MONDAY MOTIVATION carries with it a now-famous hashtag displayed across various social media feeds as individuals try to pick people up from weekend hangovers and encourage them to begin their weeks in…
Tag: juventus
WITH THE EYES OF THE WORLD ON HIM in Juventus’s first leg Champions League quarter-final clash against Barcelona, Paulo Dybala did not disappoint. La Joya (The Jewel) showed everyone exactly what he’s…
As featured on Guardian Sport SOME FOOTBALLERS HAVE the privilege of working under gifted tacticians and thoroughbred winners during their careers, but it’s the intuitive ones who take it upon themselves to…
With a minute left of the 1996 Champions League final, only one result remained beyond question. Despite a field brimming with attacking talent, Juventus’ rampaging full-back had been the undisputed man of…
It was not the most popular of appointments. When Antonio Conte departed his post as Juventus manager on the eve of pre-season in the summer of 2014, the Italian champions turned to…
IT’S 7 JANUARY 1995 – EL CLÁSICO DAY. The tension, as always, is incredibly high, but this match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, midway through the campaign, has the feel of a contest…
AFTER 66 MINUTES of the last game of the season, Dennis Bergkamp did what he’d always done. Receiving the ball from the wing, the masterful Dutchman threaded an inch-perfect ball into the box…
What are the 1980s famous for? Perhaps the rise of Madonna and Michael Jackson in pop, or MTV bringing a new era into music. Maybe the arrival of Michael Jordan on the…
CATANZARO IS A SMALL CITY located in the Calabria region of Italy. Known as the ‘City of Two Seas’, it is occasionally dampened by the sea and is subjected to snow-capped winters…
IN THE LONG HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL, a total of just 20 men can boast lifting the game’s ultimate prize. It is a particularly selective group of illustrious players, but of all those…
“I DON’T FEEL pressure … I don’t give a toss about it. I spent the afternoon of July 9 in Berlin sleeping and playing the PlayStation. In the evening, I went out…
This feature is part of The Masterminds THE PRESS CONFERENCE was an explosive three minutes, leaving a cluster of Germany’s top journalists stunned and bewildered. Bayern Munich coach Giovanni Trapattoni was addressing…
This feature is part of The Masterminds IF TROPHIES ARE your thing, let’s start with them. Marcello Lippi, the grandfather of modern Italian football, won a World Cup, a Champions League and…
The thought of becoming a football superstar is a childish reverie that most youngsters casually engage in at one point or another. It can be a torturous exercise because plenty will never…
As Pavel Nedvěd walked off the pitch for the final time he could’ve been forgiven for wondering what exactly was going on. He was being substituted in the 89th minute of his last…
Illustration by Luigi Coari Platini, Brady, Baggio, Del Piero, Tevez; all footballers blessed with authenticity and unique personality. Legendary, iconic names, bound together by one common denominator – they were all bestowed with…
Elegant, intelligent, incisive and a match-winner; terms that can be applied to the greats of the game, and terms that unequivocally apply to Dublin’s Liam Brady. A midfielder with touch and poise ahead…
From a simple life as the son of two Algerian migrants to the peak of football, we celebrate the genius and madness of Zinedine Zidane and his career as football’s ultimate big-game player.