The Partenopei lead Juve by a point in Italy, where 10 of the last 11 Serie A winners were ‘winter champions’, but memories of that exception remainIt was fitting that Marek Hamsik should grab the winner on Friday night: a record-breaking player adding a final exclamation mark to his team’s record-breaking year. He had overtaken Diego Maradona as Napoli’s all-time leading scorer in Serie A with a strike against Sampdoria just before Christmas. Now he had sunk Crotone with a cool left-foot finish at the Stadio Ezio Scida.This was one of those nights when Napoli should have had a hatful, raining in 23 shots on Alex Cordaz’s goal. As it was, one would suffice to secure their 18th away win...
It was ‘Everyone Against Everyone’, as Gazzetta had billed it, but after a Juve shock and Mauro Icardi’s decisive hat-trick, Napoli remained out in frontSooner or later, the wheels had to come off. Napoli set an impossible pace through the first seven games of this Serie A season: taking maximum points while scoring at least three against every opponent.That came to an end on Saturday, as they ran into a Roma side who had conceded only four in total: second-fewest in the division. A team who finished runners-up to Juventus last season, and whose manager, Eusebio Di Francesco, riffed during his pre-game press conference on the old American sporting maxim that defence wins championships. Related: Last-minute penalty by Internazionale’s Mauro...
In one sense, a treble has already been completed. The Bianconeri are the first team since the Coppa Italia was founded in 1922 to win it three times in a rowGigi Buffon edged towards the touchline, bouncing from one foot to the other and squirting himself in the face with a water bottle. Behind him, Juan Cuadrado grabbed two more – preparing to drench their manager, Massimiliano Allegri, when the final whistle went. The rest of Juventus’s bench gathered around them, ready to rush on to the pitch.You might think this team would be underwhelmed by the prospect of lifting yet another Coppa Italia. But you would be wrong. To watch Juve’s players celebrate their 2-0 victory over Lazio in...
The 28-year-old captain sported another unusual armband and led his younger team-mates to a big win at Chievo after a week of off-field upheavalNot for the first time, Papu Gómez’s biceps stole the show. The Atalanta captain has made headlines all season with his unconventional armband designs. First there was the Mother’s Day tribute, then the Spiderman logo, the Holly & Benji cartoon and, most famously, a celebration of Pro Evolution Soccer’s original Master League XI. As Serie A returned to action on Sunday, he unveiled a new design, inspired by the movie Frozen.It was chosen to mark his daughter Constantina’s second birthday, with her face appearing alongside those of Anna, Elsa and Olaf. But he might unintentionally have also...
There was not much beautiful to hold on to in any sense, although the Giallorossi will be content to have extended the legacy of the departed Rudi García“You do not play a derby, you win it.” When Rudi García pronounced those words at the start of his first season as Roma manager, few could have imagined how prophetic they would turn out to be. The Giallorossi had lost to Lazio in the final of the Coppa Italia a few short months earlier. They have not done so again since. Related: Kevin Strootman strikes as Roma see off Lazio in heated Rome derby Related: Sport picture of the day: watching the Rome derby Continue reading...