Category: Italy Serie A

• Inter beaten 3-0 and miss chance to go top of Serie A
• Ferran Torres hit hat-trick in 5-0 Copa del Rey victory

Internazionale missed their chance to go top of Serie A , the defending champions suffering a 3-0 defeat at Fiorentina as Moise Kean scored twice for the hosts. The defeat left Inter in second place on 51 points, three behind the leaders, Napoli, and Fiorentina moved up to fourth on 42 points, above Lazio on goal difference.

The original match on 1 December was suspended when Fiorentina’s Edoardo Bove collapsed on the pitch and was taken to hospital, and the game restarted at 0-0 in the 17th minute with a Fiorentina throw-in.

Continue reading...

Draw in Milan derby suited nobody but the English duo showed they may be the answer to defensive frailties

Sérgio Conceição said last week that he was sick and tired of this transfer window. “A month is far too long,” he argued. “It has not been positive on an emotional level for many of our players.”

The counter-point arrived in the Milan derby on Sunday night. Starting at right-back for the Rossoneri was Kyle Walker, signed on loan from Manchester City a fortnight after he had informed the Premier League champions of his desire for a move. He was outshone on his debut by the man inside him at centre-back, Fikayo Tomori, who has spent this entire window being linked with transfers elsewhere.

Continue reading...

• Lewandowski goal earns Barça 1-0 home victory
• De Vrij pounces in stoppage time at San Siro

Barcelona closed the gap on La Liga leaders, Real Madrid, to four points, but were reliant on Robert Lewandowski’s second-half goal to beat struggling Alavés.

The home side dominated possession with Alavés, who sit in 18th place, happy to sit back and defend. Barça almost scored near the half-hour mark when Manu Sánchez’s attempt to clear Raphinha’s cross went to Lewandowski, but the Polish striker put his shot wide.

Continue reading...

• Denmark international signs deal until June 2030
• Dorgu ‘cannot wait to work with Ruben Amorim’

Manchester United have completed the signing of Patrick Dorgu from Lecce, subject to visa and registration. The Denmark international has signed a contract until June 2030, with the option of an additional year.

Dorgu, who can play as a left-back, right-back or further forward on the flanks, has played 57 games for Lecce, contributing five goals. United have paid an initial €30m fee (£25.1m) with up to €5m (£4.2m) payable in bonuses.

Continue reading...

Promoted team with expensive signings and celebrity fans are driven by the intensity of their manager and stakeholder

The faces surrounding Cesc Fàbregas were glum, yet he spoke like a conquering general: bellowing praise at his troops as he strode among them, pointing at his eyes then pounding a fist into his open palm. “We devoured them! We devoured them! Keep going because this is only the start!”

It was another cinematic moment at a venue that has become a favourite for Hollywood stars. Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Michael Fassbender, Kate Beckinsale and Benedict Cumberbatch are but a few of the A-listers who have come to watch Como play this season at their Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia. All to see a team struggling in the bottom half of the Serie A table. You might not have guessed it from Fàbregas’s tone, but his team lost 2-1 to Atalanta on Saturday.

Continue reading...

• Tijjani Reijnders and Samuel Chukwueze score late goals
• Barcelona beat Valencia 7-1 in La Liga demolition job

Two added time goals from Tijjani Reijnders and Samuel Chukwueze earned Milan an unlikely 3-2 win at home to struggling Parma in a dramatic game at San Siro on Sunday.

The win moves Milan to sixth in the standings, while Parma are just above the relegation zone in 17th. Parma took the lead in the 24th minute through Matteo Cancellieri before Milan equalised from the penalty spot, with Christian Pulisic converting seven minutes before the break.

Continue reading...

• Lukaku penalty seals 2-1 home win for Serie A leaders
• Real Madrid sink Valladolid to stretch lead in La Liga

Napoli staged a rousing comeback to secure a 2-1 victory over Juventus in Saturday’s action-packed clash, handing the visitors their first Serie A defeat of the season.

Randal Kolo Muani, signed on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, scored on his debut to give Juventus the lead two minutes before the break, pouncing on a rebound to volley past goalkeeper Alex Meret and send Antonio Conte’s side in to the break behind.

Continue reading...

Thiago Motta’s side beat Milan in a feast of football on Saturday that ended with Napoli pulling clear of their rivals

It took almost an hour for the first goal to arrive but once they started they just wouldn’t stop, Samuel Mbangula serving up the first dish of a Saturday night Serie A feast. A 6pm kick-off made Juventus-Milan the aperitivo before a dinner of Atalanta-Napoli.

How peculiar it sounds to frame a match between Italy’s most successful domestic side and its most prolific continental champion as the evening’s lighter course. Yet that is the reality: Juventus and Milan startied this weekend outside of Serie A’s top four, while Atalanta and Napoli are contenders for the Scudetto.

Continue reading...

• France attacker scores twice in 4-1 win over Las Palmas
• Former Tottenham midfielder joins Serie A side

Kylian Mbappé was in inspired form, scoring twice to guide Real Madrid to a comeback 4-1 win over visitors Las Palmas that lifted the champions to the top of La Liga.

Real leapfrogged Atlético Madrid, who lost 1-0 at lowly Leganés on Saturday, to sit top on 46 points, two ahead of their local rivals, with third-placed Barcelona trailing by seven points after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Getafe.

Continue reading...

• Five different scorers for Barça; PSG survive scare
• Fifth-tier Bourgoin-Jallieu stun Lyon in shootout

Barcelona had five different goalscorers as they thumped Real Betis 5-1 to progress to the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey.

The visitors from Seville were dumped out of the cup as Barça turned in a comprehensive display, goals in the first half from Gavi and Jules Koundé giving them a 2-0 cushion at the beak.

Continue reading...

• Bundesliga strugglers win 4-2 and add to Dortmund woes
• Milan recover to win at Como and Juventus draw again

Struggling Holstein Kiel scored three times in a dominant first half but had to survive a late comeback from Borussia Dortmund before beating the visitors 4-2, capped by a breakaway fourth goal into an empty net, in a second straight Bundesliga loss for the Ruhr valley club.

The result saw Dortmund, who had also lost 3-2 to Bayer Leverkusen on Friday, drop to eighth in the standings while piling more pressure on already-embattled coach Nuri Sahin.

Continue reading...

The most shocking element might be how undaunted Napoli, and Naples, appear over the future of ‘Kvaradona’

Antonio Conte is not angry, just disappointed, but before you accuse him of the oldest trick in the parenting book give the man time to finish his thought. On Saturday he confirmed Khvicha Kvaratskhelia wants to leave Napoli, expressing frustration that six months of working together had not persuaded the Georgia international that they could achieve great things together.

A day later, though, he provided a subtle reframing. “I want to underline something,” said Conte at his press conference following a 2-0 win over Verona. “When I spoke about disappointment, I was not speaking about disappointment felt toward a player or toward the club but in myself. I thought I could cut through and influence this situation … maybe I was a little bit presumptuous.”

Continue reading...

• Xavi Simons scores twice against Werder Bremen
• Álvarez provides winner for La Liga leaders Atlético

RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons scored twice on his comeback from injury to help his team to a 4-2 Bundesliga victory over visiting Werder Bremen on Sunday as the new Red Bull head of global soccer Jürgen Klopp watched from the stands.

Klopp, who ended a successful nine-year stint at Liverpool last summer and has coached Mainz and Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, started his new role this month and will act as an adviser for the Red Bull-owned clubs in Germany, the United States, Brazil and Austria.

Continue reading...

• His 15th league goal of season keeps Bayern clear at top
• In Serie A, Atalanta miss chance to go level with Napoli

Harry Kane netted a penalty to give Bayern Munich a 1-0 victory at Borussia Mönchengladbach in their first Bundesliga match after the winter break, keeping them four points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

The England captain sent Gladbach keeper Moritz Nicolas the wrong way in the 68th minute to break the deadlock and bag his 15th league goal this season to maintain his status as the Bundesliga’s top scorer.

Continue reading...

• Milan want United to foot much of Rashford’s salary
• Juventus interested in loan deal for Netherlands forward

Marcus Rashford is being targeted by Milan regarding a potential loan, with any deal dependent on Manchester United paying a sizeable portion of the forward’s salary of about £365,000 a week.

Whether United are willing to do so is yet to be decided. It is not their preference to provide a considerable percentage of Rashford’s wage, which makes him United’s highest-paid player. But Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls football policy, may decide Rashford departing for the rest of the season is in the best interests of all parties, particularly the head coach, Ruben Amorim.

Continue reading...