Bologna’s Twitter account raised the social media equivalent of the white flag when they hosted Napoli last weekend. ‘Enough of that,’ ‘You can take him off now’, they...
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My Aunt Rose Reilly: A World Cup winner with Italy
“My aunt has won a World Cup final for Italy.” This can be quite the conversation starter, especially if you’re Scottish! There aren’t too many footballers from our small...
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Selecciòn Catania: When the Sicilians danced an Argentine tango
With the inevitable exception of Palermo supporters, every devotee of Italian football cannot help but sigh when looking at the current state of affairs in Catania. The recent history...
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Cassano: The boy from Bari who became calcio’s most polarising character
The 1990s inside Bari’s biggest slum – the San Nicola district of Bari Vecchia – were particularly difficult times for the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern...
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The Football Italia love affair
Gazzetta Football Italia: now that was a television programme. Although Channel 4’s live Italian matches were more than welcome it was the Saturday morning review and pre-cursor to...
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Atalanta’s Franck Kessie: The ultimate modern midfielder
To claim that Franck Kessie is the epitome of the modern midfielder is not an overstatement. And whilst it might be too early to deem him the ‘new Yaya...
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Gianluca Lapadula: The meteoric rise of the journeyman bomber
How does one describe an individual who has faced nothing but uncertainty, obstacles and doubt, only to emerge triumphant? Resilient, and it’s one of the many adjectives befitting of...
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Celebrating the stereotypical brilliance of Billy Costacurta
The idea that Italian football is all about defending is a well-worn cliché. Any regular viewer of contemporary calcio will tell you that this is no longer the case...
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ND Gorica and Parma: The successes and shortcomings of a peculiar partnership
Plonked right up on Italy’s northeastern border is the Slovenian town of Nova Gorica. Home to little over 13,000 people, this gaming/gambling city as its own tourist website puts...
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Fiorentina vs. Juventus: A proud, fierce & enduring rivalry
Close to the historic city centre of Florence, slightly off the beaten track, there is a bar called ‘Antico Beccaria’. The local is the quintessential ‘football pub’ and distinctly...
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