⚽️🇮🇹 Hollywood comes to Serie A!
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're reviewing a successful week for Italian sides in the Champions League, we're looking back at an incredible fan welcome for Napoli, and much more!
👏 Bologna earns first Champions League win as four other Serie A teams guarantee playoff berths
On a great week for Serie A teams in Europe, there was a bittersweet moment for Bologna, which won its first-ever Champions League game, despite being eliminated from the competition.
🫡 Bologna triumphed 2-1 over last year’s finalists Borussia Dortmund on an emotional night at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.
🗣️ Coach Vincenzo Italiano was thrilled with the result: “We are eliminated, but it feels like we won a quarter-final or a semi-final. These lads wanted this win at all costs, how much they needed to give this gift to the fans. It’s a dream come true and I am so happy, it’s beyond words.”
👉 Sadly, the win wasn’t enough for Bologna to progress to the knockout round, as they sit five points below the playoff cutoff with one more League Phase game to play.
🙌 Bologna are in terrific form domestically: their haul of 33 points from 20 games means they are performing even better than they did at this stage under coach Thiago Motta last season.
👏 Elsewhere, Milan secured a 1-0 win over Spanish side Girona, while Inter were 1-0 winners on the road at Sparta Prague.
😲 Atalanta finished the game week in the automatic qualification places with a 5-0 win over Sturm Graz.
5️⃣ Fun fact: La Dea has scored five or more goals in a game in October, November, December and January!
💪 It was a clean sweep for Serie A sides in the Champions League, with the exception of Juventus, who drew 0-0 at Club Brugge.
👍 With one game left in the League Phase, Inter, Atalanta, Milan and Juventus are all guaranteed at least a playoff place.
🇪🇺 There’s even more good news for Italian soccer: Italy currently sits second in the UEFA rankings. If that holds, Serie A will get five Champions League spots next season.
🇺🇸 Tim Weah clinches Juve win in Derby d’America
Juventus picked up three points on Saturday against Milan, in a game we like to call the Derby d’America. The winning goal came via a superb effort from USMNT star Tim Weah.
😲 The fixture is especially significant for Weah, whose father George was the reigning World Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or when he signed for Milan in 1995.
👏 Weah’s countryman Weston McKennie further showed his versatility in the game, in which he played as a right-back. (In recent games, the 26-year-old has also played as a left-back and a No.10).
👉 USMNT forward Yunus Musah started for the Rossoneri, but Christian Pulisic was sidelined as a precuation, after being forced out of Milan’s previous match at Como.
📺 Good news for Pulisic fans: the second instalment of his Paramount+ documentary is now streaming.
🇺🇸 Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero enjoyed the Derby d’America in Houston, sporting his finest Texan headwear, before watching the game with fans during the latest stop on the “We Are Juventus – North America Fans Tour.”
✈️ Napoli fans give league leaders incredible airport welcome
Napoli stayed at the summit of Serie A on Saturday with a hard-fought comeback victory over third-place Atalanta. Their trip back home was marked by wild fan celebrations!
😲 The 3-2 win put Antonio Conte’s side three points ahead of reigning champs Inter, who have a game in hand.
🤯 If you didn’t see Sunday’s game, check out the highlights - all five goals were amazing!
👍 It’s quite the turnaround for Napoli in this fixture, who were beaten 3-0 at home by Atalanta back in November.
🫶 No one enjoyed the win more than the incredibly passionate Napoli fans who gathered en masse at Naples airport to welcome the team home.
👏 Hundreds of supporters cheered, chanted and set off fireworks as they showed their team what the win meant to them.
📢 Antonio Conte made the most of the moment, shouting “Forza Napoli” from a megaphone!
🕒 Bear in mind that this was all happening at around 3am on Sunday morning!
👉 The celebrations were warranted, with Napoli having secured their sixth consecutive win. The Partenopei will aim for win number seven this Saturday when Juventus comes to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona (12pm ET, CBS Sports and FOX Deportes).
🐺 Timothée Chalamet cheers Roma to victory!
Hollywood came to the Stadio Olimpico last Friday, when actor Timothée Chalamet and his A Complete Unknown co-star Monica Barbaro enjoyed Roma’s 3-1 victory over Genoa.
🎶 Chalamet was in Rome for a screening of the Bob Dylan biopic in which he has the starring role.
😂 On stage at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, the renowned soccer fan announced that he was leaving to go and cheer on Paulo Dybala and co!
🤝 Dybala, who received the EA SPORTS FC Player Of The Month Award for December before the game, met up with the Oscar-tipped actor at full time.
😮 Chalamet - who has made no secret of his love for Roma on previous press tours - even managed to get a video message from Giallorossi legend Francesco Totti, in which he praised his new movie.
👑 Cagliari: the Comeback Kings
Cagliari got the better of a crucial relegation battle with Lecce on Sunday, with a resounding 4-1 home win that came from an inspired final half hour.
😲 Incredibly, Gli Isolani were 1-0 down in the 60th minute before Gianluca Gaetano opened the floodgates for the hosts.
👏 Davide Nicola’s side are getting a reputation for their comebacks: they have recovered 13 points from losing positions this season!
📈 The win pulled Cagliari out of the relegation zone into 14th position. Lecce, meanwhile, dropped from 13th to 17th with other results failing to go their way.
👉 Last season, Cagliari survived last season with a win on the penultimate matchday. Their coach at the time, Claudio Ranieri, subsequently retired, but was pulled back into the managerial hotseat this season when his hometown club Roma came calling.
💬 Calcio Conversations
While leafing through an Italian sports newspaper, one thing you are almost guaranteed to come across is the moviola.
🤷♂️ What does it mean? The word literally translates to ‘editing machine’, but in the world of calcio it is the name of an article dedicated to reviewing contentious decisions or important moments such as goals, penalty appeals and red cards.
🧐 How does that work? A moviola will generally pick out incidents, noting them by the minute they happened, and the writer will give their opinion on whether the match officials got the decision right. Often, a rating out of 10 will be given to the referee, too.
🇺🇸 Verona becomes Serie A’s latest American-owned club
Texas-based private equity firm Presidio Investors has acquired a 100% stake in Verona, making them the ninth Serie A club to have North American ownership.
👉 Maurizio Setti, who had owned the club for 13 years prior, will stay on as senior adviser of football operation, while former Roma CEO Italo Zanzi has been appointed executive chairman.
🗣️ "It is a profound honor to join Hellas Verona, a club that embodies the passion and heritage of the City of Verona. We are dedicated to honoring the Club’s rich traditions while working to strengthen its operations in all areas,” said Zanzi.
🏆 Verona enjoyed its finest moment in 1984-85, when it won its only scudetto to date.
🇺🇸 Seven other teams have American ownership: Inter, Milan, Atalanta, Fiorentina, Parma, Roma and Venezia. Bologna, meanwhile, is owned by Canadian businessman Joey Saputo.
Up next for Verona 👉 The Gialloblu head east to face fellow American-owned side Venezia on Monday (12.30pm ET, CBS Sports).
🐶 Social Post of the Week: Napoli’s top dogs welcomed by top dog
When Napoli were welcomed back to town at the weekend, even members of the animal kingdom were getting caught up in the moment…
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports, Paramount+, FOX Deportes, and SiriusXM
Friday, January 24th
Torino v Cagliari (2.45pm ET)
Saturday, January 25th
Como v Atalanta (9am ET)
Napoli v Juventus (12pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Empoli v Bologna (2.45pm ET, also on SiriusXM FC and FOX Deportes)
Sunday, January 26th
Milan v Parma (6.30am ET)
Udinese v Roma (9am ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Lecce v Inter (12pm ET)
Lazio v Fiorentina (2.45pm ET)
Monday, January 27th
Venezia v Verona (12.30pm ET)
Genoa v Monza (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 🇺🇸
👏 Thank you for supporting Calcio Weekly!
If you like this newsletter, you may also enjoy the great work of our friends at Total Italian Football, who bring you daily calcio content, podcasts from Serie A stadiums, Women’s Serie A coverage, and much more.
We’d also like to spotlight Destination Calcio, an essential hub for English-language Serie A news and exclusives, which is now streaming live Serie B games, too.
Please share Calcio Weekly with your friends - and send us any feedback at calcioweekly@legaseriea.it.
Ciao ciao!