You should, maybe, know who Nicolo Zaniolo is by now. At 19, the AS Roma midfielder isn’t quite the polished product like many attackers who scored in Serie A on Wednesday, but the teen is growing in stature by the week.
Serie A has long been defined by aging Italian footballers getting better with age, just like a fine box of Franzia. Recent examples include Francesco Totti scoring 15 at the age of 34, Filippo Inzaghi hitting 13 at the age of 35, Alessandro Del Piero notching 13 at 34, Luca Toni dropping 22 at 38 and Antonio Di Natale recording 14 at 37.
Juventus’ unbeaten Serie A campaign looked done and dusted Wednesday at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in Bergamo. With the score level at 1-1 in the 53rd minute, Juventus midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off for his second yellow.
Three minutes later, Duvan Zapata scored his second of the match to give Atalanta a shock 2-1 lead.
¡El INVICTO de la Juventus está en PELIGRO!
Así Duván Zapata consigue su doblete y los bianconeri juegan con 10.
When ESPN acquired the exclusive U.S. TV rights to Serie A back in August, we were excited about the prospect of easy access to a league that used to require a high-level cable subscription (or illegal stream) to watch, especially with Cristiano Ronaldo having just moved to Italy. The ESPN Serie A deal meant at least one match per week would be on ESPN networks, with the remainder on ESPN+.
The winter-break period separating the first half and the second half of the season in Europe’s top five leagues is a great time for clubs to reflect on a club's season (although winter break doesn’t exist in England). Even before Christmas, but Europe’s top clubs are preparing for their second half of the season push. Here are some New Year's resolutions for Europe’s top clubs in the big five leagues.
The Derby della Mole between Juventus and Torino was decided by a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty kick on Saturday at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino. The 70th-minute goal wasn’t a surprise for anyone who follows Serie A, both in terms of who scored it and where it came from.
But Ronaldo’s celebration afterword was a bit puzzling.
With findings from MARCA, we now know the latest effective minutes per game from Europe’s big five leagues for the 2018-19 season.
Yesterday, 19-year-old AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made his 100th consecutive Serie A appearance for the club, a streak which began during the 2015-16 season. It’s a feat that doesn’t make much sense for a teenager plying his trade at the seven-time European champions. It's mind-boggling.
During an extensive talk with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo spoke about why he deserves the Ballon d’Or every year, how he’s loving life in Turin and how he doesn’t like to be compared to other footballers . . .
The magic was never going to last in Rome. Despite securing top three finishes in Serie A in each of the last five seasons and reaching the dizzying heights of last year’s Champions League semifinals, this is still a selling club, as evidenced by the big-money departures of Miralem Pjanić, Mohamed Salah, Antonio Rüdiger, Alisson, Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan over the last three summers.