April 2011
11 posts
6 tags
Lazio v Juventus: When Alessandro Del Piero's star...
There was a time, it seemed, when he could never miss. Give the boy an opening from a particular angle on the left hand edge of the penalty area and every shot would trace an inexorable arc to the top right corner of the net. There was little or nothing a goalkeeper could do to stop Alessandro Del Piero as he was starting to carve out his niche in Serie A folklore.
A most difficult artform was...
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Inter v Lazio: Brilliance and bruises at the...
It was supposed to be the “trampoline to the top”. League-leading Fiorentina had suffered their first defeat of the season away to Roma, leaving the door open to Gigi Simoni’s Inter to move ahead of the pack. The only obstacle on their path was an inconsistent Lazio side which had already drawn three of its four opening fixtures. Surely nothing could go wrong.
But this was not the...
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Fiorentina v Juventus: Roberto Baggio's 'Great...
Everyone, it seemed, had an opinion. The barista in the town centre cafe, the teacher at the Liceo Scientifico and the carabiniere at the corner distractedly directing the traffic – they all had something to say on the subject. But none of them seemed able to agree on the final outcome. Would Roberto Baggio really end up at Juventus?
It was the spring of 1990 and Italy was gearing up to host a...
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Fiorentina, Genoa and Palermo: Which set of...
Red and purple and pink and blue. It might sound like that terrible song about singing a rainbow, but this season in Serie A they have been the colours of disappointment. Who among Fiorentina, Genoa and Palermo fans can claim to have had the campaign which least lived up to their expectations? With half a dozen matches left to play, none of them is likely to make it into the top seven spots in...
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Will Zlatan Ibrahimovic's madness matter in...
It was not so much a bum-note in the midst of a symphony, more like a perfect church choir performance being interrupted by a crazed guitar-solo concluded with the instrument being smashed to smithereens. What on earth was Zlatan Ibrahimovic thinking when he got himself sent off against Fiorentina? And will it matter to Milan’s Scudetto dreams?
We have been here once before, of course,...
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Fiorentina v Milan: When Luca Toni and Martin...
Finding a ticket to an old football match at the bottom of a drawer is like discovering hidden treasure. It flicks a time-travel switch sending the mind scrabbling backwards trying to recall as much detail as possible about the game concerned. It stirs the soul with emotions from another era.
My house is littered with such mementoes, most of which I have been reluctant to consign to the rubbish...
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Milan v Inter: The Milanese derby's darkest night
It is one of the most iconic snapshots of the Italian game. Inter’s Marco Materazzi leans on the shoulder of Milan’s Manuel Rui Costa as the pair of them gaze in disbelief or bemusement at what is unfolding before their eyes. Fireworks rain down upon the pitch of the San Siro in a scene more reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno than a Champions League encounter.
It was a night which did little for...
