Barcelona, PSG, Bayern and Juventus have won 25 of the last 28 league titles. Europe has become the only testing groundD id you feel it? The great disturbance in the force, as though millions of voices cried out in hope? Last weekend, something remarkable happened: none of the champions of Europe’s big five leagues won (a statistic that admittedly loses some of its potency when it is acknowledged that Serie A hadn’t started: Juventus kicked off their Serie A campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Parma).Last season was the first time that each of the big five leagues had been retained, but here was the little man striking back: Barcelona lost, Paris Saint-Germain lost, Manchester City drew, Bayern...
The champions may have landed De Ligt, Rabiot and Ramsey but all has not run smoothly for Maurizio Sarri this summerItalian football’s summer break began in much the same way as the season had ended: with Juventus way out in front. By 1 July they had concluded the free agent signings of Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot. Then they did something far more audacious: signing Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax for €75m.Even for a club that signed Cristiano Ronaldo one year previously, it felt like a landmark deal. When did an Italian side last win a bidding war for one of European football’s most coveted young talents? At 19 years old, De Ligt had already started in a Champions League...
Vicente Moreno was instantly rewarded for keeping faith with those who helped the club rise from Segunda B back to La LigaDani Rodríguez had been a first division footballer for three minutes and 19 seconds when the ball dropped at his feet by the centre spot and the pitch and a whole new world opened up, inviting him in. High in the stand at Son Moix, a Mallorca director edged forward and, he later admitted, thought: “Run, Forrest, run!” All around, 15,127 fans had pretty much the same idea. Down below, Dani did too. So he ran: fast and straight. “I set off like mad; it felt like a whole herd chasing me,” he grinned – and he got away,...
The situation at Real Madrid is baffling and does no credit to Bale or Zinedine Zidane, while Neymar and Laurent Koscielny have not enhanced their reputations this summer eitherIt has been a transfer window full of the usual long-running sagas and occasional surprises, but it does seem to have been a bad-tempered few months, with more than the usual number of players – as well as the occasional manager – trying to force moves in the most public and spiteful style. Related: Transfer deadline day live! Sessegnon, Sarr, Zaha, Lukaku, Carroll latest news Related: Transfer window 2019 – every summer deal from Europe's top five leagues Nouveau joueur, nouveau maillot, retrouvez-le dès maintenant ici https://t.co/6Jb2BRKbIo pic.twitter.com/eCfsGaSUYS Continue reading...
Late-season collapse was accompanied by strange events off the field as Napoli sought a second successive title in 1987-88When Napoli beat Juventus 1-0 in November 1985, thanks to a Diego Maradona free-kick, five people fainted in the stadium and two had heart attacks. On the television news that night, a stern-faced presenter announced: “So quite literally by scoring this goal, Maradona made a big mess.” A year and a half later, Napoli were champions of Italy, their first scudetto in a long, underwhelming history. The party went on for two months. Hundreds of newborn boys were named Diego, the girls Diega.These are details from the riveting, immersive new documentary Diego Maradona, made by Asif Kapadia, whose previous films have traced...