Following last season’s run to the Champions League semifinals, it’s been a quintessential Roma response to potential success this campaign: The club has gone on tilt, including a 1-7 defeat to Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia, a heartbreaking exit to Porto in the UCL Round of 16 and a disappointing current standing of fifth in Serie A, all of which led to the firing of manager Eusebio Di Francesco and the exit of sporting director Monchi.
It's not everyday that you see a women’s professional team pack a stadium, especially women’s soccer. However, the reigning Serie A Women champion packed the house this past Sunday during its match against Fiorentina, reaching an Italian record of 39,027 fans in attendance.
It’s a bit strange, but for the likes of Real Madrid, PSG, Atlético and Napoli, there’s not much to play for with two months remaining in the season. Maybe a Coupe de France here and a triggering of an Arsenal crisis there, but it’s really silly season time for the aforementioned giants of the European game.
Napoli goalkeeper David Ospina, who’s at the club on a one-year loan deal from Arsenal, had to be rushed to the hospital after collapsing during today’s Serie A match against Udinese.
The 30-year-old Colombian was injured in the fifth minute after a low cross into the Napoli box resulted in a collision between Ospina and Ignacio Pussetto.
David Ospina's injury before his collapse in today's match against Udinese pic.twitter.com/rxPhWE0QZe
Having won Italy’s Serie A title for seven consecutive seasons now, it’s obvious that Juventus did not buy Cristiano Ronaldo last summer in a bid to establish domestic dominance. The Old Lady spent nearly $130 million on the 34-year-old to finally land the prize that’s eluded them since 1996, the UEFA Champions League.
You gotta feel bad for Cagliari regista Luca Cigarini.
During a Serie A match against Fiorentina on Friday, Cigarini scored what could have been the best goal of his career, launching a free kick from his own half into the back of the net.
But the goal didn’t count.
No, it wasn’t the result of VAR or suspicious refereeing (well, maybe a little of the latter). Instead, it was a case of a direct vs indirect free kick scenario.
Alexis Sanchez, right now, is a disappointment, and that’s not up for debate.
Since signing for Manchester United, his performances have been inconsistent and for the most part poor. While he has contributed to some important goals for United, Sanchez still makes the Red Devils play like they have 10 men on the pitch. United’s recent injury crisis could have been Sanchez’s chance to prove himself, but yet again he has fallen short.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been rumored to want to offload the Chilean in the summer, as he’s racking up quite the wage bill in Manchester.
We’ve just hit March and while MLS has just started stateside, European football leagues will begin to wind down by early May. Naturally the European game will soon be dealing with promotion and relegation to and from the top leagues.
Most of these leagues have roughly 10 games to go and every game can be do or die for clubs making the leap up and clubs who are fighting to survive. Here are the teams most likely to be relegated from the highest tier and promoted from the second tiers of Europe.
When Claude Puel was fired by Leicester City over the weekend, there were no more French head coaches at a top-flight Big 5 league outside of France. It got us thinking, which country produces the best coaches by nationality?
Is it Italy, with its highly tactical league? Or England, the inventors of the sport? How about Germany, with the largest population in Europe? Spain’s gotta be up there with the deepest league in Europe, right? Or maybe France, which just won the World Cup?
While the saga surrounding Mauro Icardi continues to develop, Inter Milan’s top four aspirations took a wobble Sunday after throwing away a 3-1 lead over Fiorentina with just 16 minutes remaining.