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...
The Lazio striker stands one shy of Gonzalo Higuaín’s record and, 14 penalties or not, he has enjoyed a stellar campaignTo listen to Ciro Immobile on Wednesday night was to wonder whether he might be in the wrong line of work. “I hate it when I absolutely have to score,” he said at the end of Lazio’s 2-0 win over Brescia. “It just doesn’t sit right.”A surprising sentiment, for a man who has made his living scoring goals – and who happens to be very good at it. Immobile netted his 35th of this Serie A campaign just a few minutes earlier, running on to Joaquín Correa’s through-ball and sweeping one of his calling-card sidefoot finishes beyond the goalkeeper Lorenzo...
The Spanish playmaker got the winner against Fiorentina, but Lazio needed a fortunate bounce and a questionable penalty call to keep Juventus in their sights“It’s alive!” The front page of Sunday’s Corriere dello Sport shrieked out like Doctor Frankenstein at the awakening of his Creature. As late as 10pm the previous evening, it had seemed that one of the most compelling Serie A title races in years was coming to a premature end. And then, with a jolt, it wasn’t.The newspaper gave credit to a Spanish sorcerer. Luis Alberto – Il Mago, as they know him in Rome – had scored the winning goal as Lazio came from behind to beat Fiorentina, dragging his team back to within four points...
Inter keep playing good football but are unable to stop throwing away matches from winning positionsSix goals, a red card, two penalties and an early contender for miss of the century. Not bad for the warm-up act. Wednesday’s main event in Serie A was Atalanta-Lazio, a meeting of two teams that have produced some of the finest footballing symphonies on the peninsula. But first on stage, in the ‘early’ 7.30pm slot, were the chaotic chords of Inter-Sassuolo.It was the sort of tune that Antonio Conte never wanted to hear at San Siro. After becoming the Inter manager last summer, one of his first acts was to stop the club’s anthem, Amala, from being played before home games. The song is...
When the final whistle went, allowing Simone Inzaghi to charge the field at last, it felt as though we had entered a new chapterSimone Inzaghi finished Sunday night with a torn pair of trousers. The Lazio manager had been in perpetual motion through the final minutes of Lazio’s game against Inter, running the touchline with such bellicose vigour that you half expected him to leap into a sliding challenge at any moment. When a ball came out to Milan Skriniar on the near side of the pitch, Inzaghi was quicker to him than any defender.Lazio were on the cusp of another landmark victory in a season that has known a few. Inzaghi’s team beat Juventus 3-1 twice in the space...