⚽️🇮🇹 Who can stop Juventus this season?
⚽️🇮🇹 Who can stop Juventus this season?
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're looking at Thiago Motta's start in Turin, we're analyzing the Champions League draw, and much more!
💪 Inside Juventus’ strong start to the season
Heading into game week three, Juventus is the only Serie A team with a 100% record, after recording back-to-back 3-0 wins over Como and Verona.
⚽️ Per Opta Paolo, the last Serie A team to win its opening two league games was Chievo in 2010-11.
⚽️ Five different players have scored for Juventus so far this season, with striker Dušan Vlahović netting a brace in last weekend’s win at Verona.
👏 Juve’s win at Verona was also notable for Nicolò Savona’s dream full debut for the Bianconeri. Savona has been with the club since he was eight years old and was brought through from the Juventus Next Gen reserve team.
😮 The 21-year-old defender scored the second goal of the evening and is currently the youngest defender to have found the net in Europe’s top five leagues this season.
🗣️ Juve is a new-look team under coach Thiago Motta, who delivered Champions League soccer to Bologna last season. “I’m happy to be the Coach of a historic club like Juventus,” said Motta. “This club has ambition, and I have the feeling that we’re starting an interesting period. I feel no pressure, but great responsibility - that of coaching a team like Juventus at its best.”
🎂 On a related note, we wish Motta a buon compleanno, as he turned 42 years old yesterday!
🆕 Motta’s birthday present came in the form of Teun Koopmeiners, who officially became a Juve player on Wednesday, arriving from Atalanta on a five-year deal.
👉 Up next for Juventus: Motta’s side face Roma in Turin this Sunday (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports). “It will be a beautiful match against a great Serie A team,” said the coach. The form book between the sides is a dead heat: in their last four meetings, they have drawn twice and each won a game.
❤️ Serie A pays tribute to Sven-Göran Eriksson
The soccer world paid its respects to Sven-Göran Eriksson upon the sad news of his passing. The Swedish coach died on Monday aged 76 after a battle against pancreatic cancer.
👏 In a long and storied career, Eriksson coached Fiorentina, Lazio, Roma and Sampdoria.
🦅 The much-loved coach holds a special place in the hearts of Lazio fans: he delivered the scudetto in 2000 (one of two league titles the Roman club has won in its history) plus the Coppa Italia in 1998 and 2000. On the European stage, he won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup with the Biancocelesti.
🥹 Emotional tributes flooded in from across the world of calcio, with Lazio changing their crest color to black and white on social media. “Thanks for everything you did for us, mister,” they wrote.
🙌 Eriksson coached current Inter manager Simone Inzaghi, Monza coach Alessandro Nesta and Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone in that highly successful Lazio team. He also coached Serie A legend Roberto Baggio at Fiorentina and current Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti at Roma.
🏆 The journeyman coach also won the Coppa Italia with both Roma in 1986 and Sampdoria in 1994.
🗣️ ICYMI: Udinese’s Jaka Bijol discusses Alexis Sanchez’s return
Udinese defender Jaka Bijol has been a stalwart at the back in Udine since he arrived in 2022. In the interview below, the Slovenian discusses Udinese’s new coach Kosta Runjaić, the injury that kept him sidelined last season, and the much heralded return of Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez to the club.
📺 Bijol is also a Made In Italy Ambassador for Serie A, who gave us a tour of Udine last season.
👉 Up next for Udinese: The Friulani host Serie A new boys Como on Sunday (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports). Udinese will be looking to build on last weekend’s home win over Lazio, while Como is seeking its first victory since returning to the top flight.
🇺🇸 Christian Pulisic scores on U.S. network television
USMNT star Christian Pulisic opened his scoring account for the season in Milan’s 2-1 defeat at Parma on Saturday.
🎥 Pulisic’s goal may not have delivered any points for Milan, but it did show his talents to a large North American audience in the first-ever Serie A game to be broadcast on U.S. network television. Reports said an average audience of 360,000 tuned into the game on CBS Network.
🙌 The 25-year-old’s goal also set a unique record: ESPN notes that he is now the first American player to score in 10 consecutive seasons across Europe’s top five leagues.
🗣️ Pulisic is also excelling in the linguistic department. According to his club and country teammate Yunus Musah, Pulisic’s Italian has come a long way: “He is actually speaking it a lot lately. Although they may speak to him in English, he answers in Italian. He has learned a lot and the coaches have started speaking to him in Italian.” (via The Athletic)
🎯 Social Post of the Week: Antonio Conte bonds with young Napoli fans
Antonio Conte’s first home game as Napoli coach was a rousing success, with his side earning a 3-0 win over Bologna. The 55-year-old, who has won four scudetti as a coach and five as a player, enjoyed a bonding moment with some young fans at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona over the weekend.
😊 As the folks at IFTV note, no coach builds a stronger bond with its fans than Antonio Conte.
✋ Conte will have more opportunities to high-five Napoli’s next generation on Saturday when his side host Parma (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports).
💬 Calcio Conversations
From Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Cristiano Ronaldo, Marco van Basten to Fabio Quagliarella, Serie A has been the stomping ground of some true masters of the rovesciata over the years.
🤷♂️ Wait, the what? A key piece of vocabulary for any budding calcio fan, rovesciata is the Italian term for an overhead kick.
It comes from the verb rovesciare, which means to spill or knock over, but also to turn upside down… much like a soccer player in mid-flight pulling off a stunning rovesciata!
🇪🇺 Champions League draw reveals huge matchups for Italian teams
Five Serie A teams have learned their fate in the new-look edition of Europe’s top continental competition, with the draw taking place in Monaco today.
🆕 This season sees a new format for the Champions League, with the old group stage being replaced by a 36-team league table, where each team will play eight matches. The top eight teams then progress to the knockout phase, with a further 16 teams competing for the remaining eight spots in a playoff round.
👉 Inter will face Manchester City (A), RB Leipzig (H), Arsenal (H), Bayer Leverkusen (A), Red Star (H), Young Boys (A), Monaco (H), and Sparta Prague (A).
👉 Atalanta will host Real Madrid, and will travel to Barcelona, in addition to games against Arsenal (H), Shakhtar (A), Celtic (H), Young Boys (A), Sturm Graz (H) and Stuttgart (H).
👉 Juventus will welcome Manchester City to Turin, and will take on RB Leipzig (A), Benfica (H), Club Brugge (A), PSV Eindhoven (H), Lille, (A), Stuttgart (H) and Aston Villa (A).
👉 Milan will recreate classic bouts with Liverpool (H), and will take on Real Madrid (A), Club Brugge (H), Bayer Leverkusen (A), Red Star (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Girona (H) and Slovan Bratislava (A).
👉 Bologna’s first appearance in the Champions League era of the competition will include a home game against Borussia Dortmund, plus games against Liverpool (A), Shakhtar (H), Benfica (A), Lille (H), Sporting Lisbon (A), Monaco (H) and Aston Villa (A).
🔜 The games will not necessarily happen in the order of the draw, as the schedule will be published on Saturday.
🗓️ The first round of fixtures will take place on September 17th and the league phase will run through to January 29th, 2025.
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🐺 Paulo Dybala stays in Serie A, launches new Roma kit
Paulo Dybala was met with rapturous applause at the Roma club store on the Via del Corso yesterday, following his dramatic decision to stay in the capital last week.
🙌 The Argentine forward was scheduled to make a move to Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia, but after clearing out his locker at the training facility and saying his goodbyes, he changed his mind - much to the delight of the Giallorossi faithful.
🗣️ “Everyone asks about the money. I put lots of things on the table, like my family, my wife, the city, the team, wanting to get back into the national team,” he said. “I am 30 years old, I feel good, although I see a lot of criticism for my injuries, but I try to look after myself.”
🇦🇷 Dybala’s rationale to stay and compete for a spot on his national team roster has been validated: he has been selected for Argentina’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
👕 The World Cup-winning forward will now have the opportunity to wear Roma’s gorgeous new third kit on the field!
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports and Paramount+
Friday, August 30th
Venezia v Torino (12.30pm ET)
Inter v Atalanta (2.45pm ET)
Saturday, August 31st
Bologna v Empoli (12.30pm ET)
Lecce v Cagliari (12.30pm ET)
Lazio v Milan (2.45pm ET)
Napoli v Parma (2.45pm ET)
Sunday, September 1st
Fiorentina v Monza (12.30pm ET, CBS)
Genoa v Verona (12.30pm ET)
Juventus v Roma (2.45pm ET)
Udinese v Como (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 🇺🇸
👋 Grazie e arrivederci!
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