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Perisic Spearheading Resurgent Inter's Charge for Europe

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Perisic Spearheading Resurgent Inter's Charge for Europe ‘SprINTER’ was La Gazzetta dello Sport’s front-page headline on Sunday morning. After making a stumbling start to 2016, the Nerazzurri are beginning to pick up the pace again. The weekend’s win against Bologna was their fourth in a row at San Siro. Inter haven’t been ab...

Allegri Making the Most of Juventus' Golden Bench

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Allegri Making the Most of Juventus' Golden Bench On Monday Max Allegri was in Florence for Italy’s Coach of the Year awards. “I voted for Stefano Pioli,” he revealed. “But I was undecided. I thought about voting for Roberto Donadoni too.” Once the ballots were closed, however, Allegri was declared the winner. He recei...

Player Focus: Curse of the Pharaoh Lifted as El Shaarawy Returns to Form

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Player Focus: Curse of the Pharaoh Lifted as El Shaarawy Returns to Form A year ago, you’ll remember there was a story doing the rounds that, upon joining Sampdoria, Samuel Eto’o had bought a villa on the Italian riviera. This was no ordinary villa either. Not at £20m. Altachiara once belonged to Lord Carnarvon. The name translates to Highclere, Carnarv...

Team Focus: Donadoni Impact Sparks Drastic Change in Bologna Ambition

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Team Focus: Donadoni Impact Sparks Drastic Change in Bologna Ambition Roberto Donadoni was in the car when his phone began to ring. “I was on my way to Cuccaro to pick up the Nils Liedholm award.” The 52-year-old former winger was being recognised for the job he did at Parma. Unlike Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, he di...

Team Focus: Fluid Fiorentina to Once Again Pose Problems for Spurs

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Team Focus: Fluid Fiorentina to Once Again Pose Problems for Spurs From the outside looking in Fiorentina are building something every bit as impressive as Michelangelo's Duomo in the city centre. They're back in that third and final Champions League spot and obstinately refuse to fade away. Their results this season have been better than any fan of theirs could re...

Player Focus: Koulibaly Defying Critics to Draw Comparisons With Serie A Greats

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Player Focus: Koulibaly Defying Critics to Draw Comparisons With Serie A Greats Kalidou Koulibaly made headlines throughout the world last week. Unfortunately it was not for his performances, which is how he would have preferred it. Instead it was because he was the victim of racist abuse when his Napoli side went to play Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico. Either you do something or...

Team Focus: Resurgent Milan Beginning to Bubble to the Surface

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Team Focus: Resurgent Milan Beginning to Bubble to the Surface Milan are yet to play champagne football, but Sinisa Mihajlovic believes they have the making of a “fine sparkling wine” after a flat start to the season. “We took six points from our first four games and suffered a lot.” There is a fizz about Milan. “We’ve taken ...

Player Focus: Saponara Keeping the Traditional Number 10 Role Alive

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Player Focus: Saponara Keeping the Traditional Number 10 Role Alive All Riccardo Saponara ever dreamed of was to play in the red and black of AC Milan. For that, his father Luciano is to blame. A passionate fan of the club, he’s the one who passed it onto his son. As a boy, Saponara’s first football memory was of Milan winning the Scudetto in 1999. Only ...

Player Focus: Prolific Pavoletti Flourishing Away From Serie A's Spotlight

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Player Focus: Prolific Pavoletti Flourishing Away From Serie A's Spotlight Funny thing destiny, isn’t it? Leonardo Pavoletti will openly admit he became a footballer almost by accident. His father, Paolo, is a tennis instructor and it wouldn’t have been at all surprising if he had followed in his footsteps and tried to go pro. He apparently had a formidable two...

Player Focus: Can Higuain Buck Scorer Trend & Lead Napoli to the Title?

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Player Focus: Can Higuain Buck Scorer Trend & Lead Napoli to the Title? To get the measure of Maurizio Sarri, consider this for a moment. He turned 57 on Sunday. Until last season, he had never coached in Serie A. He never played professionally. And yet upon being confronted with Gonzalo Higuain, the striker Napoli paid €38m for a couple of years ago, the second hi...