BENEDIKT TASCHEN’S BOOK ON 1970s FOOTBALL PHOTOGRAPHY is titled The Age of Innocence. An apt title, perhaps – it was the final time when footballers were still at some level “our lads”, clubs…
Tag: serie a
This feature is part of The Masterminds: 10 Under 45 Vincenzo Montella is not entirely dissimilar to Roberto Mancini. Like the former Inter and Manchester City manager, Montella exudes effortless charisma and…
RUI COSTA’S footballing life can be summed up by one goal and the few moments that followed it. In August 1996 in Lisbon’s Estádio da Luz, Benfica lined up against Fiorentina for…
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…
As enigmas go, Álvaro Recoba ranks as high as anyone, possessing a devastating left foot and an attitude that often saw it wasted at Inter
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…
ARTISTS, EXPERT, INVENTORS, composers, producers and virtuosos; few exist in isolation. Creative license, by design or by necessity, can camouflage or gloss over the painstaking hours of practice and relentless hard work…
This feature is part of The Football Italia Years The history of Italy can be traced through that of its cities. Each has carved out its own social, cultural and political identity,…
With the dismissal of Frank de Boer after less than three months in the job, it came as little surprise that Internazionale were not suitably prepared to find and subsequently hire his…
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…
This feature of part of The Football Italia Years Rome is a hub of culture, commerce, beauty and history. What with the Colosseum, the Forum, The Vatican and the constant drone of…
Emiliano Mondonico, taking over a struggling Torino, found out about the club’s glory and seemingly eternal despair that seems to follow most Toro managers
As featured on Guardian Sport ON 15 SEPTEMBER 2016, the small town of Sassuolo in the north-west of Italy geared up for something special. With a population of 41,000, the Province of…
PRIOR TO THE 2002 WORLD CUP, Marcelo Bielsa found himself deciding who to play in the most advanced position of the field for Argentina. On one hand, an ageing Gabriel Batistuta had…
CLOSE YOUR EYES and imagine you’re in Genoa, the city in the north-west of Italy where Christopher Columbus was born. On one side of the street you’ll find the Lanterna, the famous…
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…
Founded in 1906, Torino Football Club are perhaps the most tragic team in the history of football. Many who have heard of Torino know them solely for the Superga disaster, but in truth,…