Features news coverage of Juventus and its players, including match reports, transfer rumours and general football news.
Today’s transfer roundup won’t be too long, because I’m being generous. I’m sure you all have much better things to do than to sit and read for an extended period of time…right?
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Today’s transfer roundup starts up as the last one did, so Arsenal fans, feel free to jump a couple of paragraphs.
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Guess who’s back? That’s right, me and the transfer roundup.
The season’s winding down and the rumors are heating up, so you’ll be seeing me in this space regularly.
Anyway, on to the good stuff!
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According to Forbes.com Manchester United have been valued at $1.8 billion, ahead of the club traditionally known as the richest club in football (Real Madrid, $1.285 billion) and their chief domestic rivals Arsenal ($1.2 billion), Liverpool ($1.05 billion) and Chelsea ($764 million).
Have fun sorting the lists according to different criteria. Here are some highlights:
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Steve Amoia returns with his preview of Week 35 in the Serie A - with a look at Adriana Lima, transfer rumours involving Milan and highlights from last weekend in Italy.
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Apparently, these clubs have (or have had) players with the most Champions League semifinal appearances.
Before you go through the list, try guessing who’d be on this list. Several Italians, of course, which is where Juve / Milan come in, and then there is the Madrid - Chelsea connection (bonus points if you can think of the 2nd player before peeking at the list), and there’s a record-breaking Champions League winner and a couple of underachieving continental strikers to round off the list.
Here’s the list:
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Quotes of the Week in Italian Calcio
You didn’t know that Salma likes Italian football? Or can quote the great masters of literature? Do you really care? 
“I wouldn’t repeat the same gesture that cost me a five-game ban. It was a big mistake, especially for the example that I set the children who were watching.” — Antonio Cassano of Sampdoria
Were the children he was talking about one of the jewels of Bari Vecchia? Maybe he needs to tell himself “Vai a fan****!” the next time a Cassanate is on the horizon? Can a referee card him for that? “Mister Collina, the player was cursing himself. Repeatedly. Then he threw his shirt at himself. Should we fine him? No, his behavior has improved markedly. We should buy him another shirt, and call Donadoni…”
“Inter have some tough games coming up and we have been chasing them for two years.” — Daniele De Rossi of AS Roma. Speaking of chasing, some supporters behind the goal are still looking for the spot kick he sailed over Van Der Sar.
“If I have to analyse this game, then I say Palermo had three shots on goal and Gigi Buffon did not make a single save.” — Claudio Ranieri of Juventus
Mister Ranieri with his usual concise, creative, and confounding analysis. Maybe the Americans should hire him for political commentary. “Hillary sounds like Caesar’s wife. Barack sounds like Caligula. John sounds like Mr. Abramovich.”
“Walter will do well because he has lost the short fuse of a player and reasons like a Coach. To be honest, he has surprised me. I remembered him as being brash and also a loudmouth. The day that I left Inter, I didn’t think that he would have a future as a Coach.” — Giovanni Trapattoni of Red Bull Salzburg and soon to be manager of Eire. He was also born on 17 March.
Speaking of short fuses, Mister Trap had a famous video during his time with Bayern Munich. Walter Zenga must have studied that before his first game on the Catania bench. Brash and a loudmouth? Walter? A former goalkeeper? A Northern Italian?
Quotes courtesy of Football Italia.
Video Highlights
Image courtesy of Goalvideoz. Please click the image to view a video highlights menu after the game.
Image courtesy of Serie A TV. Please click the image for free video previews and selected clips after the games.
Giornata/Week 34:
For live scores during the games, please click here.
For an ESPN Matchtracker of Serie A games, please click here.
For a live game tracker called Match View, in Italian, from the Gazzetta dello Sport, which has very detailed statistics and graphical displays, please click here. You may have to click on the number of the week to see a full fixture list.
Saturday, 19 April
AS Roma x Livorno at 1300 GMT.
Fiorentina x Palermo at 1830.
Sunday, 20 April
Cagliari x Empoli: A relegation derby at 1300 GMT.
Siena x Genoa
Atalanta x Juventus
Catania x Lazio
Parma x Napoli
AC Milan x Reggina
Sampdoria x Udinese
Torino x Internazionale at 1830.
For more news in English about Italian football, please visit mCalcio.
For a live radio stream (subject to availability) from RAI, please click here.
If you are new to calcio and the Italian language, I wrote an article called “Soccer Terminology in the Mother Tongue.” Unfortunately, you will not learn the actual chants (i cori) from the stadiums, useful terms to describe rival players and fans (gli avversari), or how to compliment your favorite referee (l’arbitro). For those, you will need to make a visit to bella Italia…
Place your predictions below and may Gerry McDonnell grace us with his odds. And may Salma grace you with, well, I will leave that to your imaginations.
“I could never die on Sunday. Then I would miss my Italian football.”
Steve Amoia is a featured author on Soccerlens. He is the author and editor of World Football Commentaries, and also writes for Keeper Skool.
Written by Steve Amoia. One comment
In my eyes, Juventus is the greatest team to have ever graced the pitch. Obviously, this is questionable. But I am on a mission to clear the cheating, horrible and dishonest view people have of the better club from Turin. Now get ready for five hopefully convincing reasons to not hate Juventus….
Written by GT. 7 comments
This can be a difficult time of the season for strong recommendations as title hopes evaporate; teams get lost in mid-table mediocrity with little to play for and those resigned to their fate fail to perform to expectation.
But there are some interesting clashes this weekend as in Serie A six of the top seven take each other on. In the Premier League, Arsenal’s season will finish early unless they can win at Old Trafford. There’s much to be decided at the bottom of the Bundesliga as any three from five could still be relegated and two of them meet this weekend. Ligue 1 is even less defined as only six points separates 12th from 19th and four of the bottom five have the same number of points. Only in Spain could nearly everything top and bottom of the table be resolved this weekend.
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Manchester City and Juventus will play exhibition matches in Hong Kong next month against a South China invitational XI, a report said Thursday.
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The 2008 Emirates Cup kicks of on 2nd August this year in preparation for the 2008/2009 season.
The tournament will mark Ranieri’s return to London as Juventus take on hosts Arsenal along with Hamburg and Real Madrid. The competition is played in a Group format with three points for a win, one for a draw and an additional point for each goal scored.
Inter Milan were amongst the entrants in the 2007 edition, but the Nerazzurri finished at the bottom of the pack after defeats against Valencia and winners Arsenal.
Emirates Cup schedule:
August 2:
Real Madrid v Hamburg – 2pm
Arsenal v Juventus – 4.15pm
August 3:
Juventus v Hamburg – 2pm
Arsenal v Real Madrid – 4.15pm
It’s a good sign for Arsenal and for English football (not to mention the capital of world football) that such illustrious sides with rich traditions will play part in a friendly tournament at the Emirates.
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At the beginning of the season, no one expected Juventus to achieve UCL qualification. All the critics (some of them were even Juve fans!!) predicted that La Vecchia Signora would only manage the UEFA Cup.
But they’ve been proven wrong. The question is: can the bianconeri rise from the mist and mount a season-ending title surge against an increasing Roma and a declining Inter? Let’s take a look at the stats:
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Juventus’s Serie A clash at home to Parma today has been called off following the death of a visiting Parma fan who was run over and killed by a bus at a highway rest stop. According to the ANSA news agency, the bus was empty at the time of the incident but was being used to transport Juventus fans to the game in Turin.
The incident occurred at a service area outside Turin on the A21 highway. The fan has been identified 28-year-old Matteo Bagnaresi. The incident reportedly followed scuffles or shouting between fans, and the bus driver was moving the vehicle around when the incident occurred.
The bus driver was not aware he had run someone over, he told the highway police after being pulled over a few kilometers (miles) from the scene of the incident. Police in Asti, near the highway rest stop, said they were still verifying the details of the incident.
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Someone played a bad joke on Inter Saturday night, and Roberto Mancini wasn’t laughing. And who can blame him? Juventus waited until the return leg of the Derby d’Italia to come back to greatness: true greatness, the kind that makes you feel part of European football’s Elite.
The Evidence? The players. From Gianluigi Buffon (proving once again why he’s considered to be the best goalkeeper on Earth) through to Giorgio Chiellini (who is slowly achieving superstar status as a center-back) and Mauro Camoranesi (Juve just can’t do without him), all the way to David Trezeguet (another vital goal to maintain the lead of the Serie A scoring charts), every man on Claudio Ranieri’s team was almost perfect. The only one coming a little bit short: Alessandro Del Piero, failing to finish two key 3-0 chances that’d have put the game on ice for the Bianconeri, but the author of an otherwise A+ performance.
On Saturday night, in a 58,000 spectactor-laden Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, the Bianconeri achieved what no other Serie A team has managed to do this season: beat Inter Milan at home, in the temple of Italian football.
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Written by Marco Pantanella. 10 comments
To quote Guardian blogger Paolo Baldini, this fixture represents a match between “the Proud and the Usurpers; the Honest against the Defrauded; the Champions against the… eh… actual Champions. Don’t let those pretenders from AC Milan or Roma tell you otherwise - from the moment Juventus sealed promotion back to the top flight […] Italy has been counting down towards one game, and one game only“.
After the first round last November, which ended 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olimpico of Turin, the Derby d’Italia between Juventus and Internazionale is back. Saturday, the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza of Milan will be the host to one of the most intense derby matches in Italy. Two teams not from the same city but who are very much bitter rivals, and also have the highest goals total in Serie A history.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 6 comments
Lurking crisis shadows begone. Inter Milan are back on the winning track, obtaining their first victory after 3 winless matches in the Serie A (4 if you count their little mishap at Anfield two weeks ago), and making the party all the more special is the celebration for the Nerazzurri’s 100 years anniversary, or “Il Centenario” as they call it back in Milan (by the way, La Repubblica and La Gazzetta dello Sport have great websites dedicated to that, if you can read Italian).
In a San Siro stadium full of old Nerazzurri glories and the mind already wandering to Tuesday’s match vs. Liverpool, one might have foreseen that maintaining concentration wasn’t going to be easy for Inter today. However Mancini’s men rallied together, reversed their negative trend against a determined Reggina side, and brought home the win thanks to the goals by Ibrahimovic and Burdisso… with a little help from the referee. It’s reassuring to notice everything is still proceeding as ‘normal’ in the Serie A. 
Meanwhile, Juventus have finally brought an end to their streak of 3 winless consecutive games, and played a great match of strong personality and tactical cohesion against Genoa, a match also highlighting the top-notch performance of an absolutely storming Zdenek Grygera.
Bringing you the latest news from the Italy, mCalcio.com’s Marco Pantanella looks at Serie A’s evening matches from the week-end.
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It finally happened. After 31 straight matches without a loss, Inter were eventually forced raise the white flag on Sunday, courtesy of a near-perfect Napoli team galvanized by the atmosphere of their home stadium. Seems hard to believe doesn’t it? The Nerazzurri had not lost a game since April 18th 2007 (a 3-1 home loss at the hands of Roma) but from then on, Mancini’s boys had accumulated a record of 23 wins and 8 draws, going on to win the 15th Scudetto of their history. Until today, it seemed as if nº16 was pretty much a done deal, but Napoli had other plans.
Meanwhile, things have gone from bad to worse at Juve: after losing against Reggina and tying the important derby vs. Torino, the Bianconeri suffered a come-from-behind victory at the hands of archrivals Fiorentina.
Bringing you the latest news from the Italy, mCalcio.com’s Marco Pantanella looks at Serie A’s two important matches from Sunday.
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Fly, little bird, fly.. high in the Serie A sky. That little bird my friends, is Inter Milan, who thanks to the defeat of Roma at the hands of Juventus, now have an 11-point lead on their 2nd-ranked Giallorossi rivals. In other words, chalk up another Scudetto for the Nerazzurri… what remains is the bid for Champions League qualification, something for which Juventus, authors of an excellent performance at the Stadio Olimpico of Turin, scored big points tonight. Attentive, determined, and eager to get a result on their home stadium, Claudio Ranieri’s men really battled it out on the field, grabbing the lead and managing to conserve it in pure Juventus fashion: by tying down the plays of their opponents and relying on their nº1 keeper Gigi Buffon. The Scudetto race may well be over, but the 2nd spot is all up for grabs now.
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Written by Marco Pantanella. 2 comments
Weeks during which we can find simultaneous quality fixtures are rare in any sport, but it would be fair to say that this year, the month of February has been spoiling football fans worldwide. We had Barcelona-Sevilla, Chelsea-Liverpool, and Cameroon-Egypt last week-end, it is now time for a fresh batch of footy awesomeness this week-end.
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In today’s video roundup we look at Sunday’s matches from the Premier League, the Serie A, La Liga and more.
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“Messieurs, rien ne va plus“! Scouts/negotiatiors/investors/sporting directors/club presidents have been working their ass off this past month, jumping from table to table in their endless quest for a last-minute star buy, in the traditional carousel that brings players, agents, and club owners all together in a merry-go-round dance. All bets are off now however, because what is known as the “CALCIOMERCATO” back in the old country (or, the January transfer window if your prefer) has officially come to an end as of Wednesday evening.
So for your viewing pleasure, mCalcio.com has arranged a practical table summary for all Serie A INGOING and OUTGOING TRANSFERS of the Winter break, with some great help from La Gazzetta dello Sport. If you’re curious about what other players all these clubs were targeting during this past month (i.e. the “near misses” category), have a look at this post which also includes the PLAYER NEGOTIATIONS.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 4 comments
His name is Mario. Born in Palermo in August 1990 from Ghanaian parents, he is officially adopted by the Balotelli family at age 2. His height is 1m89, his weight 88kg, his touch & technique already reminiscent of the greats of football history. On Wednesday this week, he officially became the Inter Milan hero when the Nerazzurri knocked Juventus out of the Coppa Italia, thanks to two goals by the young striker and a penalty shot by Cruz. Some might say he is Inter’s response to a certain young Brazilian recently acquired by AC Milan, but Mario Balotelli is unique in his own way and this week, has proven that your name doesn’t have to be Alexandre Pato for everyone to say “A Star is Born in Milan”.
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Written by Marco Pantanella. 9 comments
Momo Sissoko can’t be too pleased that his Mali team got dumped out of the African Cup of Nations in the first round, but I imagine he might be skipping down the streets of Turin pretty shortly, as his transfer to Juventus has been completed. Sissoko wanted out of Liverpool, and now he’s out, with him signing a four and a half year deal to be reunited with Claudio Ranieri, his manager at Valencia. The 8.2 million pound fee will be paid in three installments, and the total fee could increase depending on how well Juve does.
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A tough tackling defensive midfielder, Mohamed Lamine Sissoko is seen by some as a future midfield star of European football, in particular Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez, who showered praise upon him when he arrived at Merseyside, saying Sissoko possessed “incredible ability for his age” and similar qualities to Frenchman Patrick Vieira. Sissoko’s early career (much like Vieira’s) had been marked with disciplinary problems (as the Malian player tended to pick up yellow cards for late or reckless tackles), but his fierce competitiveness was immediately effective for Liverpool, and he soon became something of a fan’s favourite (as shown in the tribute by Reds fans in the form of a large Mali flag with the Scouse phrase “Momo Is Boss” adorning it).
However it is now official: Juventus and Liverpool have finalized the negotiations for the arrival of Sissoko to the Serie A. The Malian midfielder has been acquired for a cost of €11.0m (£8.2m), and signed a contract of 5 years with the Bianconeri (i.e. until 2013). The transfer fee had been made payable in 3 yearly installments, and may increase by a maximum of €2.0m depending on the achievements of the player during his 5-year contract.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 15 comments
It’s been a busy month with far more speculation than actual moves, but with only a few days left in the January transfer window, you can expect to see a lot of movin’, shakin’, and possibly shankin’ in the next few days.
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It’s Friday, so if you’re going out this weekend, be safe, and don’t do anything that Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn’t do.
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Now that Kevin Keegan has taken over at Newcastle, it‘s time to kick their transfer speculation into fifth gear.
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