When ESPN acquired the exclusive U.S. TV rights to Serie A back in August, we were excited about the prospect of easy access to a league that used to require a high-level cable subscription (or illegal stream) to watch, especially with Cristiano Ronaldo having just moved to Italy. The ESPN Serie A deal meant at least one match per week would be on ESPN networks, with the remainder on ESPN+.
The winter-break period separating the first half and the second half of the season in Europe’s top five leagues is a great time for clubs to reflect on a club's season (although winter break doesn’t exist in England). Even before Christmas, but Europe’s top clubs are preparing for their second half of the season push. Here are some New Year's resolutions for Europe’s top clubs in the big five leagues.
The Derby della Mole between Juventus and Torino was decided by a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty kick on Saturday at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino. The 70th-minute goal wasn’t a surprise for anyone who follows Serie A, both in terms of who scored it and where it came from.
But Ronaldo’s celebration afterword was a bit puzzling.
With findings from MARCA, we now know the latest effective minutes per game from Europe’s big five leagues for the 2018-19 season.
Yesterday, 19-year-old AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made his 100th consecutive Serie A appearance for the club, a streak which began during the 2015-16 season. It’s a feat that doesn’t make much sense for a teenager plying his trade at the seven-time European champions. It's mind-boggling.
During an extensive talk with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo spoke about why he deserves the Ballon d’Or every year, how he’s loving life in Turin and how he doesn’t like to be compared to other footballers . . .
The magic was never going to last in Rome. Despite securing top three finishes in Serie A in each of the last five seasons and reaching the dizzying heights of last year’s Champions League semifinals, this is still a selling club, as evidenced by the big-money departures of Miralem Pjanić, Mohamed Salah, Antonio Rüdiger, Alisson, Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan over the last three summers.
After a slow start, Cristiano Ronaldo can’t stop scoring. The latest, a Ronaldo goal vs SPAL, gave the Portuguese star his first three-match scoring streak with Juventus. And it was more proof that Ronaldo just wants to score more than anyone else.
At the age of 37, Zlatan Ibrahimović's days as a professional footballer are numbered. But after scoring 22 goals in his first 27 appearances in Major League Soccer, the big Swede has reminded the world — and most importantly, himself — of his devastating return to power following his serious knee injury in April of 2017.
When Juventus paid Napoli over $100 million for Gonzalo Higuain in 2016, the belief was that the Argentine’s goals would fire the club to a continental title. However, after two seasons in the Champions League with a return of five goals in each campaign, Higuain was offloaded to AC Milan for about half the price this past summer.
Juve then turned to five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo for the goods. Ronaldo, of course, hasn’t hit less than 10 goals in a single UCL campaign since the 2010-11 season. You can tell what Juventus is trying to achieve with the 33-year-old.