⚽️🇮🇹 The superstar who snuck into the Milan Derby!
⚽️🇮🇹 The superstar who snuck into the Milan Derby!
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're celebrating a new contract for an American star, we're learning about Daniele De Rossi's idol, and much more!
🇮🇹 ‘Mature’ Italy national team earns two wins during international break
While Serie A action paused for international soccer, the Azzurri enjoyed the perfect start to its 2024-25 UEFA Nations League campaign, with away wins over France and Israel.
😮 The 3-1 win over France was Italy’s first-ever victory at the Parc des Princes in Paris, and the first away win over France in 70 years.
👏 The highlight of the match was undoubtedly Federico Dimarco’s stunning volley, which won UEFA’s Goal of the Round award.
🗣️ Coach Luciano Spalletti praised his side’s mental strength after going a goal down to the French inside just 12 seconds: "The start was the key. Everyone reacted immediately, trying to give strength and tranquillity to the team and then they played the game we needed to play.”
🗣️ Italy topped their Nations League group with Monday’s 2-1 win in Israel, after which Spalletti highlighted the maturity of his charges: “The fact that the players were organized, ordered and waited for the right moment was a sign of great maturity.”
👶 The maturity is particularly impressive as, per Opta Paolo, the national team fielded five players born after the year 2000 for the first time (Samuele Ricci, Giacomo Raspadori, Sandro Tonali, Moise Kean, and Raoul Bellanova).
🫡 Napoli celebrates 20 years of Aurelio De Laurentiis’s presidency
On Tuesday, Napoli celebrated the 20th anniversary of the day Aurelio De Laurentiis acquired the club, bringing them from bankruptcy and the third tier of Italian soccer to the triumph of their scudetto win of 2022-23.
👉 Napoli declared bankruptcy in August 2004, with Italian soccer regulations stipulating they would need to start again as a new franchise in Serie C1, the third tier. With De Laurentiis at the helm, Napoli secured two promotions in three seasons to return to Serie A.
🏆 The Partenopei - which won two league titles in 1987 and 1990 with Diego Maradona on the team - returned to European competition in 2010, before claiming its third scudetto in 2023.
🗣️ “I’m proud to celebrate the first 20 years of this extraordinary path as president and owner of Napoli,” said De Laurentiis, who is also one of Italy’s most prominent film producers. “Together, we brought the club to excel in Italy and Europe on a winning journey. Thanks to all those who have participated in this accomplishment.”
Up next for Napoli 👉 Antonio Conte’s side head to Cagliari on Sunday (12pm ET, CBS Sports). Napoli has tied its last two games at the Sardegna Arena.
🏆 Parma’s Dennis Man earns Player of the Month Award
The first Serie A Player of the Month Award of the 2024-25 season has been awarded to Parma’s well-deserving Romanian forward Dennis Man.
👏 Man has helped Parma earn four points from their opening three matches, with crucial goals against Fiorentina in their home opener and Milan in the first ever Serie A game to be broadcast on US network TV.
🇷🇴 The wide forward is also enjoying a successful period with his national team: after helping Romania top its group at Euro 2024, Man scored the opener in his country’s UEFA Nations League opener against Kosovo last week.
😲 August’s Goal of the Month, meanwhile, belongs to Inter’s Nicolò Barella following his stunning volley against Atalanta:
🥷 Alvaro Morata used to sneak into the Derby della Madonnina in disguise!
Milan striker Alvaro Morata is savoring the prospect of facing rivals Inter in the fabled Derby della Madonnina - but it won’t be the first time the Spaniard has attended the fixture.
😧 Speaking with Sky Sport, the 31-year-old admitted he has seen the famous derby game at the San Siro many times… while sitting among the fans in disguise!
“I can’t wait to play the derby... I have already come to San Siro to watch a couple of derbies as a fan, wearing my hat and dark glasses. Nobody realized I was there. I wanted to breathe the atmosphere. Even from the outside, you realize how much this game means.”
💪 Morata will hopefully experience his first Derby della Madonnina on the field next Sunday, when Inter and the Rossoneri face off at their shared San Siro home (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports).
⚽️ Morata scored in his debut Milan game, the 2-2 season opener against Torino, but the Spanish forward has since been sidelined with a muscle injury. He’s fighting for fitness to be involved in Saturday’s clash with Venezia (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports). And speaking of Venezia…
🇺🇸 Gianluca Busio commits to Venezia for two more seasons
North Carolina’s very own Gianluca Busio will be a Venezia player through to the summer of 2026, after extending his contract with the Leoni alati.
💪 After four seasons in MLS with Sporting Kansas City, Busio moved to Venice in the summer of 2021. The midfielder has notched eight goals and seven assists across 99 Venezia games.
“This is a special moment for me. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here in Venice. When I arrived the club was in Serie A, unfortunately that year it didn't go well for us but now we are back and our goal is to play in this category for a long time, because Venezia FC deserves the top division” - Busio
👉 Up next for Venezia As noted above, Busio’s side will head to the San Siro to face Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah’s Milan on Saturday (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports).
🤩 Daniele De Rossi meets his idol
In the purest example of game respecting game, Roma head coach Daniele De Rossi recently enjoyed dinner with his idol: fellow combative midfielder Roy Keane.
🤝 According to reporting in la Repubblica newspaper, De Rossi enjoyed dinner with the ex-Manchester United star in Rome during the international break. They were joined by fellow former Premier League icons Ian Wright, Jamie Carragher, and Gary Neville, for the filming of their TV and podcast series The Overlap.
🏛️ The Overlap team recently posted a clip of their Italian tour from Turin, so expect their Roman adventure to go live shortly.
📸 De Rossi has long held Keane up as his idol, admitting that he is the only soccer player he has ever asked for a picture: “I was too embarrassed to ask Maradona, but I couldn’t resist with Roy.”
⓵⓺ De Rossi played a similar midfield role to the Irishman, and also wore the same squad number, 16.
🍝 The restaurant meeting took place on Rome’s via Vetulonia, a street a few blocks south of the Colosseum that is famous for being the stomping ground of De Rossi’s legendary Roma teammate Francesco Totti as a child.
💫 Totti, incidentally, is often cited as the most famous example of a trequartista…
💬 Calcio Conversations
Some of the greatest players of all time played in a role described by Italians as a trequartista.
🤔 What does it mean? The trequartista is an attacking midfielder who occupies the space between midfield and attack - about three-quarters (or ‘tre quarti’) of the way up the field.
🤷♂️ Like who? You might also hear this role referred to as a ‘number 10’, because some of the most famous trequartisti have worn that iconic number in Serie A, such as Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane. Italian soccer has produced some of the greatest trequartisti of all time, including Totti, Gianni Rivera, Roberto Baggio, and Alessandro Del Piero.
🗓️ Serie A schedule through to November international window confirmed
The full Serie A schedule from game week five through to game week 13 has been officially released.
🇪🇺 The dates for the period up until around Thanksgiving - or more specifically, the November UEFA Nations League international window - could not be confirmed until the expanded Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League calendars were set.
⏱️ The schedule has been arranged to ensure maximum rest time for Italian teams in European competitions, which begin next week.
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⚾️ Milan partners with the New York Yankees for fashion collection
Fans of the Yankees and Milan will have some slick wardrobe options after a fashion collaboration between the two iconic teams.
🗽 The ACM x New York Yankees lifestyle collection features outerwear, headwear, and accessories that combine the Yankees’ interlocking NY wordmark and the red-and-black crest of the Rossoneri.
🙂 Fans can purchase items from the collection in-person at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, the MLB Flagship Store in Manhattan, San Siro Stadium, and all AC Milan stores in Milan. It’s also available online at yankees.com, store.acmilan.com and MLBShop.com.
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports, Paramount+, FOX Deportes and SiriusXM
Saturday, September 14th
Como v Bologna (9am ET)
Empoli v Juventus (12.30pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Milan v Venezia (2.45pm ET)
Sunday, September 15th
Genoa v Roma (6.30am ET)
Atalanta v Fiorentina (9am ET)
Torino v Lecce (9am ET)
Cagliari v Napoli (12pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Monza v Inter (2.45pm ET, also on FOX Deportes and SiriusXM FC)
Monday, September 16th
Parma v Udinese (12.30pm ET)
Lazio v Verona (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 🇺🇸
👋 Grazie e arrivederci!
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