Serie A

Roma’s 22-year-old center back Roger Ibañez is not a bad footballer — we don’t want to pile on too much here — but he had one of the worst performances of his career on Friday. Ibañez was directly responsible for Lazio’s first two goals en route to a 3-0 defeat in the Derby della Capitale.

Lazio, which came into the match in eighth place and eager for a victory to get back into the race for Champions League qualification, controlled the Roman rivalry from the outset. A couple of early mistakes from Ibañez put Le Aquile on the road to an easy win.

From living a total “nightmare” to being closely monitored by Manchester United, what a difference six months can make. On Wednesday, Hirving “Chucky” Lozano went full circle by providing an influential performance in Napoli’s Coppa Italia Round of 16 win over Empoli.

There’s no telling what records Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will break in any given week — it’s entirely up to statisticians as to how they want to morph it at this point (most goals on a Tuesday, most goals with a common denominator of five scored across three leagues, most goals by a JUST RETWEET THIS POST GODDAMMIT).

It’s a testament to both the consistent longevity of their greatness and the somewhat curious cases of the historical players they rival, namely Josef Bican and Pelé. 

Gianluca Mancini's late goal earned AS Roma a 2-2 draw at home to Inter Milan on Sunday which left the visitors three points behind leaders AC Milan in the Serie A title race.

Lorenzo Pellegrini’s deflected shot put the hosts in front at halftime, but Inter mustered a spirited response and Milan Škriniar headed in a deserved equalizer after the break. Achraf Hakimi put Inter ahead by curling an outstanding shot in off the bar, but Mancini's glancing header leveled the scores with four minutes remaining to clinch a sixth consecutive league draw between the two teams.

Weston McKennie helped Juventus hand AC Milan its first league loss of the season on Wednesday after scoring a key goal in a 3-1 victory.

Juventus traveled to Milan to play the league leaders at the famous San Siro. The defending champions struck first in the 18th minute courtesy of a filthy assist from Paulo Dybala to find Federico Chiesa.

This assist from Dybala was unreal pic.twitter.com/ksxkGlRGBf

Two names dominate the headlines as the January transfer window opens in Italy: Christian Eriksen and Alejandro "Papu" Gomez.

Two of the Serie A's most gifted players are expected to depart their respective clubs, Inter Milan and Atalanta, this month after ending 2020 disgruntled and out of favor.

In the year 2021, Lionel Messi will turn 34 while Cristiano Ronaldo turns 36 in just one month’s time. Playing in their first matches of the New Year on Sunday, the duo showed just how important they remain to their respective clubs by providing match-winning moments.

Over in Spain, Messi returned from his extended winter break to appear in his 500th LaLiga match for Barcelona. He’s the first non-Spanish player to reach the milestone, and among active players, only Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos (505) and Real Betis’ Joaquín (565) have more.  

Lautaro Martínez's first hat-trick for Inter Milan helped his side crush Crotone 6-2, earning their eighth successive Serie A win on Sunday and sending Antonio Conte's team top of the standings above AC Milan.