Win over Juventus might have allowed a third horse to enter Serie A’s title race – with a wealth of attacking riches to call onSergej Milinkovic-Savic needed only one glance to know it was time to start running. Few of the 60,000 fans in attendance at the Stadio Olimpico could have guessed what was about to happen as the Serbian, moving without the ball in the middle of the Juventus half, began to accelerate towards the left touchline. Seconds later, he was beside the penalty spot, scoring to give Lazio a 2-1 lead.It was a strike that highlighted the breadth of Milinkovic-Savic’s talent. He had judged his movement perfectly, pulling away from Alex Sandro and bending a run into the...
Midfielder has returned on loan to the club where he made his Serie A debut, and showing Internazionale what they’re missingAfter watching his Internazionale team throw away a two-goal lead against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday, Antonio Conte lamented a shortage of top-level experience in his playing squad. “Who am I supposed to call on?” he demanded. “Nicolò Barella, who came here from Cagliari? [Stefano] Sensi, who we signed from Sassuolo?”These were unworthy remarks from a manager whose club splurged more than €150m on transfer fees in the summer window, delivering him several of the players he wanted most. Barella had been one of Conte’s top priorities. Sensi was Inter’s stand-out performer through the first two months...
Victory over Udinese moved Roma up to fourth, an impressive position when set against their lengthy injury listRomelu Lukaku’s best goal yet for Internazionale. Cristiano Ronaldo bagging a 95th-minute winner to put Juventus back on top of the table. Six players sent off in an evening, and Carlo Ancelotti seeing red, too, after his Napoli team blew their second lead of the night against Atalanta. Serie A’s midweek round was certainly eventful.We will get to all the stories mentioned above, but this also feels like a moment when we need to talk about Chris Smalling. He scored his first Serie A goal on Wednesday, the second of four in Roma’s romp past Udinese. The strike itself was nothing special –...
Inspired substitutions gave Thiago Motta a dream start in the dugout while Atalanta enjoyed a 10-goal swing from midweekStudies tell us school bullies have often been victims of bullying themselves. Watching Atalanta humiliate Udinese on Sunday afternoon, it was tempting to wonder whether something similar might apply to football teams.Beaten 5-1 by Manchester City in midweek, the Bergamo club returned home to thrash their next opponent 7-1. They even allowed Udinese the illusory joy of scoring the first goal, just as they had experienced at the Etihad.⚽ It's a second for Luis Muriel, and Atalanta are running riot against Udinese!4⃣-1⃣ to Gasperini's men pic.twitter.com/mnEE9k1VYV Related: Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 top scorers 2019-20 Atalanta 7-1...
Football fairytales eventually hit financial reality, but Atalanta still hope to dance at the Champions League ballIf you exclusively watched Atalanta in the Champions League this season, you might have concluded that this Cinderella story had reached midnight. Thrashed 4-0 by Dinamo Zagreb, and then beaten at home by Shakhtar Donetsk, the debutants are rushing to exit the European ball that they wished so desperately to attend. Their run in the tournament could effectively be ended by Manchester City over the next two matchdays, starting at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.There are no happily-ever-afters for footballing fairytales. Financial realities always come to bear eventually, and Atalanta remain a team representing a town of little more than 100,000 people. Even...