Italian Football Serie A News and Stories in English
Verona and Inter shared the spoils in a vibrant game at the Marc’Antonio Bentegodi Stadium on Thursday night in the last fixture of Serie A Round 31. Miguel Veloso ultimately equalized for the home side after Antonio Candreva’s brace had overturned Darko Lazovic’s rapid lead, sealing a 2-2 score which was of little use to both sides.
Inter-Verona of September 15, 1991, looked like an average beginning-of-the-season game which ended with an average 2-0 score for the Nerazzurri. Nothing from this match would make it a remarkable occurrence if it weren’t for the fact that it featured four penalties, all awarded to the home side, and that Inter managed to miss three of them.
Serie A Round 30 was split between two days only, with eight games played on Sunday after a Saturday appetizer featuring the Derby of Turin and an interesting Lazio-Milan battle. Stefano Pioli’s Rossoneri savagely dented Lazio’s title ambitions by finding the back of the net three times while Juventus easily saw off their city rivals to place a strong claim on the Scudetto.
Round 29 of the 2019-20 Serie A season saw plenty of goals and plenty of action at either end of the table. Juventus managed to open up a four-point lead at the top of the table with their win at Genoa. Elsewhere, Sampdoria claimed an important win against fellow strugglers Lecce, with wins also for Lazio, Sassuolo, Verona, and Udinese.
It is no longer news that Inter are closing in on a deal to sign Real Madrid right-back Achraf Hakimi. The Moroccan international is currently on loan at Borussia Dortmund, but his two-year arrangement is coming to an end. Real Madrid sent himout on loan with the hopes of him returning as a starter, but it would appear his future rather lies under Antonio Conte.
Italian football fans have just been treated to the first full round of Serie A action since the restart, and it was peppered with talk of relegation, European qualification and of course, the Scudetto. Inter and Sassuolo played out a thrilling 3-3 draw, and Atalanta staged a dramatic comeback to beat Lazio 3-2, as they look for a place in next season’s Champions League.
Every time you think Atalanta have reached their limit, they proceed to push that limit further. Tonight’s exploit was collecting the scalp of Lazio, inflicting a hard blow to the Biancocelesti’s hopes of Scudetto. Atalanta beat Lazio 3-2 at the Gewiss Stadium, coming back from a 0-2 deficit by means of Robin Gosens, Ruslan Malinkvskyi, and José Palomino’s goals.
Antonio Conte needs to thank the Lu-La for Sunday night’s 2-1 over Sampdoria which consolidated Inter’s third place in the Serie A table. Goals by their striker duo Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez gave the Nerazzurri a comfortable lead in a rescheduled game from Round 25 before Sampdoria’s Morten Thorsby reopened the match in the second half.
“Pazza” Inter. Crazy Inter. No team in Italy can take their fans on a rollercoaster of emotions like the Nerazzurri. A game that truly exemplifies the unpredictable attitude of Inter is their epic comeback from January 9, 2005, when they were down 0-2 to Sampdoria at the San Siro with just 7 minutes to go, but still managed to collect an incredible win.
Behind closed doors at the San Paolo Stadium, Napoli held Inter onto a 1-1 tie in the second Coppa Italia Semi-Final, advancing to the final stage on a 2-1 aggregate score to meet Juventus on Wednesday, June 17. Dries Mertens equalized Christian Eriksen’s opener to become Napoli’s all-time best scorer at 122 – surpassing no less than Marek Hamsik.
Italian football will return on 12 June as Juventus, Milan, Napoli, and Inter square off to conquer the Coppa Italia. All eyes will be on the remaining games of the domestic cup – the second leg of the Semi-Finals and the Final to be played in the space of four days. The clash between Juventus and Milan will kick-start football again in Italy after three months.
Inter’s history is filled with a special affiliation to controversial, charismatic managers, whose pioneer was without doubt Helenio Herrera. Every die-hard Nerazzurri fan would be forever grateful to that man, who would later become referred to as Il Mago (“The Wizard”) and who forged the legendary epoch of the Grande Inter during the 1960s.