⚽️🇮🇹 A scudetto shoot-out awaits in Bergamo!
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're also focusing on Udinese's great form, finding out about Bologna-supporting babies, and much more!
🍿 Atalanta and Inter set for battle
With just 10 rounds of the Serie A remaining, a thrilling moment in the lotta scudetto is coming up on Sunday in Bergamo. Two of the title contenders, Atalanta and reigning champions Inter, will lock horns in a potentially crucial match (3.45pm ET, CBS Sports).
1️⃣ Inter currently sits top of the standings with 61 points, one more than second-place Napoli and three ahead of Atalanta. So, La Dea would catch Simone Inzaghi’s side with a win.
💪 Both sides are coming off morale-boosting weeks: Inter mounted a stirring 3-2 comeback against Monza before beating Feyenoord to reach the Champions League quarter-finals this week, while Atalanta earned an astonishing 4-0 win in Turin against Juventus.
👏 That was a historic result, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s side became the first team since 1967 to beat the Bianconeri away by a four-goal margin.
🎯 Current Serie A top scorer Mateo Retegui was on target again in Turin and is now just two goals shy of Atalanta’s club record for individual goals in a single Serie A season, currently held by Filippo Inzaghi with 24 in 1996/97.
😮 Atalanta’s incredible win in Turin might have worried Inter fans, but they will be reassured by an incredible record in this fixture: Inter has not lost to Atalanta since November 11th, 2018 - a run of 14 games that included a 4-0 victory for the champions at San Siro back in August!
😍 Bologna’s youngest fans!
All together now - awwww! Bologna’s new initiative might be the cutest Italian soccer has seen for a long time after the Rossoblu posted this picture of their youngest fans having a well-earned nap.
👶 A new club initiative announced this week will see every new baby born in Bologna receive a free jersey!
📈 It’s all smiles on the pitch for Bologna at the moment, too - Vincenzo Italiano’s side are on a three-match winning run and have only lost once at home all season (a 3-2 defeat to Verona back in December).
🔥 Bologna’s blistering form of late has propelled them into sixth place in the standings, one point behind Lazio in fifth and just two behind Juventus in the fourth and final Champions League spot.
⚽ The Rossoblu have been lethal in attack this season, too: their tally of 44 goals is the most they have reached after 28 rounds of a Serie A season since 1965/66.
Up next for Bologna👉 There is a huge game in the race for European qualification when Bologna face fifth-place Lazio at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Sunday (9am ET, CBS Sports).
🇪🇺 Quarter-finals on the line in Europe
There are four Serie A teams still fighting in three different European competitions, and one of them is already safely through to the next round after Inter’s 2-1 win over Feyenoord on Tuesday.
🚀 That victory, which opened with a stunning strike from Marcus Thuram, earned the Nerazzurri a 4-1 aggregate win to send them into the last eight.
🇩🇪 Next up for Inzaghi’s men? A clash with giants Bayern Munich, who thrashed fellow Germans Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 on aggregate.
🤔 Bayern are a familiar foe for Inter, who beat the Bundesliga side in the 2010 Champions League final to seal a famous treble. More recently, they met in the group stage in 2022-23, when Bayern won both meetings 2-0.
📅 The first leg takes place in Munich on Tuesday, April 8th, before the decisive second leg comes to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza a week later on Tuesday, April 15th.
🤞 On Thursday, Roma and Lazio are bidding to reach the Europa League quarter-finals (both at 1.45pm ET, CBS Sports). Both earned dramatic last-minute 2-1 wins in their respective first-leg clashes last week against Athletic Club of Spain and Viktoria Plzen from Czechia.
💜 Fiorentina needs to mount a comeback in Florence after losing their Europa Conference League last 16 first leg against Panathinaikos in Greece 3-2, complicating La Viola’s route to a third successive final appearance in the competition.
💯 Pulisic brace fuels Milan comeback
It was an eventful week for Milan and USMNT star Christian Pulisic, who scooped the Player of the Match prize after scoring a brace in an eventful win in Lecce.
⚡ Pulisic, playing on the left wing this week instead of his usual spot on the right, scored twice in the space of eight second-half minutes as the Rossoneri mounted a comeback from two goals down to win 3-2.
⏱️ The American fired home a penalty in the 73rd minute before finding the winner in the 83rd. According to Opta, that’s the quickest he has scored two goals in his career.
🗣️ Despite the win, Pulisic wasn’t entirely happy with the performance. “It’s not like we played badly in the first half, and that’s the story of the season," he said. "We play well, we get five or six chances. They get one and score. This is tough. Then, they made it 2-0, but I always believed we would win this game - and that’s what we did."
👏 Commenting on the decision to change Pulisic’s role, Milan coach Sergio Conceicao said: "Today he started on the left. He is a player with great technical qualities and very intelligent. He can play behind the striker or on the wings, but coming inside is the best position.”
🇺🇸 Pulisic’s good week continued with a call-up to Mauricio Pochettino’s latest USMNT roster for the upcoming Concacaf Nations League semi-final against Panama on March 20 at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
🤝 The Milan star was joined by three fellow Serie A players in the 23-man selection: club-mate Yunus Musah and Juventus pair Tim Weah and Weston McKennie.
Up next for Milan 👉 Pulisic and the Rossoneri take on Como at San Siro on Saturday (12pm ET, CBS Sports and FOX Deportes), looking to revive their top-four hopes after sliding to ninth. Their first meeting this season ended in a 2-1 win for Milan in January.
🦓 In-form Udinese can’t lose
Over the last five games in Serie A, only three teams are undefeated: title-chasing Atalanta, Claudio Ranieri’s in-form Roma… and surprise package Udinese!
👌 The Zebrette (Zebras), so named after their black-and-white striped shirts, are enjoying an impressive season under coach Kosta Runjaic, who is in his debut season in Italian soccer after previous spells in Poland and his native Germany.
📈 Udinese is, in fact, unbeaten in its last six league games, winning four of those and picking up draws - away to Napoli and, most recently, Lazio. That run has moved them into the top half of the table in 10th, just four points behind Milan.
🪨 The Friulani have conceded just two goals in their last five outings, and center-back Oumar Solet has been a key part of those defensive shut-outs since arriving from Salzburg in January...
Up next for Udinese👉 Runjaic’s side hosts 15th-place Verona on Saturday (9am ET, CBS Sports). Udinese hasn’t beaten the Gialloblu in their last four meetings, including a 0-0 draw on January 4 at the Stadio Bentegodi.
💬 Calcio Conversations
With 10 games of the Serie A season remaining, fans are sure to be poring over their team’s remaining fixtures and working out when they will play a casa or in trasferta.
🏠 What does that mean? In Italian, these are the terms for home and away games. A casa literally means ‘at home’, while in trasferta is used for road games.
🔄 What about the girone di andata/ritorno? This is the term used for the two halves of the season. The girone di andata is the first half or the ‘outward round’ and the girone di ritorno is the ‘homeward round’. If it sounds familiar from your travels, andata e ritorno is also the term used for a return ticket!
🦓 Supporters’ Club of the Week: Juventus Official Fan Club Toronto
Every weekend, all across North America, calcio fans gather each weekend to cheer on their respective favorite teams. Canada’s biggest Juventus supporters club has been gathering to watch the Bianconeri for over two decades.
🤗 Founded in 2002, the Juventus Official Fan Club Toronto is an inclusive and family-oriented group with over 300 members.
🏠 It is the only fan club in North America with its own dedicated clubhouse, located just north of Toronto.
🗣️ “We host weekly watch parties and allow our members to watch regular season, Coppa Italia, and Champions League games,” says President John Groe. “We are looking forward to the Club World Cup as I am sure our clubhouse will be full with our passionate fan base.”
👏 The supporters’ club also works to lift its community with projects and initiatives to grow the game of soccer in Toronto.
👉 Visit their website for details on joining the club or checking out a game with them!
Want to feature your supporters’ club on Calcio Weekly? Get in touch!
⚡ Soule isn’t waiting around!
Ready…steady…go! Matias Soule was not hanging around when Roma faced Empoli this weekend, clearly hearing the whistle as a starting gun as he remarkably scored within 22 seconds.
⏱️ The Argentinian’s goal is the fastest on record for a Roma player in Serie A, beating the previous record set by the one and only Francesco Totti, who scored after 30 seconds.
🐺 Soule’s strike proved decisive, too: Roma ended up winning the game 1-0 to continue its sensational form and push the Giallorossi up to seventh in the standings.
🤩 Veteran boss Claudio Ranieri, who took the job in November to return for a third spell at his boyhood club, has led his side to 26 points from a possible 30 in the last 10 league games, which is the best form of any side in Europe’s top-five leagues in 2025.
🐐 Social Post of the Week: Who is Pirlo’s GOAT?
Many Italian soccer aficionados would have Andrea Pirlo high up on their list when it comes to ranking the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT). So, who does the man himself think takes the crown? Our friends at IFTV asked him the big question…
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports, Paramount+, FOX Deportes, and SiriusXM
Friday, March 14th
Genoa v Lecce (2.45pm ET)
Saturday, March 15th
Monza v Parma (10am ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Udinese v Hellas Verona (10am ET)
Milan v Como (1pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Torino v Empoli (3.45pm ET, also on SiriusXM FC)
Sunday, March 16th
Venezia v Napoli (7.30am ET)
Bologna v Lazio (10am ET)
Roma v Cagliari (11am ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Fiorentina v Juventus (1pm ET)
Atalanta v Inter (3.45pm ET)
🇨🇦 Watch ALL Serie A games live on Fubo and select games with Italian-language commentary on TLN 🇨🇦
🇺🇸 Watch select games with Spanish-language commentary on FOX Deportes and English-language commentary on SiriusXM 🇺🇸
👏 Thank you for supporting Calcio Weekly!
If you like this newsletter, you may also enjoy the great work of our friends at Total Italian Football, who bring you daily calcio content, podcasts from Serie A stadiums, Women’s Serie A coverage, and much more.
We’d also like to spotlight Destination Calcio, an essential hub for English-language Serie A news and exclusives, which is now streaming live Serie B games, too.
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