⚽️🇮🇹 A historic night for Bologna!
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're also looking at the race for the title, Romelu Lukaku's NBA analogy, and much more!
🏆 Bologna ends 51-year wait for a trophy with incredible Coppa Italia victory
On Wednesday, Bologna became Coppa Italia champions for the first time since 1974, beating Milan 1-0 in the final at the Stadio Olimpico.
⚽️ Dan Ndoye’s 53rd-minute strike made the difference in a hard-fought win. The Swiss forward became the second-ever Bologna player to score in a Coppa Italia final, after Giuseppe Savoldi in 1974.
😲 The win came just five days after Bologna were beaten 3-1 by the Rossoneri at San Siro in the league.
🗣️ "I add an important trophy to my mantlepiece, and I truly dedicate it to the guys, who were extraordinary," said coach Vincenzo Italiano.
❤️ “I also want to send a dedication to Joe Barone’s family,” he added, in reference to the American CEO of his former club, Fiorentina, who died after a cardiac arrest in March 2024.
👉 "At the end of the day, I have to congratulate Bologna, as they played their game well, and we were lacking something," said Milan coach Sérgio Conceição.
🇪🇺 The Rossoblù’s victory has earned them a spot in next season’s Europa League, ensuring they will be playing European soccer for the second consecutive season.
🇨🇦 Bologna is owned by Canadian businessman Joey Saputo, who also owns the Major League Soccer team CF Montréal.
👕 They are already selling a victory T-shirt - get yours here!
🍿 Get ready for Sunday’s scudetto showdown
This Sunday, nine Serie A games from the penultimate round of the season will be broadcast simultaneously at 2.45pm ET. The fights for the scudetto, European qualification, and relegation are all on the line!
🏆 Inter closed the gap at the top of the league to a single point last weekend with their 2-0 win at Torino, while leaders Napoli were held to a draw by Genoa.
😯 The scudetto race could be settled on Sunday if Napoli win at Parma and Inter lose at home to Lazio.
👉 The biggest matchup in the battle for European qualification this weekend sees Roma host Milan at the Stadio Olimpico (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports). Claudio Ranieri’s side sit a point outside the top four, while Milan is three points shy of a Europa Conference League spot.
💬 Lukaku: ‘Conte and I are like Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal’
In an interview with FIFA, Napoli striker Romelu Lukaku spoke about his strong relationship with coach Antonio Conte, comparing their bond with a pair of NBA legends.
🗣️ “He pushes me, mentally and physically, to another level, and I do everything I can to fully commit to his work. I think we make each other better,” said the Belgian. “I like to think that we’re like Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal,” he added, referencing the coach and player who won three NBA Championships together with the LA Lakers.
💪 Lukaku has notched 13 league goals for Napoli this season, along with 10 assists.
🏆 Conte, meanwhile, will be seeking his sixth scudetto as a coach - a prize he also won five times as a player.
🎂 Lukaku celebrated his 32nd birthday on Tuesday. Tanti Auguri, Romelu!
🎶 Atalanta’s Champions League qualification is music to Marten de Roon’s ears
Atalanta secured their spot in the Champions League for the fifth time in seven years on Monday when substitute Ibrahim Sulemana bagged a late winner that broke Roma’s 19-game undefeated streak.
👉 The win in Bergamo guaranteed Gian Piero Gasperini’s side a top-four finish while denting Roma’s chances of securing Champions League soccer next season. The Giallorossi sit one point behind fourth-place Juventus with two rounds remaining.
🎤 La Dea Fan favorite Marten De Roon was so delighted with the result that he shared a dulcet rendition of the Champions League anthem!
Up next for Atalanta 👉 De Roon and his teammates visit Genoa on Sunday (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports and FOX Deportes) before closing out the season at home to Parma (Sunday, May 25, 9am ET, CBS Sports).
❤️ Christian Pulisic dedicates goal to his mom
While you may have taken mom for a nice meal or sent her flowers on her special day last Sunday, Milan’s players went a step further by wearing their respective mothers’ maiden names on the back of their shirts during their aforementioned 3-1 league win over Bologna last weekend.
👏 It’s the second consecutive season that Milan has given jersey real estate to their players’ moms. The initiative was supported by the launch of a fundraising campaign to support teenage mothers in Milan’s suburbs.
👉 The campaign is designed to highlight gender equality, following a 2022 court ruling which declared the automatic assignment of the father's surname to newborns discriminatory, thus giving Italian parents equal opportunities in naming their children.
🇺🇸 Christian Pulisic scored the second goal of the match and made a point of dedicating the moment to his mom, who was a college soccer player.
💪 That goal brought his total goal involvements in the season to 20, making him the only USMNT player in the last 20 years to record 20 goal contributions in multiple seasons in the top 5 European leagues.
💬 Calcio Conversations
As we’ve explained before in Calcio Conversations, there are often surprising English-Italian crossovers in the world of Italian soccer. We’ve previously explained the use of words like Mister, tunnel and bomber… but what about flipper?
🐬 Like the dolphin? Erm…no. Flipper is, in fact, the Italian word for the game of pinball, after the flippers on either side that knock the ball around the table.
🤷♂️ What has it got to do with soccer? It is used to describe a chaotic situation, usually in a crowded box, where the ball is bouncing around uncontrollably. In English, we might describe this as ‘pinball in the box’ – it’s the same idea!
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👏 Fabregas and McTominay pick up Coach and Player of the Month Awards
Como’s incredible run of six consecutive league wins has earned coach Cesc Fabregas a well-deserved Philadelphia Coach of the Month Award for April.
🗣️ “The former Spanish international is demonstrating the same qualities as a coach that made him one of the best midfielders of his generation,” said Lega Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo.
😲 Como is currently the most in-form side in Serie A, and the first promoted team to win six in a row since 1973, per Opta.
👀 Fabregas’ heater may have big implications for the scudetto race: Como hosts Inter on the final day (Sunday, May 25, 9am ET, CBS Sports).
🏴 The EA SPORTS FC Player Of The Month Award, meanwhile, could only belong to one man: Scott McTominay.
⚽️ The Scottish midfielder scored five goals in four games in April to guide Napoli towards the summit of the league.
🗣️“He is the first Scotsman to win the Serie A Player of the Month award, an award that has been won a record 11 times out of 53 editions by a Napoli player,” said De Siervo.
🫡 McTominay has a career-best 18 goal contributions in all competitions for Napoli this season (12 goals and six assists).
🤔 Venezia turn up the heat in relegation battle
American-owned Venezia pulled off a stunning 2-1 win over Fiorentina on Monday that lifted them out of the relegation zone with two games left to play.
👉 Venezia’s big victory snapped a three-game winless streak and puts survival in their own hands: they currently sit one point above 18th-place Lecce (who fell into the drop zone following their 1-1 draw at Verona).
😰 The Leoni Alati have a tough run-in: they visit a Cagliari side looking to secure safety on Sunday (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports) and finish up hosting Juventus, who will likely be looking to secure Champions League soccer (Sunday, May 25, 9am ET, CBS Sports).
😯 It’s incredibly tight at the bottom, with just a single point separating Venezia, Lecce, and Empoli.
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports, Paramount+, FOX Deportes, and SiriusXM
Saturday, May 17th
Genoa v Atalanta (2.45pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Sunday, May 18th
Cagliari v Venezia (2.45pm ET)
Fiorentina v Bologna (2.45pm ET)
Verona v Como (2.45pm ET)
Inter v Lazio (2.45pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Juventus v Udinese (2.45pm ET)
Lecce v Torino (2.45pm ET)
Monza v Empoli (2.45pm ET)
Parma v Napoli (2.45pm ET, also on the FOX Sports App and SiriusXM)
Roma v Milan (2.45pm ET)
🇨🇦 Watch ALL Serie A games live on Fubo and select games with Italian-language commentary on TLN 🇨🇦
🇺🇸 Watch select games with Spanish-language commentary on FOX Deportes and English-language commentary on SiriusXM 🇺🇸
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