Serie A

Today marks a historic day in football as Francesco Totti made his Roma debut against Brescia on March 28, 1993. Over the following 24 years, Totti has appeared in 612 league games and scored 250 goals. 

He’ll forever be remembered for leading Roma to their first Serie A title since 1982-83 in 2001, and the now 40-year-old is still going strong with two league goals from 11 matches this campaign.

Francisco Totti’s thunderous training volley put an end to the Third Punic War today. The volley cracked off his boot and resulted in a breaching of the Carthaginian's walls and the sacking of the city. When this firecracker smote the back of the net, Carthage was systematically burned for 17 days, utterly destroying all remnants of the 700-year-old empire.

Che bomba del Capitano!

Legendary German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann said England goalkeeper Joe Hart is not world class, and for some reason this was taken as controversial by the types of English newspapers that spend a lot of time reporting how expensive Romelu Lukaku's car is.

Really, it shouldn't be controversial. Joe Hart is not and has never been world class. I do not possess the the ability to see into the future, but I'm guessing Hart won't be world class there, either.

It has been a complicated week for Juventus. The almost-crowned champions of Italian football have been up and down an emotional rollercoaster, hitting the headlines for events on and off the pitch. As ever with the biggest club in Serie A, there are claims of wrongdoing on one side and claims of the Old Lady being unfairly targeted on the other. Controversy reigns supreme, but with the season drawing to a close, what sort of position are Juve in?

This week in Serie A, results pretty much panned out how you’d expect. Roma thrashed Palermo. Pescara lost again. Fiorentina overcame a stolid start to snatch a last-gasp, undeserved winner. Juventus won at home. So there’s not much to talk about, right? Not quite.

The appointed heir to Gianluigi Buffon as Italy’s No. 1, could it be possible that AC Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma will eventually dwarf the Juventus legend? The 18-year-old goalkeeper was sensational in Milan’s highly controversial defeat to Juventus, recording nine saves and showcasing his strength, agility and tenacity. 

The fight for second place in Serie A is serious business. Roma and Napoli are not fighting solely for the privilege of finishing behind Juventus, but battling to avoid a Champions League playoff qualifying spot. So bad is the history of Italian teams in the playoff rounds that Italy has, more often than not in recent years, only had two representatives in the group stages of Europe’s premier footballing tournament.

Thus, when Roma and Napoli played one another this weekend, the chance to finish in second was up for grabs.

Fiorentina manager Paulo Sousa has a problem. Paulo Sousa isn’t very good at his job. What’s more, people are starting to notice. For a while now, Fiorentina fans have been trying to tell anyone who will listen that the Portuguese manager is performing well below expectations. After two high profile capitulations in the space of a week, Sousa’s problem is now clear for all to see. Paulo Sousa isn’t very good at his job.