⚽️🇮🇹 Introducing Canada's first Serie A star!
⚽️🇮🇹 Introducing Canada's first Serie A star!
👋 Ciao a tutti!
Welcome to Calcio Weekly, your comprehensive weekly digest of Italian soccer.
This week, we’re taking a look at Canada’s first Serie A player, we’re spotlighting Christian Pulisic’s latest accolade, and we’re wishing happy birthday to a Roman institution…
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🇨🇦 Canadian star Tajon Buchanan could debut for Inter this weekend
Tajon Buchanan is officially Serie A’s first Canadian player, after putting pen to paper with league leaders Inter last week.
TAJON BUCHANAN | FIRST EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 🎤⚫🔵 #WelcomeTajon
🗣️ “I bring a lot to the table and I can play in many different positions,” said Buchanan in his first interview as a Nerazzurri player. The versatile 24-year-old has previously played as a fullback, wingback and right-sided midfielder.
🤓 This weekend, Inter will look to consolidate its Serie A lead at Monza (Saturday, 2.45pm ET on Paramount+). Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport says Buchanan will be in Simone Inzaghi’s squad for the match, and they tip him to make his debut from the bench.
👋 Buchanan arrives from Club Brugge, with whom he reached the last 16 of the Champions League last season. Prior to that, he played three seasons in Major League Soccer with the New England Revolution.
🥞 Inter announced their signing in the most Canadian way possible: via a healthy dose of maple syrup…
🇺🇸 Christian Pulisic makes Opta’s Serie A Team of the Season (so far)
Christian Pulisic’s debut Serie A season keeps going from strength to strength. The folks at Opta have recognized the 25-year-old’s impressive campaign with a place in their halfway-point Team of the Season…
🙌 In the most recent game week, Pulisic notched his fifth Serie A assist of the season, with a full-pitch sprint to set up Chaka Traorè and cap off the Rossoneri’s 3-0 win at Empoli.
📈 The American has scored six league goals for a total of eleven goal involvements in the first half of the season. On top of that, he’s also scored in the Champions League and assisted in the Coppa Italia.
🫤 Speaking of the Coppa Italia, Pulisic and his compatriot Yunus Musah played the full 90 in Wednesday evening’s cup quarterfinal against local rivals Atalanta, but things didn’t quite go to plaa 2-1 loss.
MILAN-ATALANTA 1-2 | HIGHLIGHTS | Koopmeiners Brace Wins Derby | Coppa Italia Frecciarossa 2023/24
🚀 Juventus, meanwhile, will play for a spot in the Coppa Italia semifinals later today, having reached the last eight with a win that featured a Tim Weah screamer from downtown...
⚖️ Matías Soulé scores at both ends!
In last week’s edition of Calcio Weekly, we cast the spotlight on Frosinone’s rising star Matías Soulé. The 20-year-old forward endured mixed fortunes in his most recent outing against Monza, starting when he converted an incredibly unfortunate outside-the-box own goal…
🙏 Soulé redeemed himself by converting a 76th-minute penalty, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Monza from leaving the Stadio Benito Stirpe with a 3-2 win.
FROSINONE-MONZA 2-3 | HIGHLIGHTS | Monza edge five-goal thriller | Serie A 2023/24
👏 The Argentine, who is on loan from Juventus, is enjoying an excellent season, with eight goals (in the opposing net) and an assist in 17 games.
🎂 Buon compleanno, Lazio!
Lazio celebrated its birthday on Tuesday. Anybody got 124 candles?
👏 Lazio was founded as the Società Podistica Lazio on January 9, 1900 in Rome’s Prati district (which borders the Vatican City and features tourist-favorite landmarks including the Piazza Cavour). City rivals Roma were founded over a quarter of a decade later, in June 1927.
🏆 The Biancocelesti have won Serie A twice (1974 and 2000) and the Coppa Italia seven times (most recently in 2019).
❤️ Serie A remembers Franz Beckenbauer
The beautiful game lost another of its all-time greats last weekend, with the passing of the legendary Franz Beckenbauer at the age of 78.
👏 The German, nicknamed “Der Kaiser” (“The Emperor”), is credited with creating the modern sweeper role, also known as the libero (scroll down for more information on that).
🏆 Beckenbauer led his nation to victory at the 1974 World Cup and heralded an era of success at Bayern Munich that hadn’t been seen previously.
🤕 One of his most notorious career moments came in the 1970 World Cup semifinals, when West Germany faced Italy in what is known as The Game of the Century. Beckenbauer dislocated his shoulder in the 70th minute, but since the Germans had already used their substitutes, he played on in a hastily fashioned sling.
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🇮🇹 Nikola Milenković explores Florence
In the latest edition of our Champions of Made in Italy series, Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenković explores his adopted hometown, taking in the stunning views of the Piazzale Michelangelo, the incredible artwork of the Uffizi Gallery, and much more.
NIKOLA MILENKOVIC takes a tour of the UFFIZI GALLERY in FIRENZE | Champions of #MadeInItaly
🚨 ICYMI: Sound the Rabona klaxon!
Rafael Leão earned his sixth assist on the Serie A season in Milan’s 3-0 win at Empoli — and the Portuguese star attempted to bring his assist tally to seven in the most stylish way possible…
😮 Did You Know? A Rabona describes a player striking the ball with their leg crossed behind their standing leg. In Spanish, it is a word used to describe skipping school, and is said to have been applied to players who “skipped” using their weaker foot, to deceive the opposition.
💬 Calcio Conversations
As noted earlier in Calcio Weekly, Franz Beckenbauer is the most famous example of a “libero” player. You may notice, however, that the term is Italian, not German.
🤷♂️ What does it mean? The word literally means “free” and describes a defender that operates with a certain amount of freedom: they will sit as an anchor to sweep up the ball if the defensive line is breached, and they will have license to go forward and create attacks when in possession.
🇮🇹 The most famous example of an Italian libero might be Franco Baresi, who was a lynchpin of the Milan side that won three European Cups in the 1980s and 1990s.
🙌 Social Post of the Week: Roma fans provide incredible atmosphere
No soccer experience in the world makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck quite like a night at the Stadio Olimpico.
Before Sunday’s clash with Atalanta, the Roma faithful showed why a trip to the Eternal City belongs on any soccer fan’s bucket list…
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports and Paramount+
Saturday January 13th
Genoa v Torino (9am ET)
Napoli v Salernitana (9am ET)
Hellas Verona v Empoli (12pm ET)
Monza v Inter (2.45pm ET)
Sunday January 14th
Lazio v Lecce (6.30am ET)
Cagliari v Bologna (9am ET)
Fiorentina v Udinese (12pm ET)
AC Milan v Roma (2.45pm ET)
Monday January 15th
Atalanta v Frosinone (2.45pm ET)
Tuesday January 16th
Juventus v Sassuolo (2.45pm ET)
🇨🇦 Reading this in Canada? Watch ALL Serie A games LIVE on Fubo - and try it for free! 🇨🇦
Grazie e arrivederci!
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Ciao ciao!