Italian Clubs
Ronaldinho Has Officially Retired From Professional Football Forever, For Now
This is the end of an era. Ronaldinho, the last remaining active player not named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to have won the Ballon d'Or, one of the most joyous and fun footballers of all time, has officially hung up his cleats.
Dinho hasn't actually played competitive football since 2015, but his retirement rules out any chance of a return. Unless, of course, he returns.
The Transfers That Could Swing The Serie A Title Race
Winter has arrived. The traditional Serie A winter break has been pushed back a few weeks to accommodate an “English-style” festive period. Now, with January in full fling, the clubs are taking a bit of time off to recover. So, naturally, it’s time to think about Serie A transfers.
Has Juventus Found Its Buffon Replacement In Wojciech Szczęsny?
How do you replace a man like Gianluigi Buffon? For the past two decades, Buffon has been a mainstay between the posts for both the Italian national team and his club side, Juventus.
During that time, he’s demonstrated remarkable consistency, spending twenty years as one of the best keepers in the world. Even when Juve was relegated in 2006, he stayed with the team. He’s unquestionably a legend of the game. But the end is nigh.
Mandzukic Punishes Torino For Not Playing To The Whistle After Shocking No Call
It’s one of the first lessons you learn playing soccer (or most any sport): play to the whistle. That tenet is even more important in the age of VAR, when professionals know the referee can consult replay to confirm goals, at least in countries that aren’t in the Dark Ages. The Mario Mandzukic goal vs. Torino was the result of Juventus punishing its rival for not playing to the whistle in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals on Wednesday.
10 Legendary Footballers We Lost To Retirement In 2017
2017 was a pronounced year with regards to the retirement of a legion of decorated footballers. In the list below, we have an assortment of winners of the World Cup, European Championship, Copa America, Champions League and pretty much every domestic title out there.
Sadly, we’ve seen the last of this group on the professional pitch and on our gaming consoles via FIFA. Here are 10 footballers (along with a few honorable mentions) that hung up their boots this year.
The Other Donnarumma Guides AC Milan To Coppa Italia Semifinals
Antonio Donnarumma is AC Milan starting goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma's brother. Gigi Donnarumma is a boy wonder, starting for Milan at just 18 years old. Antonio Donnarumma is, um, not that. He's 27 years old, AC Milan's third-choice goalkeeper and probably only there to keep his family and younger brother happy.
However, with Gianluigi injured and regular backup Marco Storari having injured himself during warmups, the job of seeing AC Milan past hated rivals Inter into the Coppa Italia semifinals fell to Antonio.
Finest Of Margins In Serie A Further Disrupted After Monday’s European Draw
Last week, Serie A news revolved around goals. Goals change games was the mantra. After Juventus beat Napoli, it seemed like it was all change at the top of the table.
Instead, many of this week’s most important matches were goalless. Not bad, as such, but not quite the high scoring affairs we’d hoped for.
There’s Actually A Reason To Check Out This Year’s Europa League Draw
Most years the Europa League is barely given a second thought this time of year. Sure it might be worth watching as the competition draws to its climax, but the Round of 32, not to mention the Europa League draw itself, typically doesn’t register highly on the mainstream soccer watch list.