Soccer Made in Italy

From Inter–Juventus to social media abuse, via referees and assistants: when the ball fades into the background and the system shows all its cracks. Inter–Juventus was played on Saturday night at San Siro and Inter won. That should be enough to sum up the weekend. Instead, it isn’t. For two days now, all anyone has […]

Spalletti decided not to speak, sending Locatelli to the press conference instead. Chivu’s response was subtly polemical… That Inter–Juventus is not a match like any other was already well known: the Derby d’Italia has always set fans’ emotions alight, and since the post-Calciopoli era the rivalry has unquestionably intensified. The buildup to the clash at

Five of the seven Serie A matches were decided by goals scored deep into stoppage time Matchday 24 of Serie A confirmed a trend that was already evident, amplifying it to the point of hyperbole: in Serie A, games are increasingly being decided deep into stoppage time. Setting aside Friday night’s drab 0–0 draw between

The revelation of the ownership’s openness to Totti’s return came from Claudio Ranieri, and it already carries the feel of something close to official. In Rome, since yesterday, there has been talk of nothing else. It all started with a line from Claudio Ranieri during an interview with Sky Sport: “Totti in the club? The

Matchday 23 felt like it would never end: it kicked off on Friday and only wrapped up last night… I don’t know about you readers, but personally I found Matchday 23 of Serie A unbearable, finally concluded last night with Milan’s emphatic away win over Bologna. A round of fixtures that truly seemed unwilling to

Three Italian teams move on in the Champions League, but none avoid the playoffs: Antonio Conte’s Napoli are out In the end, three Italian teams go through, and the one left out is the most representative of Italian football itself: Napoli, the reigning champions with the Scudetto on their chest. The final matchday of the

Read in Italian on ilNewyorkese After 22 matchdays, the Nerazzurri already look clear favorites for the title, with no real challengers in sight. Serie A seems to have definitively found its dominant force: Chivu’s Inter, who over the past two months have put together a run of 9 wins and 1 draw, establishing themselves firmly

Today’s Inter are the exact snapshot of Italian football: the values expressed in Serie A are relative rather than absolute. There was a time when Serie A was able to express absolute values, because the best players in the world were playing here. Today the situation is very different, with the exponential growth of the

This is a Serie A season in which anything can happen, every single matchday. The only real certainty seems to be Inter’s breakaway. There’s a phrase that has become iconic, spoken years ago by popular Sky Sport Italia commentator Fabio Caressa and now part of the vocabulary of Italian football fans everywhere: soccer is strange.

Allegri’s Milan win away at Como in Thursday night’s rescheduled fixture sharpens the philosophical divide between “result-driven” football and “play-driven” football. Last night we witnessed a very entertaining match between Fabregas’ Como and Allegri’s Milan. In the first half, Como completely controlled proceedings, deservedly taking the lead and creating several chances to double their advantage