players ever to play the beautiful game. The 56 year-old has often been a controversial figure since his appointment head of UEFA in 2007, but the politics of football are of no interest to [...]
As Juventus helped secure a piece of their long-term future during the week by extending the contracts of Leonardo Bonucci and Alessandro Matri until 2017, the immediate future of another player has once again been called into focus after yet another less than impressive display on the weekend. Marco Borriello led the two man attack alongside Mirko Vucinic in Antonio Conte’s 3-5-2 system against Napoli, yet did little to endear himself to the Juventus Stadium faithful. Beside one half chance [...]
“This is like a marriage, the husband is always the last person to know what the wife is doing.” That is how Claudio Ranieri described his position as Inter manager after the club’s most recent match on Sunday, a 2-2 draw with Catania at the San Siro. The comments came after he was asked about the possibility of being fired by president Massimo Moratti, amidst what seems to be never-ending speculation. In truth, it is the type of speculation that [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Diego Milito’s quadruple known as a ‘poker’ against Palermo was a rare moment, in fact it was only the sixth time it’s happened in ten years, but with Italy’s final friendly before Euro 2012 looming it focused the eyes on the Azzurri’s frontline. The Argentinian’s four-step sent him into a comic book group that features ‘the little plane’, Vincenzo Montella, twinkle-toes Christian Vieri, and ‘The Wonder Boy’ Alexis Sanchez. The sextuplet is completed by Alberto Gilardino, who should be nicknamed [...]
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, [...]
Eighteen matches into the season and Juventus are undefeated and sitting in first place. Everything seems rosy red, or pink (like their away shirt), in Turin. While Juventus find themselves in an ideal situation heading into the second half of the season, their rise to the top has been much due to their own good work as it has been to many of their rivals’ failure to truly assert themselves as Scudetto contenders, aside from Milan. This is evident by [...]
Inter continued its strong run of form with a sixth consecutive win on the weekend. Only this time, the victory was not against the likes of Parma or Cesena. The Nerazzurri signaled its return to the upper echelon of Serie A with a 1-0 win over bitter rivals AC Milan, in the latest installment of the Derby della Madonnina. With the victory, Inter moves to within five points of Milan, who lost ground themselves in the Scudetto race as a [...]
While Juventus are off training in the sun of the Arabian Peninsula, the front office is hard at work as the winter transfer window opens. As always, in Italy, the rumors are flying forth from the media, and while some names are pure speculation, there are a few players who will most likely be playing in Torino in the next weeks. Former Roma striker Marco Borriello has already landed in Torino. It was announced on Monday that Juve landed the [...]
