That Atalanta should pick this weekend to record their first win over Juventus in two decades felt powerfully poignantHours before 12 of Europe’s leading football clubs announced plans for a breakaway Super League that would shield them from the consequences of sporting failure, one was busy demonstrating why such protection might be desired. Juventus, winners of the last nine Serie A titles, fell to fourth in the table as they lost 1-0 at Atalanta, dropping behind their opponents in the process.The Bianconeri could have slipped all the way out of the Champions League places if Napoli had beaten Inter later that evening. In the event, those clubs drew, but Juventus’s margin for error has evaporated. The gap to Napoli is...
The manager has copped stick for ‘parking the bus’, but a first Scudetto in 11 years is in sight after Inter’s 11th win in a rowAs Inter prepared to extend their winning run to an 11th consecutive match, one former employee was calling for the manager to be sacked. “They don’t play well!” protested Antonio Cassano during his weekly appearance on Christian Vieri’s Twitch channel, his anger escalating as he repeated the phrase three times.“Antonio Conte plays a 5-3-2, everyone behind the ball, everyone lined up in front of their own goal. He parks the bus, and you can’t get by. If I had a manager like this, I would go to the president and say: ‘Get rid of him.’”...
The Bianconeri slumped to defeat by Benevento but senior figures at the club cannot lay all the blame on the managerPippo Inzaghi put his arm around Andrea Pirlo’s shoulder before kick-off at the Allianz Stadium. It was an instinctive moment of reconnection between two men, who played together for a decade at Milan. They were brought to San Siro by the same agent, Tullio Tinti, in the summer of 2001 and shared more than 200 matches side by side.As players, they achieved some of football’s highest highs. On the footage of Milan’s 2007 Champions League final win over Liverpool, you can see them in an identical pose, Inzaghi pulling his friend close as they head for the changing rooms at...
In the absence of Juventus’s season being a success, their star man grabbed some individual glory for himself Cristiano Ronaldo achieved perfection on Sunday. One goal with his head, another with his right foot and finally a third with his left. A perfect hat-trick, in the language of football. Perhaps it felt a little less flawless to the Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno, who bled from the chin when the forward’s studs caught him in the 14th minute, before the last two of those goals were scored.It was a challenge that deserved a red card, Ronaldo raising his boot above shoulder height as he challenged for a cross. The referee Gianpaolo Calvarese opted for a yellow. A sliding doors moment that...
Two goals against Lazio showed again that the Spaniard and Juve are a happy fit and, at €10m, Andrea Pirlo has got a bargain With their title hopes hanging by a thread, Juventus turned once more to their Iberian saviour. You know the one: tall, dark hair, a repeat Champions League winner from his time at Real Madrid. A forward who has lifted silverware in Spain, Italy and England and who bangs in the goals for his country at a rate of one in every other game.He had rescued them once already last week, coming off the bench to break a second-half stalemate at Spezia. On Saturday, he delivered a more remarkable rescue: setting up a goal then scoring two...