City’s acclaimed behind-the-scenes documentary shows the soft power that has been bought by their Abu Dhabi ownersIt was the best of times, it was arguably not really the worst of times. Either way we once again have football public relations to thank for a tale of two cities. In Manchester we have Manchester City, whose enjoyable and interesting fly-on-the-wall Amazon documentary has received almost nothing but plaudits.Despite the series having been quite clearly subject to a form of copy approval by the club, City have been praised for their “risk-taking”. The results have been described as “not sanitised” in the Daily Mail, which was presumably still high on the Dettol fumes. I note one particular guy in Manchester did not...
Inter-bound Stefan De Vrij was at the centre of a wild collapse as Lazio surrendered a Champions League place to InterStefan De Vrij folded himself up small and hid his face underneath a training top, but he could not stop the cameras from honing in on him as he sat for the final time in Lazio’s home dugout. The curtain was coming down on the 2017-18 Serie A season, and the team whose shirt he was still wearing had just lost its Champions League spot to the one he will play for next year.A messy situation under any circumstances, but even more so for how events unfolded. Lazio had led 2-1 with 12 minutes remaining against Inter, in a game...
Lazio are in pieces after a shattering Europa League exit a day after Roma’s miracle comeback against Barcelona but a Champions League spot is at stake on SundayThe biggest Rome derby in at least half a decade has been overshadowed by events preceding it. On Tuesday, Roma pulled off one of the great European comebacks: recovering from three goals down to eliminate Barcelona from the Champions League and reach the semi-finals. The shoe was on the other foot for Lazio two days later, as their 4-2 lead from the first leg became a 6-5 defeat to RB Salzburg in the Europa League.Such results define entire seasons. Even if Roma lose to their semi-final opponents Liverpool, this would still be the...
Serie A matches were postponed after Davide Astori’s death on Sunday, casting Saturday’s dramatic results into insignificance It felt so all-consuming on Saturday night. A last-minute winner, a six-goal thriller, a title race turned on its head. Then a young man died, and suddenly it did not seem to matter at all.The passing of Davide Astori put all of Italian football into mourning. Genoa and Cagliari’s players were already on the pitch at Marassi, warming up for their lunchtime kickoff, when news filtered through. Several wept as they retreated to the changing rooms. An announcement that the match had been abandoned was met by the fans with applause. Related: Leader Davide Astori is fondly remembered as Serie A falls quiet...
The club’s canny acquisitions and the manager’s brand of football where his side refuse to let up even after an opponent’s will has been broken lift them to third placeLazio won at San Siro on Sunday. An impressive feat at any time but all the more so on this occasion because they weren’t playing there. It was their neighbours, Roma, who had travelled to face Inter but a 1-1 draw between those teams was as good as a victory for the Biancocelesti, who took advantage of dropped points to climb into joint third.They had done their part by thrashing Chievo 5-1 in the afternoon. So much for the theory that the winter break might cost Lazio momentum. This was the...