Italian Clubs

Juventus Stadium’s Ovation For Andres Iniesta Will Bring A Tear To Your Eye

Barcelona’s assured display in a 0-0 draw with Juventus on Wednesday guaranteed the Blaugrana top spot in Champions League Group D, and with Lionel Messi spending the better part of the opening hour on the bench in Turin, the usual Barca suspects came to the fore to help their side navigate this tricky tie. 

Sergio Busquets Is As Cool As A Cucumber

Barcelona-Juventus ended 0-0 and Messi only made a substitute appearance, but there was plenty of incredible soccer to go around. For example, in the first half Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets found himself being pressed by Juventus midfielder Miralem Pjanic. Did Busquets safely pass the ball back to a center half or his goalkeeper? No. Did he panic and hoof the pall up the pitch in the general direction of Luis Suarez? No.

Instead, Busquets calmly (and slowly) gave Pjanic the ol' Zidane roulette before (still slowly) skipping away and finding Ivan Rakitic.

Revealed: The 5 Goalkeepers Dominating Europe's Top Leagues This Season

Scrutinizing the goalkeeper position, more so than any other, requires us to expand the metric of analysis to incorporate the one asset that’s valued above all others in a shot-stopper: consistency. That’s why, although a plethora of recent statistics might tell us otherwise, many would still pony for Gianluigi Buffon over, say, Marc-Andre ter Stegen as the world’s finest keeper. One’s been at the top of his craft for over 20 years, the other for just a few.

Dominoes Already Falling For Italy After World Cup Failure

This is the official end of an era for the Italy national team. After a 0-0 draw with Sweden on Monday, combined with a 1-0 defeat on Friday, Italy will not be at the 2018 World Cup, ending a run of 14 straight World Cup appearances. The dominoes are already falling in the aftermath of the Azzurri failing to qualify.

Watch Alessandro Matri Make The Shortest Appearance Of All Time

During pre-season in 2015, Real Madrid and AC Milan played a friendly and Milan striker Alessandro Matri made a substitute appearance. Sort of.

Without A Doubt, Serie A Is The Most Exciting League In Europe

This season, Serie A has been about the top teams beating the bottom teams every week. The five best teams have racked up a huge number of points. So far, Napoli and Inter are unbeaten, while Juventus have only lost one game. Two points separate the top three teams, five points separate the top five. 

Pages