Category: Italy Serie A

• Club refusing to sell to Serie A rivals Inter

• Centre-forward complains of ‘poor treatment’

Ademola Lookman has gone on strike as he attempts to force through a move to Inter, but Atalanta have insisted he will not be sold to another Italian club.

The Nigeria forward did not attend pre-season training for the second day in a row after handing in a transfer request last weekend, when Lookman also published a statement in which he accused Atalanta of “broken promises”. An improved Inter bid worth up to €45m (£32.1m) including add-ons was rejected last week after a €40m offer for the 27-year-old was turned down.

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Ballon d’Or winner becomes the latest veteran, after Kevin De Bruyne, to be pulled in by Italian game’s leisurely pace of life

Luka Modric will turn 40 in September. He has played 930 games over the course of a career and has won seven league titles and six Champions Leagues. He even broke the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly to claim the Ballon d’Or after inspiring Croatia to the World Cup final in 2018.

He rarely lasts a full 90 minutes these days, didn’t start a game during the Club World Cup and was spared the indignity of coming on for his Madrid farewell with the semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain long since lost. He could have retired five years ago and still been one of the most respected players in the history of the game but, his eyes on next summer’s World Cup, when his contract at Real Madrid expired Modric chose to join Milan.

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• Italian FA gives approval for February fixture to be moved

• Game would be first in major European league held abroad

Milan’s home game against Como in the 2025-26 Serie A campaign could become the first major European domestic league fixture played outside its home country, as plans to move the fixture to Australia took a step forward.

Italy’s football federation (FIGC) has given the green light for the match to be played in Perth – some 8,500 miles away from Milan – next February. The proposal moves European football into uncharted territory after previous requests to stage domestic league matches abroad were knocked back by authorities.

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The Scottish influence inspired title winners in Naples, Inter blew up and Claudio Ranieri enjoyed his Roman return

The season has barely ended and already it is clear Serie A will look very different next term. Five of the league’s top 10 sides have parted ways with their managers and a sixth, Claudio Ranieri, is moving upstairs at Roma. More changes may soon follow, with Igor Tudor’s future at Juventus uncertain and Como’s Cesc Fàbregas drawing attention from richer clubs – including the runners-up, Inter, who need a replacement for Simone Inzaghi.

Could we equal the turnover of last summer, when 14 out of 20 teams got a new coach? It’s not impossible, especially with several lower-half teams and their tacticians still exploring the options available.

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• Inzaghi departs after heavy Champions League final loss

• Led Inter to Serie A title during four-year spell at club

Simone Inzaghi has left his position as manager of Inter, the Serie A club confirmed on Tuesday.

The 49-year-old is departing three days after a humiliating 5-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final and with Inter having missed out on the domestic title, to Napoli, by one point. The Nerazzurri also lost 4-1 to city rivals Milan in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia.

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• Italian champions visit Vatican and meet with pontiff

• Pope denies being a Roma supporter during audience

Pope Leo XIV welcomed Italy’s newly crowned Serie A champions Napoli to the Vatican on Tuesday, joking about his own football allegiances.

Napoli won their fourth Scudetto on Friday with a 2-0 home victory over Cagliari, edging out Inter by one point in a nail-biting end to the season. The team, captained by the Italy international Giovanni Di Lorenzo and including player of the season Scott McTominay, arrived for their papal audience a day after a triumphant open-top bus parade through central Naples.

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There are interesting pieces to build on, but it appears unlikely Igor Tudor will be taking team forward

Serie A’s title race ended on Friday night, but the drama certainly didn’t. Still to be decided were the final qualifiers for all three European competitions and which teams would join Monza in dropping out of the top division. The six games that could affect those outcomes kicked off simultaneously on Sunday. Within 70 seconds, Daniel Fila had given 19th-placed Venezia the lead over fourth-placed Juventus. A tone-setter for an evening of twists and turns.

Juventus thought they had equalised almost immediately at the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, Alberto Costa driving a brilliant half-volley in from the edge of the area. But he handled in the buildup. Roma took the lead away to Torino. One point behind the Bianconeri at the start of play, they were on course for the last Champions League spot.

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Few expected the team to challenge this season but the club held off Inter to spark Neapolitan fireworks that could put Mount Vesuvius to shame

Antonio Conte had asked a city not to get ahead of itself, not to celebrate this Serie A title before its team earned it. “I don’t want to see flags here and there with numbers on,” he said after the draw with Parma in the penultimate round. Everybody knew what he meant: Napoli were in touching distance of their fourth scudetto but, for a superstitious manager, now was not the moment to say it out loud.

Supporters held off for as long as they could. Not until the final moments of Napoli’s 2-0 win over Cagliari on Friday did the giant white sheet come cascading down the stands of the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona with an enormous black “4” in the middle. Green and red flares were set off either side to create the colours of the Italian flag. The same that appear on a scudetto badge.

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Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku scored the goals against Cagliari that claimed a second title in three years

Caledonia’s Simon McMahon gets in touch: “Gilmour and McTominay starting for Napoli and on the verge of winning Serie A is just insane, John. Really hope they do it, got the pizza and beers in, COME ON NAPOLI!!!”

Naples is getting game ready, too. Mathías Olivera is being given a penant for his 100th game. The sound of Live Is Life can be heard at the Diego Armando Maradona.

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• Napoli win league by point from Inter, who beat Como

• McTominay also named Serie A player of the season

A spectacular scissor kick from Scott McTominay set Napoli on their way to a 2-0 win over Cagliari that sealed the Serie A title for Antonio Conte’s side in their final league game of the season.

Napoli went into the match leading the Italian table by just one point from Inter, who kicked off at the same time on Friday night away to Como. When Stefan de Vrij put Inter ahead via a corner after 20 minutes, they leapfrogged Napoli in the live standings, but the goal from the former Manchester United midfielder McTominay in the 42nd minute, acrobatically converting Matteo Politano’s cross, eased nerves in Naples.

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The 37-year-old former Chelsea winger had the final say amid controversy, bitterness and regret in Milan and Parma

Antonio Conte looked like a man who just wanted to be tucked up in bed, sinking into his seat in the Stadio Tardini’s press conference room instead and dropping his head between his hands. “Very tired,” he replied when a journalist asked how he was feeling. He kept repeating those words while the next question was being asked, a quiet little chant: “Very tired. Very tired. Very tired.”

Even a neutral spectator might have felt exhausted from keeping up with all the twists and turns on a night when Conte’s Napoli twice lost control of the Serie A title race and twice got it back – all without scoring or conceding any goals. A night of VAR controversies, penalties awarded then unawarded and deep, bitter regret.

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• Napoli lead Serie A by point after draw at Parma
• PSV pip Ajax to Eredivisie title with 3-1 win at Sparta

Inter’s title hopes were dealt a crushing blow when a late Pedro penalty earned Lazio a 2-2 draw at San Siro, to leave the Serie A champions one point behind Napoli going into the final game of the season.

With Napoli held to a 0-0 draw by Parma, Inter missed the perfect opportunity to move into pole position at just the right time, but Yann Bisseck went from hero to villain, conceding the 90th minute penalty after opening the scoring.

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Dan Ndoye’s goal secures a 1-0 win over Milan and sparks scenes of joy in the Piazza Maggiore once again

Vincenzo Italiano knew there was a little bit of poison in the chalice offered to him last summer but accepted it anyway. The opportunity to manage Bologna was a chance to lead a Champions League team for the first time in his career. It was also an invitation to become the public face of a project that had nowhere to go but backwards.

What could he possibly do to improve on the work of the previous manager, Thiago Motta, who led Bologna back into Europe’s top club competition for the first time in 60 years? Italiano would not even have the same group of players to work with. Top scorer Joshua Zirkzee was on his way to Manchester United and the newly capped Italy defender Riccardo Calafiori to Arsenal. Lewis Ferguson would be out for months with a cruciate ligament tear.

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An astonishing array of outcomes remain possible with two games left in tantalisingly unpredictable end to season

Antonio Conte characterised it as Napoli’s “bonus” game, a free swing, the mistake they could yet afford. A 2-2 draw at home to Genoa left a bitter taste, after having taken the lead in both halves, but this was no time to panic. “Before this we needed seven points to win the Scudetto,” said Conte. “We took one, so now we must win our last two games.”

It sounded so simple, put like that, but we had just been reminded of why it will not be. Genoa at home was supposed to be the most straightforward of Napoli’s remaining fixtures, against opponents with no objectives left to play for.

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• Genoa’s Johan Vásquez scores late equaliser
• Dortmund spoil Alonso’s Leverkusen leaving party

Napoli’s Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale as Inter are just one point behind. Napoli remain top on 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier in the day, with two rounds remaining.

Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got rid of his marker before guiding his shot into the bottom corner to give Napoli the lead in the 15th minute. Genoa equalised in the 32nd minute when the Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret initially parried Honest Ahanor’s header on to the post, only for the rebound to bounce off his body and into the net for an own goal.

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