Barcelona, PSG, Bayern and Juventus have won 25 of the last 28 league titles. Europe has become the only testing groundD id you feel it? The great disturbance in the force, as though millions of voices cried out in hope? Last weekend, something remarkable happened: none of the champions of Europe’s big five leagues won (a statistic that admittedly loses some of its potency when it is acknowledged that Serie A hadn’t started: Juventus kicked off their Serie A campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Parma).Last season was the first time that each of the big five leagues had been retained, but here was the little man striking back: Barcelona lost, Paris Saint-Germain lost, Manchester City drew, Bayern...
The champions may have landed De Ligt, Rabiot and Ramsey but all has not run smoothly for Maurizio Sarri this summerItalian football’s summer break began in much the same way as the season had ended: with Juventus way out in front. By 1 July they had concluded the free agent signings of Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot. Then they did something far more audacious: signing Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax for €75m.Even for a club that signed Cristiano Ronaldo one year previously, it felt like a landmark deal. When did an Italian side last win a bidding war for one of European football’s most coveted young talents? At 19 years old, De Ligt had already started in a Champions League...
Late-season collapse was accompanied by strange events off the field as Napoli sought a second successive title in 1987-88When Napoli beat Juventus 1-0 in November 1985, thanks to a Diego Maradona free-kick, five people fainted in the stadium and two had heart attacks. On the television news that night, a stern-faced presenter announced: “So quite literally by scoring this goal, Maradona made a big mess.” A year and a half later, Napoli were champions of Italy, their first scudetto in a long, underwhelming history. The party went on for two months. Hundreds of newborn boys were named Diego, the girls Diega.These are details from the riveting, immersive new documentary Diego Maradona, made by Asif Kapadia, whose previous films have traced...
Ronaldo could not elevate the league’s standing in a season that mirrored recent ones, including ugly events off the pitchNot even an alien invasion could change the narrative for Italian football. Cristiano Ronaldo was hailed as an extra-terrestrial when he touched down in Turin, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner arriving in a country where no player had got close to the award since Kaká claimed it in 2007. The Portuguese forward was supposed to carry Juventus to European glory. Instead, they won an eighth consecutive Serie A title, and nothing more.Ronaldo, for the most part, delivered. He did not hit those otherworldly heights of his best years in Madrid, but 28 goals and 10 assists are hardly a pittance. His...
Gian Piero Gasperini’s great entertainers made club history, while Inter edged Milan to a top-four place tooIn Milan, Florence and Ferrara they waited. In Rome and Reggio Emilia, too. The final six games of the Serie A season had been scheduled to kick off simultaneously, to ensure a level playing field for teams chasing a Champions League berth, as well as those fighting against relegation. But somebody, somewhere, was late.Referees tutted and glared at their watches, waiting for the signal to commence. Ultras completed their planned choreographies and wondered what to do next. Players bounced and bellowed at one another in overwrought voices. It was not exactly quiet before the storm, yet there was a moment of exquisite tension shared...