Serie A

Francesco Totti appeared in his seven millionth Serie A match for AS Roma on Sunday, failing to add to his total of 1,306,478 goals for the club but appearing for a 25th successive calendar year — a streak that first began in 218 BC when Totti helped defend Rome from the invading Carthaginian army led by Hannibal.

Over the course of the streak, Totti has helped Rome gain dominance over the Western Mediterranean, assist Caesar in his conquest of Gaul, witness the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and win the 2008 Coppa Italia.

For anyone wondering, let’s get the essentials out of the way: Fiorentina versus Juventus is a big match. This is truer for one side than the other, however. Before Sunday’s game, Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci told the press that while the fixture was the most important date in most Florentines’ football calendar, it was just another game for the reigning champions.

The Coppa Italia round of 16 match between AC Milan and Torino was interesting but not overly so until early in the second half when Torino keeper Joe Hart got kicked in the face.

Here's the video:

Loan Watch: Joe Hart gets a scrape of the opposition's studs on his face vs AC Milan... ouch! pic.twitter.com/W2ENxWtgjV

— MCFC Info (@MCFClnfo) January 12, 2017

Last week, social media erupted amid news that Premier League side Arsenal had attempted to spend a huge amount of money on Serie A’s latest striking sensation, Andrea Belotti. Figures in the tens of millions were bandied about, converted from euros to pounds and back again until it seemed as though Arsenal’s penny-pinching ways had prevented their transfer business yet again. 

It’s been a rough six months for Italian international Simone Zaza. His infamous penalty miss against Germany at Euro 2016, when he approached the ball like a duck at a discotech, has become a burden that he says he’ll carry forever. 

via GIPHY

Some weeks, there is nothing to write about. As much as the constant churn of the news cycle demands fresh content, the available information turns up nothing much. Then, hours are spent trying to find a new angle on why Atalanta are doing pretty well or why Sassuolo are struggling. If there’s really nothing, then just write about the latest stupid thing Inter have done. But this week is different.

There’s no escaping the fact that the draws for the Champions League and the Europa League are ridiculous. These hugely overdone gala affairs take three hours to achieve what could be done in ten minutes. The saving graces - scowling club directors, getting to see Clarence Seedorf again - are vastly overshadowed by the ludicrous complexity of everything and UEFA’s willingness to blow their own trumpet at every conceivable opportunity. The entire event is comical, but it doesn’t really matter.

The Derby della Capitale was drenched in narrative. In a sporting context, the word narrative might well be overused to the point of meaninglessness, but there’s not many other ways in which to focus on the 90-minute battle between Lazio and Roma that took place on Sunday.

In purely sporting terms, it was a fascinating game. Roma, second in the league and easily fulfilling their role as perpetual also-rans, came up against arch-rivals Lazio, who were themselves only a point behind. 

Following every weekend, when discussing Serie A, there's a temptation to focus on Juventus. As the long-time reigning champions, it's clear why the Turin side garners a huge amount of attention. But the best stories are not always found at the top of the table.