⚽️🇮🇹 Chiellini retires and Osimhen inspires!
👋 Ciao a tutti!
Welcome to Calcio Weekly, your comprehensive weekly digest of Italian soccer.
This week, we’re paying tribute to the retiring Giorgio Chiellini, we’re finding out how Zlatan Ibrahimovic is returning to the San Siro, and we’re nominating the league’s most clutch player…
Plus, we’re giving away a Serie A team jersey to one lucky reader - to be in with a chance of winning, you just have to share this newsletter with five friends! Read on to learn more…
🫡 Legendary defender Giorgio Chiellini retires
With nine Scudetti and a European Championship under his belt, Giorgio Chiellini has called time on a 23-year career.
⭐️ The 39-year-old represented Juventus for 17 seasons and captained the Azzurri in their European Championship win in the summer of 2021.
🗣️ In a social media post, the iconic center back said: "You have been my everything. With you I have travelled a unique and unforgettable path. But now it is time to start new chapters, face new challenges and write further important and exciting pages of life."
🇺🇸 Chiellini played his final game last weekend, when his LAFC side were defeated by Columbus Crew in the MLS Cup final.
Tributes have poured in from across the beautiful game, including a heartfelt message from Weston McKennie, who said: “It was an honor to share the field with you and to call you my captain.”
🔙 Zlat’s entertainment: Ibra returns to Milan!
As one legend retires, another returns! The mighty Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back at AC Milan in a new capacity as an operating partner.
🔴 The Swede, who ended his storied playing career with the Rossoneri last season at the age of 41, will begin his third stint with the club as an advisor to the club's principal owners, the American private equity firm RedBird Capital. They own 99% of the club.
🗣️ Ibra told the Financial Times: "RedBird has partnered with some of the greatest athletes, teams and business figures in the world to create businesses with meaning and impact. I look forward to contributing to their investing activities across their sports, media and entertainment properties."
🏆 During multiple stints in Serie A, Zlatan won two league titles with AC Milan, three with Inter, and two (now revoked) with Juventus.
🇳🇬 Napoli’s Victor Osimhen named African Footballer of the Year
Napoli forward Victor Osimhen collected another prestigious award this week, when he was named African Footballer of the Year at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) awards ceremony.
⚽️ Osimhen is the reigning Capocannoniere (Serie A Golden Boot) after scoring 26 goals as Napoli brought home their first title in 33 years.
👏 He pipped superstars including Egypt’s Mo Salah to the award, and is the first Nigerian to receive the honor since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999.
🔥 It’s not the first time Osimhen has been honored on the CAF stage: in 2015, he was the confederation’s Young Player of the Year after impressing in the Nigerian youth setup.
✍️ Osimhen took to social media to write an emotional message about his journey.
➡️ Up next for Osimhen and Napoli: The defending Serie A champions host Cagliari on Saturday (12pm ET on Paramount+), knowing a win could bring them back into the top four, if Roma tie with Bologna.
🫨 ICYMI: Luis Muriel’s outrageous backheel winner!
Atalanta pulled off a monumental 3-2 victory over their local rivals AC Milan last week, and the winning goal was one for the ages...
Muriel’s outrageous back-heel winner | Every Angle | Atalanta-Milan | Serie A 2023/24
🔥 In the 95th minute, Colombian forward Luis Muriel was released by teammate Aleksei Miranchuk, at which point he proceeded to slot home a delightful backheeled finish.
😕 The goal delivered Atalanta its first win in five games in all competitions, and was Muriel’s first league goal of the season. Not a bad way for the 32-year-old to open his account for the season!
🇺🇸 Milan legend Gullit gives verdict on Pulisic
Christian Pulisic is enjoying an excellent debut season in Serie A, with eight goal involvements from 13 appearances. Rossoneri legend Ruud Gullit has weighed in on the American, whom he believes is well suited to Italian soccer.
🗣️ “The Premier League is a high-tempo competition”, said Gullit. “The build-up for a lot of Italian teams is a little bit slower, it’s more tactical, more on technique and things like that. It’s hard, plus the Italian defenders are not easy to beat. The style of play suits [Pulisic] better. Maybe he has found a way to play his game […] maybe he is enjoying it at the moment.”
🇳🇱 As a forward who represented both Milan and Chelsea in his esteemed career, Gullit is well placed to give opinion on the USMNT star. The Dutchman became the world’s most expensive player when he moved to Milan in 1987 (for the equivalent of $7.5m), and famously won three Scudetti and two European Cups under coach Arrigo Sacchi.
🎧 Weah and Iling-Junior discuss mental health on Juve podcast
Juventus stars Tim Weah and Samuel Iling-Junior were guests on the most recent edition of Juventus’ Stories of Strength podcast, where they discussed the role of mental health in youth sports…
Stories of Strength | The Role of Mental Health in Youth Sports with Samuel lling-Jr and Tim Weah
🎙️ Speaking with therapist Kati Morton, the American and English Juve stars discuss the ways in which they navigate the competitive environment of soccer, the challenges of growing up in the game, and the importance of expressing one’s feelings.
🗣️ “Now that I’m getting older, I just feel like it’s very important to get your feelings out and express how you feel in order to continue moving forward,” said Weah.
🤖 Inter welcomed by robots in disguise!
During their 4-0 win over Udinese, league leaders Inter Milan wore special-edition jerseys featuring the Transformers logo. As if this wasn’t cool enough, the players were welcomed onto the field with high fives from a pair of gnarly alien robots!
👕 A limited run of the Transformer jerseys have sold out in the club’s official store, but keep an eye out for an upcoming eBay auction of match-worn jerseys, with proceeds going to charity.
👏 Paramount+ and Inter will also donate some of the Transformers jerseys to children at pediatric wards across hospitals in Milan.
👀 Player to watch: Joshua Zirkzee
If there’s one player to watch in Serie A right now, it might be Bologna’s Joshua Zirkzee.
Bologna are flying high in fifth place, thanks in part to seven goals and two assists from the 22-year-old Dutch forward.
Rossoblù coach Thiago Motta believes the Bayern Munich Academy graduate has what it takes to reach the very highest level of the game. “It depends on him,” said Motta, when asked if the Dutchman could once again represent a European super club.
Good news: We’re giving away a Serie A jersey to one lucky reader!
All you have to do is refer at least five friends to Calcio Weekly, using the share button below. We’ll then pick a random winner who will be sent a jersey of their choice!
Enter to win and help the latest Serie A news land in more inboxes! ⬇️
🫨 Is Leonardo Pavoletti Serie A’s most clutch player?
Cagliari was lifted out of the relegation zone on Monday, courtesy of a spectacular 99th-minute winning goal from forward Leonardo Pavoletti.
🗣️ Pavoletti joked that he sometimes becomes Marco Van Basten at the end of games, referencing the legendary Dutchman’s penchant for acrobatic worldies.
🎸 Journalist Giuseppe Pastore has made the case for Pavoletti being one of the most clutch players in soccer: five of the six goals he has scored in the past year have come after the 94th minute!
💬 Calcio Conversations
Italian soccer fans may describe a victory that comes by a “corto muso.”
🤷♂️ What does it mean? It literally means “short muzzle” and is taken from horse racing, where it describes a close win “by a nose.”
🏇 This has come to signify narrow victories, and was coined by Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, who is somewhat synonymous with a tight, 1-0 victory.
🏆 It can also refer to winning the Scudetto by a single point. A win is a win, no matter how small the margin!
❤️ Social Post of the Week: Pavard gets pranked
Benjamin Pavard might be ready to return to action for Inter’s trip to Lazio on Sunday — but his road to recovery might not have been helped by the on-field hijinks of his compatriot Marcus Thuram!
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports and Paramount+
Friday December 15th
Genoa v Juventus (2.45pm ET)
Saturday December 16th
Lecce v Frosinone (9am ET)
Napoli v Cagliari (12pm ET)
Torino v Empoli (2.45pm ET)
Sunday December 17th
Milan v Monza (6.30am ET)
Fiorentina v Hellas Verona (9am ET)
Udinese v Sassuolo (9am ET)
Bologna v Roma (12pm ET)
Lazio v Inter (2.45pm ET)
Monday December 18th
Atalanta v Salernitana (2.45pm ET)
🇨🇦 Reading this in Canada? Watch ALL Serie A games LIVE on Fubo - and try it for free! 🇨🇦
Grazie e arrivederci!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Calcio Weekly.
Feel free to share Calcio Weekly with your friends - there’s a chance to win a Serie A jersey if you refer five friends - and send us any feedback at calcioweekly@legaseriea.it.
Ciao ciao!