February 2011
17 posts
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When Silvio Berlusconi and Diego Maradona duelled...
They were the deals which helped to write Italian football’s narrative during one of its most golden times and they took place less than two years apart. In the summer of 1984, Napoli pulled off the audacious coup of bringing Diego Maradona to the San Paolo from Barcelona. Then, in February 1986, Silvio Berlusconi took ownership of a Milan side going through one of the bleakest periods in its...
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When Inter's desperate Dennis Bergkamp killed off...
There was a time when even teams who were struggling in Serie A could pretty much guarantee themselves a run in Europe. In no season was this more true than the 1993-94 campaign when two sides who narrowly avoided relegation ended up fighting out a UEFA Cup semi-final. Cagliari would end the Italian season in a miserable 12th position. Their opponents, Inter, ended up one spot behind them.
The...
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Does the Scudetto mean more to Milan than the...
Milan Vice-President Adriano Galliani calls it “quella musichina” – that little tune. He is referring to the Champions League anthem which has so often brought out the best in the Rossoneri. This season, however, they have hit more bum notes than a third-rate piano bar performer. It leaves the seven-times European champions with an unfamiliar predicament, at least in recent years....
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“Against Inter you pay for your first lapse in concentration and that is what...”
–
Sinisa Mihajlovic, after defeat by Inter
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The Genoa derby is back on the horizon
I wrote this back in December when the game was originally scheduled but then postponed. In the spirit of recycling, here it is again…
It is the time when Italian football gets up close and personal. A tight, atmospheric ground with the most British-style supporters in Serie A giving their all. The club names may have changed over the years, but the intensity of the Genoa derby remains...
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Why Inter sent their lambs to the slaughter in the...
Hundreds of people in raincoats or carrying umbrellas huddled round the pitch of the old Stadio Comunale in Turin. They had turned out in numbers too great for the stadium to hold and poured out onto the touchlines instead. Legend has it some of them even ended up sitting in the dugouts that Sunday afternoon in April. They thought they had come to see a title showdown but ended up, inadvertently,...
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How Inter got entertaining
Ask anyone who ever got married and they will tell you that making a wedding speech is one of the most tense and nerve-wracking occasions imaginable. Only once the long-dreaded formality is out of the way, can you finally kick back, relax and let your hair down. And there is something about Inter at the moment which resembles a groom, best man or father-of-the-bride who is cutting loose at last....
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El Chino, Er Pupone e l'Aeroplanino...
In recent times they have become two of the greatest protagonists of the Italian game. Inter and Roma have crossed swords for major honours on a number of occasions in the last few seasons. But one of their finest encounters came almost eight years ago in a season where neither side ended the campaign with any silverware at all.
Read more at Sports Haze
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The Scudetto nobody wants to win...
One hot summer about 30 years ago I went to a tiny Tuscan village high in the hills to watch their annual festivities. Among the traditional attractions was a greased telegraph pole and, I admit, it was great fun to watch most of the competitors clamber part way up only to slither back down to disaster. It was not until one wily old expert with a special technique took the challenge that anyone...
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The Pazzo-Matri equation
There are many routes by which to make a journey. Some prefer the shortest trip from A to B while others like a more scenic voyage towards their destination. Certainly Giampaolo Pazzini and Alessandro Matri appear to have had very different software installed on their sporting SatNav systems.
Born just 17 days apart in August 1984 (Pazzini is the older of the two), the career paths which have...
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