Category: Italy Serie A

Club legends in opposing dugouts, Turin giants as underdogs against the juggernaut Partenopei … it was a weird night at the Maradona

The man with the Napoli tattoo was met with hostile whistles on his return to the Stadio Maradona. Luciano Spalletti had the club’s emblem inked on to his arm, together with a Scudetto badge, after leading the Partenopei to their third Serie A title in 2023. The design made it appear as though someone had torn into his flesh, revealing his true essence, a connection more than just skin deep.

But then he accepted the manager’s job at Juventus. For many Napoli supporters this was the ultimate sin, joining the club they hate the most. From others there was a measure of understanding. Spalletti had been out of work for four months after being sacked by the Italian national team in the middle of an ailing World Cup qualifying campaign. The opportunity to succeed Igor Tudor in Turin at the end of October was a chance to get his career back on track.

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• García and Carreras sent off, Swedberg double for Vigo

• Napoli move top of Serie A after Højlund sinks Juventus

Real Madrid endured a shock 2-0 defeat and finished with nine men against Celta Vigo in La Liga on Sunday after Williot Swedberg scored an audacious goal with his heel and a second in stoppage time to leave the hosts four points off the leaders Barcelona.

Swedberg cleverly diverted a cross from Bryan Zaragoza past Thibaut Courtois in the 53rd minute to put Celta ahead and Real’s Fran García received a second yellow card 10 minutes later.

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• England captain comes on in 60th minute of 5-0 win

• Ferran Torres hat-trick helps Barcelona sink Real Betis

Harry Kane scored a hat-trick after coming on as second-half substitute to guide Bayern Munich to a 5-0 victory at Stuttgart.

The Bavarian club, who have opened up an 11-point lead at the top, were a goal up but struggling against the aggressive hosts until the introduction of Kane on the hour mark. Stuttgart were also left with 10 men for the last 10 minutes after the dismissal of Lorenz Assignon.

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No team in Serie A have collected more points this year, so the Giallorossi remain upbeat in a stacked title battle

Gian Piero Gasperini was a victim of mistaken identity last week, after an Italian news story about a man who allegedly impersonated his dead mother to collect her pension was picked up by media outlets around the world. Roma’s manager has no connection to any of this, yet one Argentinian broadcaster included an old photo of him in their coverage.

The segment for Telefe Noticias showed Gasperini’s face between those of the accused and the deceased. A silly meme, circulated by football fans on social media to imply some (dubious) resemblance, confused as being authentic. The online version of the video was quickly taken down from YouTube, but not before it created a fresh set of headlines back in Italy.

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• Pyrotechnics in stands cause referee to call halt

• Real Madrid’s Mbappé levels in 1-1 draw at Girona

Ajax have strongly criticised an “utterly outrageous” firework display that caused their Eredivisie match against Groningen at the Johan Cruyff Arena to be abandoned.

Referee Bas Nijhuis took the players off the field within five minutes of the start after fireworks and flares were ignited behind one of the goals, and the stadium filled with smoke.

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Goalkeeper’s unorthodox tactics got in Inter captain’s head as Allegri’s side held on for all three points at San Siro

It had taken 73 minutes, and a VAR review, but Inter finally had their breakthrough in the Milan derby, the referee, Simone Sozza, pointing to the spot after he saw replays of Strahinja Pavlovic treading on Marcus Thuram’s foot inside the area. Now all that remained was for Hakan Calhanoglu to make the score 1-1.

A formality. Since arriving in Serie A, the Turkey captain had been practically automatic in these situations – scoring 27 out of 28 penalties taken for Inter and three out of three for Milan before that. Entire newspaper columns and late-night TV broadcasts were given over to analysing his infallibility, before he finally smacked one against a post in a draw at home to Napoli last year.

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• Roma claim 3-1 away victory to move top of Serie A

• Milan take derby honours after Maignan penalty save

Real Madrid were held to an entertaining 2-2 draw at Elche on Sunday after a pulsating second half in which the visitors came from behind twice with Jude Bellingham’s late goal rescuing a point.

The result extended Real’s winless run to three matches in all competitions, but they reclaimed top spot in La Liga, one point ahead of Barcelona.

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Sassuolo forward is rarest of beasts – a one-club man – and virtuoso display against Atalanta reinforced his hero status

The man with the moustache held his teammate in a headlock and stared down the TV camera lens. “Berardi!” he yelled, jabbing a finger at the back of his colleague’s bonce. “BE-RAR-DI!”

It felt like that moment in a kids’ movie when the big brother drags his meek sibling back into frame after beating up the school bully. Mess with him again and see what happens. Only, Tarik Muharemovic is nine years younger than Domenico Berardi. And it was the older player, again, who had spent this afternoon tormenting his peers.

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• Martínez and Bonny score in 2-0 home victory

• Real Madrid held to goalless draw by Rayo Vallecano

Inter moved to the top of Serie A with a 2-0 home win against Lazio on Sunday, sealed by goals from Lautaro Martínez early in the first half and Ange-Yoan Bonny after the interval. The result lifted Inter to the summit, level on 24 points with second-placed Roma. Behind them are Milan and Napoli both with 22 points, while Bologna are fifth with 21.

It took three minutes for Martínez to give Inter the lead: receiving the ball inside the box, the captain angled it with the outside of his foot into the far corner. Inter doubled their lead and sent the home crowd into a frenzy in the 62nd minute. Federico Dimarco’s low ball across the face of goal found Bonny free at the back post, leaving him with a simple tap-in.

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After spending big there was optimism in Florence, but their season has been a mess that may get worse

Daniele Pradè had described Fiorentina v Lecce as a “question of life or death”, but as the occasion approached he remembered football’s third option: you can always just walk away. On Saturday, a little more than 24 hours before this game was due to take place, he left his role as sporting director of the Viola by mutual consent.

The timing was a surprise, but not the decision. Fiorentina had made a shockingly poor start to the season, collecting four points from their first nine games, and Pradè was adamant that he alone should shoulder the blame. “The club put €90m at my disposal to build the team,” he pointed out last month. “If anyone is responsible for the current situation, it’s me.”

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• Lamine Yamal and Rashford on target in win over Elche

• Milan, Roma and Inter all a point behind leaders Napoli

Goals from Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford guided Barcelona to a 3-1 victory against Elche on Sunday, propelling the defending champions to second place in La Liga with 25 points, five adrift of the leaders, Real Madrid.

Looking to bounce back after their 2-1 defeat against Madrid in last weekend’s clásico, Barcelona wasted no time in asserting their dominance at Montjuïc’s Olympic Stadium. They made the most of two defensive errors by Elche in the opening minutes to grab a two-goal lead with strikes by Lamine Yamal and Torres in the ninth and 11th minutes.

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• Real Madrid 4-0 Valencia | Bayern Munich 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen

• Coach Patrick Vieira leaves Genoa by mutual consent

Kylian Mbappé netted twice as Real Madrid eased to a 4-0 victory over struggling Valencia, with Jude Bellingham and Alvaro Carreras also scoring to help the La Liga leaders claim their 13th win from 14 matches in all competitions.

The victory extended Real’s commanding lead, putting them seven points clear of second-placed Villarreal and eight ahead of third-placed Barcelona, who sit level with Atlético Madrid on 22 points but have a game in hand.

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Club’s winless streak finally ended on Wednesday against Udinese but a significant task awaits the next manager

It was an oddly coy way to announce Serie A’s first sacking this season. “Igor Tudor is no longer the manager of Juventus,” read the Turin club’s social media post on Monday – as though this had happened by accident or mutual consent. The Bianconeri had not, in fact, lost him down the back of the sofa, but instead relieved him of his duties after an eight-game winless run.

That was their longest dry stretch since 2009. Claudio Ranieri got the boot back then, and it was no surprise to see Tudor meet the same fate now. Juventus had failed to score a goal in his final four matches, culminating in a 1-0 loss to Lazio on Sunday night. “I’m living in the present,” he insisted afterward. “I don’t give a stuff about the future.” Yet it came for him the next day all the same.

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• Tudor departs after just seven months in the job

• Sunday’s defeat to Lazio was third loss in the last week

Juventus have sacked their head coach, Igor Tudor, after failing to win their last eight matches in all competitions, the Serie A club said on Monday.

“Juventus FC announces that it has today relieved Igor Tudor of his duties as coach of the men’s first team, along with his staff,” the Italian club said in a statement, a day after their 1-0 defeat to Lazio. Massimo Brambilla, head coach of the reserve team, will temporarily take over as the first team manager, the club added.

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Serie A’s best player last season showed his class against Inter despite his coach getting mouthy with former players

Scott McTominay could have been forgiven for a moment of self-pity after Napoli’s 6-2 defeat to PSV in the Champions League last week, a night when he scored twice and still wound up on the wrong end of a historic shellacking. Instead, he was the voice of reason.

While Antonio Conte debuted a new line of complaint, putting aside a career’s worth of laments about employers failing to back him in the transfer market to this time protest that Napoli had bought him too many new players, McTominay said simply: “It’s football. You have to take it on the chin.”

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