Roma manager is perhaps the last of the personality coaches, his capacity to inspire by charismatic authority now fading fastAfter his Roma side had lost 1-0 at Bologna, José Mourinho pursued the referee Luca Pairetto down the tunnel, enraged at the bookings that meant Tammy Abraham and Rick Karsdorp would be suspended for last weekend’s game against Internazionale. “I’ll have to invent the lineup on Saturday,” he later told the media. “Luckily, I replaced Gianluca Mancini. Otherwise, he may have been booked too.”With his captain Lorenzo Pellegrini out with a muscular problem and Stephan El Shaarawy suffering a calf problem, Mourinho had to field a weakened lineup against Inter – and nobody could be in any doubt that that was...
Roma’s first-half collapse left their manager sniping at the media while Atalanta and Napoli showed the joys of footballJosé Mourinho cancelled his press conference before Roma’s match against Inter on Saturday, denying us a window into his emotions as he prepared to face his former club in Serie A for the first time. Eleven years had passed since he left the Nerazzurri in floods of tears, hugging Marco Materazzi before disappearing into a Madrid night after completing an unprecedented Treble win.He skipped the celebrations in Milan – fearing he could get caught up in a moment and make a commitment that he would regret. Real Madrid were ready to hire him and Mourinho now had his eyes on a different...
The Sassuolo striker’s brilliant goals against Milan and Napoli this week have bolstered his case to be the national team’s No 9Gianluca Scamacca had a vision for how he wanted this season to play out. Asked in August whether he could earn a role for Italy at next year’s World Cup, the Sassuolo striker demurred, reminding the interviewer from Gazzetta dello Sport that he was still in the under-21s.“One step at a time,” said Scamacca. “But if I manage to play out the season that I have in my mind, the opportunity will arrive.” Continue reading...
In an extract from a new Fifpro report, the Juventus and Italy captain outlines five steps he is taking to fight discriminationThis summer, I had the honour of leading my national team to glory at the European Championship. It feels like a long journey for the Azzurri, and on the road to victory we were often tested. But we learnt from that adversity, and from our mistakes, and those challenges make success taste even sweeter.Today Italian football faces another challenge: the horrific racism experienced by black players, and players from different ethnic backgrounds in general, in this league. This season we have already seen so many incidents. I feel ashamed as an Italian that my teammates and fellow players have...
A home defeat by Atalanta and an investigation into transfers rounded off a dreadful week for The Old LadyAfter losing 4-0 to Chelsea, Juventus’s week only went downhill. Tuesday’s Champions League drubbing was followed up by another loss at home to Atalanta on Saturday. In-between, the club’s offices were raided by police, who seized documents relating to player transfers and financial accounts.A statement from the Turin prosecutor Anna Maria Loreto explained on Friday that these searches were part of a wide-reaching investigation. The present focus, she explained, was to assess whether Juventus, a publicly listed company, had issued false communications to investors and invoices for non-existent transactions. But Loreto noted that further matters were also under scrutiny, including services offered...