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Antonio Conte outsmarts Andrea Pirlo in great leap forward for Inter | Nicky Bandini

Internazionale outclassed Juventus on Sunday night in a 2-0 victory to strike a significant blow in the title raceIt was a weekend that promised fireworks. Lazio against Roma on Friday night, and Inter hosting Juventus on Sunday: a derby that defines Italy’s capital city, leading into a game that has long been billed as the Derby d’Italia – a derby for all of Italy. Related: Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend action Vidal accidentally kissed the Juventus badge before kick off pic.twitter.com/VduftSgVN4 Related: Messi sent off as Athletic Bilbao sink Barcelona to win Spanish Super Cup Continue reading...

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Antonio Conte's ambition questioned after Inter are pegged back by Roma

Another slip in the Serie A title race, another game in which the adventure of Inter’s opposition caused real problemsAmbition. The word ran through the pre-game press conferences of Paulo Fonseca and Antonio Conte like mozzarella in Roman supplì: the mouth-watering core ingredient that elevates all the rest. Both managers wanted their audiences to know that this was a weekend that mattered, an occasion for which the recipe had to be just right.Fonseca’s Roma were seeking validation for their rise to third in the table. They won only a single game against Serie A’s top four last season, his first at the club, and that against a Juventus side who had already sewn up the title. The Giallorossi were yet...

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Antonio Conte embraces the delirium as Inter rescue themselves | Nicky Bandini

Inter’s 4-3 comeback win against Fiorentina on Saturday was as wild as any we have seen in recent yearsIt was the second weekend of the season, but it felt more like the first. There had been too many protagonists missing from Serie A’s opening round, too many of the most fascinating storylines left on hold. Inter, Atalanta and Spezia were granted special dispensation to delay their starts to this campaign after concluding the previous one in mid-August.How could the show really get started without last season’s runners-up and top scorers, plus a club making its Serie A debut? Not to mention Benevento, Lazio and Udinese – the opponents they were scheduled to play in opening fixtures, which will be caught...

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Serie A kicks off with all eyes on Juve's remarkable Andrea Pirlo gamble | Nicky Bandini

Will the rookie manager steer Juventus to a 1oth straight title or could Inter, or Lazio or Atalanta, finally topple them?Millions of Italian children went back to school on Monday. So did the manager of Juventus. Andrea Pirlo was completing the final stage of his Uefa Pro licence course, defending a thesis he had submitted two weeks earlier under the title “My Football”.His writings will soon be made available, joining those of every other coach who has passed through Italy’s famous Scuola Allenatori (Managers’ School), in the library of the technical centre in Coverciano. Most of us, though, will get our first real insight into Pirlo’s vision for how the game should be played when Juventus host Sampdoria in their...

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Inter left to lament what might have been in Serie A as doubts resurface | Nicky Bandini

The true concern is that Antonio Conte and CEO Beppe Marotta may not share a vision for how to proceedIf Romelu Lukaku had been a little more selfish, then perhaps there would be life in the Serie A title race yet. He stepped up in a high-pressure situation on Sunday night, burying an 88th-minute penalty to bring Inter to 2-2 at Roma. It was the sixth he had taken this season, and the sixth he had converted.A penalty he chose not to take, however, continues to linger in the memory. Inter were already a goal and a man up at home to Bologna on 5 July when they won a spot-kick in the 61st minute. Lukaku handed the ball to...

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