The Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke described childhood as man’s true homeland. The place where one wants to return, where one never left. For many Croatians, the summer of 1998 arouses such…
Tag: serie a
“I think it would be the best for Barcelona if Eto’o does leave. His sale is my decision. I think it’s time to change.” Though Pep Guardiola had held his position as…
Marcello Lippi is an undisputed legend in football. Not only was he the mastermind behind Italy’s 2006 World Cup success – at a time when the country needed sporting joy the most…
The healing process of a heartbreak can be a very long road to travel on. A deep, emotional wound, even when stitched up over time, can have a lasting effect on thoughts,…
The 71-year-old man wept. “Do not do this,” he said, his words barely audible through the tears. “Do not do it.” He stood at the locked gate of the Reggiana headquarters, a…
At the beginning of July, LeBron James’ representatives announced he had signed a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, after opting to leave Cleveland for a second time. The ink on…
The free-kick is always a thrill to witness. They can be a piece of fine craftsmanship, curved around the defensive wall; a big dipper struck over the line of defenders; the falling…
Provincial sides rarely achieve glory in Serie A, and though Perugia fell agonisingly short of the title in 1979, their names are atched into history
Last season saw Juventus win the Scudetto for a seventh consecutive season, setting a new record in the process. As the Milan clubs continued to underwhelm and Roma failed to challenge domestically,…
In 2016, Maurizio Sarri memorably said: “If I saw my team defending and counter-attacking after 30 minutes, I would get up and return to the bank because I would not be having…
Imagine a striker tall in stature but with lightning-quick feet, a velvety deft first touch, the explosiveness of a coiled spring, the flexibility and acrobatic ability of a gymnast, and the footballing IQ…
As the clock inside Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion ticked towards 11:15pm in the July night, the watchful eyes of some 65,000 people are witnessing a frantic World Cup semi-final. The 0-0 draw between the…
It is the evening of 14 June 1992 at the Rasunda Stadium in Stockholm. England are playing their final Group A game of Euro 92 against the host nation Sweden, needing a…
For a sport that’s infatuated with the cult of personality, it’s befuddling to think that there’s a paucity of authentic, daring voices out there. Such is the dearth of controversial opinions from…
It started with a bang. A brisk December afternoon in 1969 was interrupted when a bomb rocked the Banca Nationale dell Agricoltura in Milan, which left 17 dead and over 80 injured.…
The thing with being an instantly likeable footballer is that it’s oddly linked with being consigned to relative obscurity. As a mercurially gifted playmaker, Gianfranco Zola dazzled fans wherever he played. He was a magician.…
The summer of 2000 produced two transfer fees that broke and re-broke the world record within the space of a month. Hernán Crespo’s £35.5m move from Parma to Lazio and Luís Figo’s infamous…
Before Gigi Buffon there was Lorenzo. The latter’s career, inclusive of legend at Milan, was also notable for a bitter personal and professional rivalry