On July 3, 2001, Gianluigi Buffon became the most expensive goalkeeper in football, moving from Parma to Juventus for a fee of around $58 million. Now, two decades and 489 Serie A appearances later, Buffon is back at the club where it all started.
Gigi Buffon officially became a Parma player again on Thursday, signing with the Serie B side on a two-year deal. "Superman" had returned.
A couple hours after the soccer world fell to a hush as Christian Eriksen collapsed unconscious during the Denmark-Finland Euro 2020 match on Saturday, Belgium kicked off its match against Russia with three current or former teammates of Eriksen’s in the starting lineup. One of those teammates opened the scoring, Romelu Lukaku blasting Belgium into the lead in the 10th minute.
The build-up to every major international tournament is the same: who has the best striker? Or, this is why x midfielder is going to dominate or why this winger is the key to this country getting out of its group.
But no one ever talks about the goalkeepers. In such a short tournament, where three matches decide a team's fate, the importance of the goalkeeper becomes magnified.
So let's give the goalkeepers the spotlight for a little bit, because often they're the ones that end up deciding the tournament.
Despite 119 international caps to his name, Goran Pandev has rarely experienced success with North Macedonia.
The North Macedonian record-holder for both appearances and goals, Pandev made his international debut back in 2001 during a 3-3 draw against Turkey in World Cup Qualifying. It took more than three years after that day for the center forward to win his first competitive fixture with his country — a 3-0 victory over Armenia.
ROME - Inter Milan did not think they would need to replace Antonio Conte this year, but in successor Simone Inzaghi, they hope to have found a natural heir.
Conte terminated his deal by mutual consent in May over frustration at Inter's plans to cut costs and sell key players due to financial problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hirving Lozano no tuvo que esperar mucho tiempo para saber el nombre de su nuevo entrenador en el Napoli. Seis días después de la destitución de Genaro Gattuso, por no lograr la clasificación a la próxima Champions League, el club italiano anunció la llegada de Luciano Spalletti.
El entrenador italiano vuelve al ruedo después de haber vivido los últimos dos años en su granja en la región de Toscana, viendo fútbol y quizás plantando tomates. Vaya a saber uno.
Su último trabajo había sido a cargo del Inter de Milán, donde estuvo entre 2017 y 2019.
With the 2021 Champions League Final between Manchester City and Chelsea on Saturday, this week has been full of conjecture over the future of the competition. While the Super League appears to have (mostly) died down, a few fairly major changes to Champions League rules could be on the cards, including away goals, substitutions and a “Final Four.”
BARCELONA — Barcelona will not apologize for its role in creating the failed European Super League and will appeal against any punishment from UEFA, president Joan Laporta said on Friday.
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus are the last ones standing of the 12 clubs that signed up to the breakaway project in April, only for it to unravel when all six English sides plus Inter Milan, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid withdrew.
ROME — Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte has terminated his contract one year early just days after leading them to their first Serie A title in 11 years, the club said on Wednesday.
Conte, who joined Inter in May 2019, agreed to depart after Italian media reported he had been left unhappy with plans to reduce investment and cut costs due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
| STATEMENT
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was one of the best midfielders in Europe during the 2020/21 season with Roma. The attacking midfielder’s 28 goal contributions (15 goals and 13 assists) was the second highest among midfielders in Europe sitting only behind Bruno Fernandes.
Statistically, the 2020/21 season was Mkhitaryan’s most productive in half a decade. That’s why it came as such a shock to him that he would be sitting out of future national team duty.
Mkhitaryan expressed his frustrations on Twitter after receiving the news that he’d been snubbed.