Italy

Soccer is a sport often defined by tradition. A player’s jersey number is often indicative of his or her position on the pitch, a practice dating back more than a century. 

But Atalanta players don’t give a fuck about jersey number conventions, and they’re on the verge of taking their No. 88s and No. 95s and No. 72s right to the Champions League quarterfinals.

Atalanta smashed Valencia 4-1 in the first leg of their UCL Round of 16 match on Wednesday at the San Siro. The second leg in is March 10 at the Mestalla.

After Juventus’ shock 2-1 defeat to Verona on Saturday, Inter had the glorious chance of returning to the top of the Serie A table with a win on Sunday. But standing in the Nerazzurri’s way was rival AC Milan in the Derby della Madonnina.

Although Milan entered the match in 11th place, the club had been rejuvenated by the January arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimović. With Ibrahimović, Milan had gone undefeated in league play (three wins, two draws) and advanced to the semifinals of the Coppa Italia. 

Cristiano Ronaldo finalized his transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus back in the summer of 2018, bringing an end to his nine-year spell at the Bernabeu. Juve paid Real $117.25 million for the 34-year-old’s services, and Ronaldo signed a four-year deal worth around $35 million annually.

The sporting world lost one of its most important figures on Sunday as Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others passed after a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

The tragedy is one where almost everyone will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they received the text, saw the tweet or read the news.

Maybe this is the answer for Argentina up top? Absolutely not, but still, Juventus’ Argentinean duo of Gonzalo Higuaín and Paulo Dybala combined (3x) for a mesmerizing goal on Wednesday to help the Old Lady stroll into the Coppa Italia quarterfinals after hammering Udinese 4-0. 

With Cristiano Ronaldo missing out entirely due to illness, it was up to the front three of Higuaín, Dybala and Douglas Costa to produce the goods, and they all got on the scoresheet for Juve. 

Just four days after being officially unveiled as an AC Milan player and undergoing his medical, Zlatan Ibrahimović made his return to the San Siro as a 55th-minute substitute in the club’s 0-0 draw with Sampdoria.

Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo opened 2020 in fine style following a 4-0 beatdown of Cagliari on Monday with Ronaldo featuring in all four goals. The Portuguese legend scored a hat-trick and provided an assist — all in the second half — as Juve opened up a three-point lead at the top of Serie A ahead of Monday's late encounter between Inter and Napoli.

Back in January of 2010, Mario Balotelli was a 19-year-old phenom clashing daily with José Mourinho in the midst of Inter Milan’s treble-winning season. On Jan. 6 of that year, Balotelli scored Serie A’s first goal of the decade when providing the game-winning strike against Chievo Verona in the 12th minute. It was his fifth goal of the 2009-10 league campaign.

Following the completion of his free transfer from the LA Galaxy to AC Milan after the expiration of his MLS contract, Zlatan Ibrahimović was officially unveiled as a Rossoneri player on Thursday. The 38-year-old completed his medical, fitness tests and a voluntary individual training session before being presented in front of the media with his new squad number of 21.