It seems like every week, we talk about Napoli. Despite them being only third in the table, they’re generating a huge amount of column inches at the moment. As fate would have it, Napoli’s fixture list has thrown up a string of vital matches, back to back to back. There was the Real Madrid tie, the double header against Juventus, and a perpetual chase to stay in the top three and secure Champions League football for another year.
With Gianluigi Buffon’s place between the Juventus sticks unassailable for all eternity, deputy goalkeeper Neto gets to strut his stuff in the Coppa Italia. On Wednesday, Napoli substitute Dries Mertens took full advantage of that change.
The 29-year-old came on in the 61st-minute and immediately leveled the score at 2-2. Impact sub, super sub, managerial tactical masterstroke, insane goalkeeping blunder — whatever you want to call it, this was some heads-up hustle from Mertens.
In Naples, they have a book for interpreting dreams. La Smorfia, translated as "the Grimace," provides the user with guidance, teaching them to take their night time adventures and turn them into a series of numbers. You can then use these numbers to play the lottery. For instance, should you dream of Italy or of God, then you should pick the number one. If you dream of a deranged person, then number 22 is particularly auspicious.
If you have a nightmare, then you should be selecting the number ninety. Using your dreams, you can predict the future.
The drawn out sale of AC Milan has seemingly reached a breakthrough. Elliott Management, a United States-based hedge fund, has agreed to finance a large portion of the remaining capital owed to Silvio Berlusconi’s current ownership group Fininvest. Elliott has provided an essential assist to Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux (sharing AC Milan’s nickname but unrelated to the club), Chinese investor Yonghong Li’s investment vehicle leading the AC Milan purchase.
Today marks a historic day in football as Francesco Totti made his Roma debut against Brescia on March 28, 1993. Over the following 24 years, Totti has appeared in 612 league games and scored 250 goals.
He’ll forever be remembered for leading Roma to their first Serie A title since 1982-83 in 2001, and the now 40-year-old is still going strong with two league goals from 11 matches this campaign.
Francisco Totti’s thunderous training volley put an end to the Third Punic War today. The volley cracked off his boot and resulted in a breaching of the Carthaginian's walls and the sacking of the city. When this firecracker smote the back of the net, Carthage was systematically burned for 17 days, utterly destroying all remnants of the 700-year-old empire.
Che bomba del Capitano!
Legendary German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann said England goalkeeper Joe Hart is not world class, and for some reason this was taken as controversial by the types of English newspapers that spend a lot of time reporting how expensive Romelu Lukaku's car is.
Really, it shouldn't be controversial. Joe Hart is not and has never been world class. I do not possess the the ability to see into the future, but I'm guessing Hart won't be world class there, either.
It has been a complicated week for Juventus. The almost-crowned champions of Italian football have been up and down an emotional rollercoaster, hitting the headlines for events on and off the pitch. As ever with the biggest club in Serie A, there are claims of wrongdoing on one side and claims of the Old Lady being unfairly targeted on the other. Controversy reigns supreme, but with the season drawing to a close, what sort of position are Juve in?
This week in Serie A, results pretty much panned out how you’d expect. Roma thrashed Palermo. Pescara lost again. Fiorentina overcame a stolid start to snatch a last-gasp, undeserved winner. Juventus won at home. So there’s not much to talk about, right? Not quite.