Italy Serie A News
Napoli extended their lead at the top of Serie A to seven points as goals from Romelu Lukaku and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia sealed a 2-0 win at Milan.
Lukaku and Kvaratskhelia both struck in the first half as Napoli extended their unbeaten league run to nine matches after their opening-day defeat at Verona.
Continue reading...Mario Balotelli has signed for Genoa as a free agent, the Serie A club said on Monday, marking a return to the Italian top-tier for the striker after more than four years.
Genoa, third from bottom in the standings, have scored just seven goals in nine league games. The club’s manager, Alberto Gilardino, will hope that the 34-year-old can add to the 52 goals he has netted in 141 Serie A games.
Continue reading...An all-time classic clash between Inter and Juventus was rounded off by the Turkish teenager’s two-goal cameo
It had been a bonkers, record-setting, night – one of the highest-scoring matches ever in a rivalry that goes back 115 years – but not all the protagonists were enjoying themselves. “Thanks for the show!” said Zvonimir Boban in the Sky Sport studio to Simone Inzaghi at full-time. The Inter manager winced and forced a laugh. “The neutrals like you enjoyed yourselves. Me, a little bit less.”
Inzaghi had seen his team fritter away a two-goal lead in the final 20 minutes against Juventus, letting 4-2 become 4-4. To write it that way does a disservice to Kenan Yildiz, the teenager who came off the bench to score twice and turn the game on its head – writing his name into Derby d’Italia lore. Yet to tell it any other way would ignore the truth that Inter could have been out of sight before he did.
Continue reading...Piotr Zielinski converted two penalties for Inter as they played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with Juventus, for whom Kenan Yildiz scored a late brace, in Serie A on Sunday.
The five-goal opening half began with Marcus Thuram earning a penalty, which Zielinski converted to give Inter the lead after 15 minutes. Juve equalised five minutes later through Dusan Vlahovic and then took the lead with a strike from Timothy Weah, all within a six-minute span. After Henrikh Mkhitaryan equalised for Inter in the 35th minute, Zielinski scored his second from the penalty spot two minutes later, handing Inter a 3-2 lead going into the break.
Continue reading...Bayer Leverkusen’s sloppy performance in their 2-2 draw at Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Saturday that included conceding a 90th-minute equaliser was down to the German champions’ weak defending, Xabi Alonso said.
Werder twice came from a goal down to snatch a point and leave Leverkusen with a third draw in their last four league games. “The fact that Werder could come back was down to both sides,” Alonso, who led his team to an unbeaten domestic league and cup double last season, said. “We were too soft in defending and they used their chances.
Continue reading...A surprise signing from Genoa, the striker has immediately integrated in Bergamo thanks to his manager’s brilliance
Mateo Retegui is not afraid to make a snap decision. When Roberto Mancini phoned to ask if he would consider representing the Italian national team last March, the striker “didn’t have to think about it. I just said yes right away”. Born and raised in Argentina, he had never lived in Italy nor did he speak the language, yet within days he marked his international debut with a goal against England in Naples.
A choice that shifted his whole life’s trajectory. Twenty-three years old and playing for Tigre on loan from Boca Juniors, Retegui was hardly at the forefront of most European scouts’ minds. He scored 23 goals across all competitions in 2022, yet domestically there were doubts as to his ceiling. His parent club had declined their option to bring him back at the end of the year, while the Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni was indifferent to Retegui declaring for Italy.
Continue reading...Jürgen Klopp has been criticised by fans of his former club Mainz for his decision to join the energy drinks company Red Bull and oversee its network of clubs. Mainz supporters held banners during their team’s Bundesliga game against Leipzig – a Red Bull-backed club – in which they addressed their former hero.
“Have you forgotten everything we gave you?” asked one huge banner behind one of the goals, referring to Klopp’s tearful farewell speech when he left the club after 18 years as a player and coach in 2008.
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