“We will be able to win only if we sacrifice ourselves for one another.” This is the message echoed from Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli as the club are prepared...
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Tales from the Peninsula: Adventures in Serie B with Empoli
I’ve been to northern Italy enough times in the winter to know that it falls victim to gionata piovosa (daily rain) as much as England in February. The promise...
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Retiring squad numbers and the winning mentality
Recently, I spoke to some London-based Napoli fans who were understandably in buoyant mood with their club flying high in Serie A and playing some of the best football...
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Marco Delvecchio: The Lazio tormentor
Marco Delvecchio is wheeling away from goal. He’s just done what he would go on to be famed for. He has given Roma the lead in the derby. It...
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The superstitious mind of Massimo Cellino
The Cambridge English dictionary defines ‘superstition’ as a “belief that is not based on human reason or scientific knowledge, but is connected with old ideas about magic, etc.” If...
Read MorePaolo Poggi: the forgotten story of Italy’s itinerant goalscorer
If Italian football was a Trivial Pursuit category, Paolo Poggi would feature prominently among the answers. The scorer of the fastest-ever goal in Serie A? Poggi, of course. The...
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Stadio Artemio Franchi: Architecture as progressive as the Duomo di Firenze
Purple permeates the Tuscan city of Florence in tribute to the football team that represents it – ACF Fiorentina, aka La Viola. It is said that the club’s colour...
Read MoreMai dimenticato: The tragedy of Piermario Morosini
A huge roar of “Come on!” reverberates around White Hart Lane. It is an FA Cup quarter-final with the winner heading to Wembley. But there is no football going...
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TGU Book Review: Il Re Calcio II, by Paul Grech
The image of Lazio club manager Angelo Peruzzi celebrating the side’s 2017 Italian Super Cup triumph over Juventus is what inspired Paul Grech to write the second part of...
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Giuseppe Meazza and Luigi Ferraris: In celebration of original stadia
The 1986 FIFA World Cup was supposed to be held in Colombia. In late 1982, the prospective host withdrew from its commitment, citing ‘economic difficulties’ (read as asymmetric internal...
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