Italian Football Serie A News and Stories in English
On this day, 30 years ago, the history of football changed. Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan trampled Steaua Bucuresti 4-0 with braces by Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten to conquer the European Cup 1988-89, the third in the history of the Rossoneri. The triumph in Barcelona marked the International legitimization of the Romagna-born coach’s football verbo.
On November 11, 1995, Parma received Fabio Capello’s Milan, an invincible armada which had won three Scudetto in the previous four years. The Ducali’s starting goalkeeper was injured, but rather than resorting to his second in command, coach Nevio Scala decided to deploy an unknown 17-year-old boy. That’s how the legend of Gianluigi Buffon was born.
When they met for their second Derby di Milano in the 1981-82 season, Inter and Milan were facing two opposite situations. With 10 games left, the Nerazzurri were only four points behind the leading duo Fiorentina-Juventus. Milan, on the other hand, lied in the penultimate spot of the league table, and were desperately struggling to avoid relegation.
Sometimes people just lose it. All actors in the football circus – players, coaches, presidents – are human after all. Now and then, it happens that they just lose their grip. Words escalate, hands touch, and the fight is on. So put your boxing gloves on, and follow us in a journey across the Top 5 “losing grip” moments in the recent history of Italian football.
Higuain? No, Cutrone. Better, both. Milan’s 2-1 win over Roma in Serie A Round 2 bears the mark of the 20-year-old home grown striker, but his extra time goal wouldn’t have been possible without a providential filtering pass by El Pipita. Gennaro Gattuso’s side thus collected their first three seasonal points, in a game which saw two goals disallowed by the VAR.
Emergency operators at the Antonio Cardarelli hospital in Napoli must have recorded a sudden increase in heart attack cases last night, on the wave of the Partenopei’s umpteenth come-from-behind win in Serie A Round 2. Carlo Ancelotti’s side went down 0-2 to a solid Milan trained by Ringhio Gattuso, before reaching heaven with a 3-2 comeback.
Winning at home, in Europe, and in the world, and collect all sort of star players. That was the credo of Silvio Berlusconi’s Milan since 1986 to 2012. However, the Rossoneri have been through quite a few troubled seasons recently, passing in the hands of a somewhat mysterious Chinese management before being taken over by U.S. investment fund Elliot.
Winning at home, in Europe, and in the world, and collect all sort of star players. That was the credo of Silvio Berlusconi’s Milan since 1986 to 2012. However, the Rossoneri have been through quite a few troubled seasons recently, passing in the hands of a somewhat mysterious Chinese management before being taken over by U.S. investment fund Elliott.
Juventus’ signing of Cristiano Ronaldo will go down as the big hit of this summer’s transfer market. But other Serie A clubs have not been sitting on their hands. Napoli secured the services of coach Carlo Ancelotti, and now dreams of bringing back Edinson Cavani. Inter stole some key players from their direct opponents, whereas Roma decided to bet on fresh forces.
Juventus and their coach Massimiliano Allegri are like the Asso Pigliatutto (Ace-take-it-all), the key point in a popular Italian card game, which enables its holder to capture all the cards on the floor. The dominant Bianconeri didn’t leave anything to their opponents this year either, as they wiped out Milan 4-0 last night in a one-sided Coppa Italia final, to conquer their fourth domestic cup in a row.
Napoli has a new hero, and his name is Kalidou Koulibaly. With just one minute to go, silence fell over the Allianz Stadium as the Senegalese center back pushed the ball past Gianluigi Buffon to give the Azzurri their first win in Turin in 10 years, disrupting Massimiliano Allegri’s perfect plan. Napoli closed the distance, the gap with Juventus now reduced to one point only, with four matches to go.
The good news for Milan and Gennaro Gattuso is that they will never have to face Benevento again. The spell cast by Roberto De Zerbi’s Witches over the Rossoneri in the first leg continued to have effect, as the Giallorossi earned a stunning 0-1 win in San Siro last night, thanks to a lone goal by Pietro Iemmello. Benevento continued to fight against mathematics, and pushed relegation a few more hours away.