Joint leaders atop Italian Serie A going into this weekend, managers Edy Reja and Antonio Conte both knew this was going to be a huge test of their scudetto potential. Juve’s Andrea Pirlo passed a last-minute fitness test to start, and the Olimpico audience welcomed back ex-Roma star Mirko Vucinic just like old derby days. Lazio were missing Stefano Mauri, Libor Kozak, Andre Dias and Francelino Matuzalem, while Djibril Cissè, as Tommasi Rocchi eventual replacement, kept things warm on to [...]
Two title contenders will be squaring off this Saturday in Rome as Juventus travel to Lazio. The two clubs are currently sitting at the top of the table with 22 points a side, and they are arguably the two most in form clubs at the moment in Serie A. Coming into this match, Juventus are the only unbeaten side in Italy with 6 wins and 4 draws. Lazio have the same record with the inclusion of one loss, a 2-1 [...]
by serieaweekly writer Matthew Coccoluto With the international break over, means it’s time for the European domestic leagues including Italian Serie A to get back in action. Juventus will welcome Palermo on Sunday with the hosts coming off of an extended break. Due to their last game against Napoli being postponed, it has been an astonishing 21 days since Juventus beat Inter at the San Siro. Palermo return to action after a solid 3-1 home win again Bologna prior to [...]
If you are ever planning a party, don’t invite Uruguay. They famously scuppered Brazil’s World Cup festivities back in 1950. And, on a much more minor scale, they burst the balloons blown up for the match to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification in Rome. It brought the Azzurri back down to earth after a victory over one of the hosts of next year’s European Nations a few days earlier. In truth, nobody was getting too carried away about [...]
Serie A returned with a bang at the weekend with some fantastic action. This week we got goals and more goals which included seven goals between Lecce and AC Milan. Udinese finished on top of the pile after a brilliant 3-0 over Novara. Here are the five top goals of the week 5. Alessandro Matri Juventus – Genoa This was Alessandro Matri 2nd goal of the game and it was a brilliant goal. Mirko Vucinic played in a ball from [...]
Inspired performances by Andrea Pirlo and Antonio Cassano lead Italy to a memorable 3-0 victory over an ordinary Northern Ireland side in Pescara. Qasa Alom reports AC Milan’s Antonio Cassano was warned prior to the match that this would be his last chance in the national set-up after offensive comments to a journalist last week – and FantAntonio really didn’t disappoint with a brilliant brace. However it was his striker partner and this years form player Sebastian Giovinco who started [...]
Before Sunday night Juventus’ start to the season hadn’t been anything to write home about. Laboured performances against Siena, Bologna and Catania had eroded some of the optimism born from the opening day’s 4-1 thrashing of Parma. The Vecchia Signora took five points from these games but their displays were arduous: plenty of heart, but little fluidity or panache. If the Parma game highlighted the potential strengths of the new-look Juventus, the following displays acted as stark reminders of their [...]
Juventus have to demonstrate to the footballing world they mean business this season which means nothing less then all three points today. The team is well rested and well prepared, with no mid-week game. Prediction: advantage Juventus, but they were too poor against Catania and allowed Bologna to step into their house and take a point in the last home outing. Juventus attacker Mirko Vucinic will be back for this encounter after receiving a red against Bologna. Before casting votes [...]
Serie A finally got underway last weekend and the main story to come out of it was a team of the week Juventus with an opening day 4-1 win over Parma in the beautiful new Juventus stadium. Sunday afternoon saw match day 3 underway (unofficially day 2) with Juventus traveling to newly promoted Siena. An attack-minded Juventus was a joy to watch with their attacking 4-4-2 formation (4-2-4). The man at the centre of attack was no less than Andrea [...]
The good news is that Italy, with a 1-0 victory, have secured qualification to the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine next summer. The bad news - it’s not that bad - is that the they haven’t been living up to the hype recently. Italy have been compared with Barcelona an awful lot during Cesare Prandelli’s tenure in charge of the Azzurri, but any viewers tuning in to see a Catalan imitation tonight will have been left feeling unsatisfied, confused [...]
2010-2011 Recap Following many changes both in management with the appointment of newly elected president, Andrea Agnelli, followed by General manager Beppe Marotta and manager Luigi Del Neri, the trio brought no fewer than twelve new faces to the squad that had already come off from a disappointing season under former manager Ciro Ferrara, and his predecessor Alberto Zaccheroni. Prior to the start of last season there was mixed feelings amongst the fans for the season, with Juventus starting off [...]
Overview At the start of last season many did not expect Milan to challenge for the Scudetto. That was, at least, until the club secured the services of Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the eleventh hour of the transfer window. Luciano Moggi, for all the criticism regularly aimed at him, spoke prophetically when he said that “thanks to him (Ibrahimovic), the title race will be between Milan and Inter”. Moggi said this in September of last year. Then Inter’s crisis [...]
