New clothes, ‘same dickhead’: for the third time in his career, Maurizio Sarri has his team in pole position at the halfway pointMaurizio Sarri had to update his wardrobe after taking over as manager of Juventus. A man who has always felt most comfortable in a tracksuit showed up for his first day of work in Turin sporting a shirt and tie. He soon confessed that his contract obliged him to wear such a uniform when representing the club away from the football pitch. For matches, a compromise was reached. Sarri’s sideline attire at Juventus has typically featured suit trousers and a zip-neck sweater. Related: Barcelona in managerial limbo after Xavi Hernández turns down role An explosive start for Juve!⚫⚪...
Sunday’s Saudi Arabia showpiece deepened concerns over Serie A’s serial champions. Inter and now Lazio are on their tailThe 2010s will be remembered, in Italian football, as a decade dominated by Juventus: winners of eight out of 10 Scudetti, four Coppe Italia and four Supercoppe as well. Yet they began with a different team – Inter - winning the treble. They end amidst suggestions that the Old Lady’s crown might once again be starting to slip. Related: 'This can’t be Milan': Boban embarrassed by worst loss in 21 years Related: Flick to stay as Bayern head coach until end of season, Real Madrid slip up Ehm, scusate, dovremmo portarla a casa... pic.twitter.com/MpCBMhOBRUFiorentina 1-4 Roma, Torino 1-2 SPAL, Inter 4-0 Genoa,...
Things went well at Juventus on the pitch but the last six months in particular have been difficult off of itThis weekend I will play my last game for Juventus, bringing to an end a year and a half of great success and lots of learning. When I arrived in the summer of 2018 I was attracted by a big club still in its infancy as a womens team, and a big project on and off the pitch that I could be a part of. On the pitch, we achieved a lot of rapid success: a league title, the domestic cup and the Supercoppa. Off the pitch, I think it is fair to say things have been a little more...
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...