If Italian football was a Trivial Pursuit category, Paolo Poggi would feature prominently among the answers. The scorer of the fastest-ever goal in Serie A? Poggi, of course. The...
Read MoreMai dimenticato: The tragedy of Piermario Morosini
A huge roar of “Come on!” reverberates around White Hart Lane. It is an FA Cup quarter-final with the winner heading to Wembley. But there is no football going...
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TGU Book Review: Il Re Calcio II, by Paul Grech
The image of Lazio club manager Angelo Peruzzi celebrating the side’s 2017 Italian Super Cup triumph over Juventus is what inspired Paul Grech to write the second part of...
Read MoreFernando Redondo in Milan: A time of frustration, grace and standing ovations
Fernando Carlos Redondo Neri cuts an angry figure as he reads from a prepared script. At what should be an exciting time for the player, he delivers carefully chosen...
Read MoreGianluca Signorini: The tragedy of Genoa’s hero and Italy’s most underrated Libero
In the contemporary age of calcio, the libero is an obsolete position. This outdated defensive role, also known as the sweeper, was cleverly orchestrated by the following Italian legends:...
Read MoreGiovanni Griffith: The Swansong of a cursed man
Every now and then, we are reminded of the fragility of a footballer’s career. Of how a single moment on the pitch can inject an unwanted interlude into a...
Read MoreClaudio Ranieri: Laying the foundations for the modern Chelsea
It was fitting that Claudio Ranieri took his title-winning Leicester side to defending champions Chelsea on the final day of the 2015/16 season. As the match unfolded, both sets...
Read MoreWhen God smiled at Mancini: The craziest Serie A comeback of the 21st Century
They had become a garden with no water, an oak with no leaves, a dry and thirsty land where vessels were filled only with shame for failing to triumph...
Read MoreLuciano Spalletti: The past and present of Italy’s last great innovator
Different yet, somehow, so similar. Rome and Milan are, in terms of traditions, culture and lifestyle, worlds apart. Football, however, makes no exception. The rivalry between the teams from...
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Mario Balotelli: A portrait of adversity
The year is 1461 – Portuguese explorers have just sailed onto the shores of modern day Sierra Leone, just above the Gulf of Guinea. It’s the tipping point of...
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