⚽️🇮🇹 Inter ultras help make a No.1 album!
👋 Ciao a tutti!
Welcome to Calcio Weekly, your comprehensive weekly digest of Italian soccer.
This week, we’re celebrating Ciro Immobile’s latest milestone, we’re learning about Tim Weah’s favorite Super Bowl halftime shows, and we’re finding out why Inter’s ultras are at the top of the music charts…
If you’re enjoying this newsletter, please help us reach new fans by sharing with your friends.
🏆 Inter’s Serie A domination continues
Inter’s quest to get their hands on the Scudetto for the first time since 2021 took another huge step in the most recent game week, thanks to a comeback win at Roma, coupled with second-place Juventus’ shock home defeat at the hands of Udinese.
👏 In game week 23, Simone Inzaghi’s side came back from 2-1 down in the pouring rain at the Stadio Olimpico to defeat Roma 4-2. The impressive victory marked the first time Daniele De Rossi has dropped points since taking charge of Roma.
💪 Going into this weekend, Inter sit seven points clear of title rivals Juventus, who are now winless in three after falling to Udinese.
😮 Inter have now won seven games in a row in all competitions, including a comprehensive Supercoppa Italiana win in Saudi Arabia.
👉 Up next for Inter: The Nerazzurri host Salernitana on Friday (3pm ET on Paramount+), having won both of their previous encounters at the San Siro. Inter and Salernitana are currently at opposite ends of the table.
🫂 This would have been a coaching bout between the Inzaghi brothers, however, Pippo was relieved of his duties over the weekend, having taken the reigns at the relegation-threatened club in October 2023. Fabio Liverani has been instated as Salernitana’s third coach of the current season.
🎯 Ciro Immobile hits 200 Serie A goals
A hearty congratulations to Lazio striker Ciro Immobile, who has become the third-fastest player in history to score 200 goals in Serie A.
👏 Immobile reached the ‘200 Club’ during Lazio’s 3-1 win at Cagliari on Saturday. He took only 341 games to book his double-century.
🦅 The 33-year-old has scored 168 of his league goals with Lazio. He hit 200 goals in all competitions for the Roman club in November 2023, in a Champions League victory over Feyenoord. Immobile added to his European tally on Wednesday by scoring the only goal in Lazio’s 1-0 win over Bayern Munich at the Stadio Olimpico.
⚽️ Only eight players have ever reached the 200-goal milestone, and only four in the last 45 years. Immobile is five goals behind Roberto Baggio’s tally, nine behind Antonio Di Natale and… a lot behind Francesco Totti’s incredible 250-goal Serie A tally.
👉 Up next for Immobile: Lazio host high-flying Bologna on Sunday (6.30am ET on Paramount+), knowing a win will launch them above Thiago Motta’s side and into European contention.
🏈 Tim Weah ranks his favorite Super Bowl halftime shows
Before Usher took to the stage at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, Juventus’ Tim Weah ranked his all-time favorite halftime shows…
😮 Weah also correctly picked the Chiefs to emerge victorious in Vegas… and revealed that he has never actually been to a gridiron game before!
🇺🇸 Several other Serie A teams got into the Super Bowl spirit, including Bologna, whose players tossed a pigskin around in the locker room.
👌 Meanwhile, USMNT star Christian Pulisic showed off his best spike and celebration on AC Milan’s social channels.
🍫 Away from both kinds of football, Pulisic also revealed in a GQ interview that there’s a certain sweetness he misses about the USA:
“I’ve gotten pretty accustomed to the European lifestyle, but I don’t know about Italian candy. You can’t argue about the food! Candy and sweets, though, I think they’re a little bit behind.”
🏆 Congratulations are also due for Pulisic, whose PUMA x Christian Pulisic Legacy Program won the Youth Soccer Developmental Program of the Year award at the North American Soccer Business & Media Awards.
🌍 Serie A stars win Africa Cup of Nations
The Ivory Coast won its third Africa Cup of Nations title over the weekend, in a team featuring a key duo of Serie A stars.
🇨🇮 Fiorentina forward Christian Kouamé and Roma’s Evan Ndicka both helped guide the Ivory Coast to a miraculous win on home soil.
🤯 The unlikely route to the final saw two group stage defeats, a fired coach, and two knockout stage comeback wins!
🇳🇬 Ivory Coast defeated Nigeria 2-1 in the final. The Nigerians were led by Napoli talisman Victor Osimhen and also featured Milan forward Samuel Chukwueze.
🕺 Social Post of the Week: Hakan Çalhanoğlu busts a move!
Hakan Çalhanoğlu is a world leader in free kicks and long-range bangers — and it looks like the Inter Milan star can add smooth dance moves to his list of talents, too.
🫡 Become a Calcio Weekly Capitano
If you share this newsletter with 10 friends, we’ll send you a genuine Serie A captain’s armband (as seen below, expertly modeled by the Coppa Italia trophy in our NYC offices).
Become a Calcio Weekly Capitano and help the latest Serie A news land in more inboxes! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
🇮🇹 Nahitan Nandezn explores Sardinia
Cagliari’s Nahitan Nández may hail from Uruguay, but he explains his Italian roots and strong connections to his adopted homeland in the latest episode of our Champions of Made in Italy series.
While taking in the sights of Cagliari, the capital city of Sardinia, Nández explains how he feels fate brought him to Serie A, in order to explore his connection with his great-grandparents, who fled Italy during the Second World War.
🎵 Kanye West gives Inter ultras writing credits
Highly controversial hip-hop artist Kanye West’s new album has shot straight to the top of the charts worldwide, with the apparent help of Inter’s fanbase.
🎤 Per Goal, two tracks from Ty Dolla Sign and Kanye West's Vultures 1 album have been partially written by Inter ultras, in the form of chants and backing vocals.
🎥 Nerazzurri fans feature in the video for the song ‘Carnival’ (see above).
💬 Calcio Conversations
Every team will have a moment they are dreading on the schedule: the moment they must face their ”bestia nera.”
🤷♂️ What does it mean? What we might call in English a “bogey team,” the Italians refer to as a “bestia nera” or “black beast.” This is the team that, for whatever reason, and sometimes with logic out the window, your team will always struggle to beat.
🇮🇹 Serie A teams vote to maintain 20-team format
Serie A teams have voted to keep the league’s 20-team format, rejecting a proposal to reduce the size down to 18 teams.
🙋♂️ The results of the vote were confirmed on Monday at a shareholders’ meeting at the league’s headquarters in Milan.
🗳️ Juventus, Inter, AC Milan and Roma voted to reduce the league to 18 teams, but all other teams wished to maintain the current size.
🏆 The expanded 20-team format was first introduced in 2004-05.
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports and Paramount+
Friday February 16th
Torino v Lecce (1pm ET)
Inter v Salernitana (3pm ET)
Saturday February 17th
Napoli v Genoa (9am ET)
Verona v Juventus (12pm ET)
Atalanta v Sassuolo (2.45pm ET)
Sunday February 18th
Lazio v Bologna (6.30am ET)
Empoli v Fiorentina (9am ET)
Udinese v Cagliari (9am ET)
Frosinone v Roma (12pm ET)
Monza v Milan (2.45pm ET)
🇨🇦 Reading this in Canada? Watch ALL Serie A games LIVE on Fubo - and try it for free! 🇨🇦
Grazie e arrivederci!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Calcio Weekly!
Feel free to share Calcio Weekly with your friends - and send us any feedback at calcioweekly@legaseriea.it.
Ciao ciao!