⚽️🇮🇹 Juve and Inter prepare for battle!
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're giving the league's top goal scorer his flowers, we're showcasing some incredible new kits, and much more!
🍿 Who will triumph in a high-stakes Derby d’Italia?
There’s plenty at stake when reigning champions Inter visit Juventus this Sunday for the latest edition of the Derby d’Italia (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports and SiriusXM FC). The visitors sit one point behind league leaders Napoli, while the hosts are looking to put points on the board to solidify their claim to Champions League qualification.
📈 Napoli’s draw with Udinese, their second in a row, means Inter narrowed the gap at the top going into Sunday’s match with their fabled rival.
👉 Inter comes into the weekend on the back of a two-game series with Fiorentina. After losing 3-0 in Florence last Thursday, Simone Inzaghi’s side showed impressive resilience to book a 2-1 win over La Viola at San Siro on Monday.
💪 Reports suggest Inter will be boosted by the availability of Alessandro Bastoni, Denzel Dumfries, and Federico Dimarco.
👏 Juve, meanwhile, sit in fifth place and come into the derby on a three-game winning streak.
🚀 The Bianconeri defeated Como last Friday before a midweek win over PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League - in which USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie scored a banger! (More on that shortly!)
🔥 Since his loan move from PSG in January, Kolo Muani has been on fire with Juve, with a record-breaking five goals in three games.
🙌 Kenan Yıldız earned the Goal of the Month Award for his beautiful effort in January’s Turin Derby.
🧐 Why is the game between Inter and Juve known as the Derby d’Italia? The term was coined in the 1960s by a journalist named Gianni Brera, and encapsulates their status as two of the most successful teams in northern Italy.
⚽️ Mateo Retegui leads Serie A with stunning four-goal performance
Atalanta stayed in the scudetto race with an emphatic 5-0 win at Verona on Saturday, with Mateo Retegui registering four of the goals!
😲 Italy National Team striker Retegui leads the capocannoniere (Serie A top scorer) race with 20 goals on the season. Fiorentina’s in-form forward, Moise Kean, is in second place with 15.
🗣️ “It’s an incredible number [20]. It’s extraordinary,” said Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini. “When the team dominates and doesn’t have to defend, Mateo is extraordinary. When we aren’t dominating, though, he has room for improvement.”
🇪🇺 Only Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) have scored more goals in Europe’s top five leagues this season.
😂 Retegui’s teammate Marten de Roon suggested an appropriate name change for his colleague: “In the Netherlands we have a word ‘Retegoed’ which means ‘pretty damn good’ and I think I’m gonna start a petition to change Retegui’s name to Retegoed.”
👉 Atalanta, who sit third in Serie A, five points behind leaders Napoli, have proven to be formidable opponents for Verona this season: they won their first meeting of the season by a 6-1 scoreline. Retegui also scored twice that day.
4️⃣ Want to know the Italian term for a four or five-goal haul in a game? Check out our Calcio Conversations below…
🔝 Conte and Anguissa earn award recognition as Napoli holds Serie A lead
Heading into the 25th round of the season, Napoli holds a one-point lead at the top of the table, following the aforementioned 1-1 draw with Udinese last weekend.
👏 Prior to the Udinese draw, Coach Antonio Conte was presented with the Philadelphia Coach Of The Month award for January, while midfielder André-Frank Zambo Anguissa edged his teammate Scott McTominay to pick up the Player of the Month award.
🏴 McTominay scored his sixth goal of the season to earn Napoli a point. The Scot is now the only midfielder in Serie A to have scored with a header, and both his left and right feet this season!
“The lads left the field drained tonight; they gave everything to get the victory,” said Conte over the weekend. “It was our ninth game unbeaten, so trust me from the heart when I say this is extraordinary.”
Up next for Napoli 👉 Conte’s side earned a draw at the Stadio Olimpico two weeks ago and will be heading back to the capital to face Lazio on Saturday (12pm ET, CBS Sports, and FOX Deportes). Staying ahead of the pack will be a tall order for the Neapolitans: they are winless against Lazio in their last five meetings.
🔙 Alessandro Nesta returns to Monza
Following Sunday’s 5-1 loss at Lazio, Monza coach Salvatore Bocchetti was relieved of his duties. He was replaced by Alessandro Nesta, who returns to the managerial hot seat after being dismissed in December.
🗣️ In order to announce the rehiring, Monza said it had “revoked the dismissal of Alessandro Nesta” in its official statement.
😕 Monza sits bottom of the table, having lost 10 of its last 11 matches.
👉 Nesta, who won the scudetto as a player with Lazio and Milan, was originally appointed by Monza in July. It was his first Serie A managerial role, having previously coached in lower tiers at Reggiana, Frosinone, Perugia, and Miami FC.
🙌 Weston McKennie stunner hands Juve Champions League advantage
Juventus is in good shape to join Inter in the Champions League last 16 after Weston McKennie’s wonder goal inspired a 2-1 win over PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of their Knockout Round Playoff.
🗣️ “I assumed I’d hit someone in the box,” joked McKennie after the game. “The important thing isn’t scoring a goal or providing an assist, but helping the team to get the victory.”
👋 PSV’s consolation goal, meanwhile, was scored by a familiar face with a tie to Juve’s domestic opponents this weekend: former Inter star Ivan Perišić!
👉 Elsewhere in the Champions League Knockout Round Playoff first legs, Milan now face a 1-0 deficit to Dutch side Feyenoord, while Atalanta will need to come back from a 2-1 defeat when they welcome Club Brugge to Bergamo in the second leg next week.
🐺 At 3pm ET today, Roma face Porto in the first leg of their Europa League Knockout Round Playoff (CBS Sports).
💪 Inter, Lazio, and Fiorentina have already qualified for the last 16 in the Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League, respectively.
💬 Calcio Conversations
In previous Calcio Conversations, we’ve explained how Italians use tripletta and poker to describe scoring three and four goals, respectively. But what about five?
5️⃣ What’s the term for scoring five? As you may have seen in reports of Lazio’s win over Monza this weekend, a five-goal haul is referred to as a manita, meaning a ‘handful’ of goals - one for each finger/thumb!
Has a player ever scored five in one game? It’s very rare, but yes. The only time this has happened since the mid-1980s also involved Lazio, when Germany legend Miroslav Klose astonishingly struck five times in 40 minutes against Bologna in May 2013. Nobody has repeated the feat since.
👏 Florinel Coman enjoys dream Serie A debut with Cagliari
First impressions are everything - and midfielder Florinel Coman made a perfect one at Cagliari’s Unipol Domus Stadium on Sunday when he scored a worldie of a game-winning goal against Parma - less than two minutes into his debut!
😮 The Romanian winger, who joined Cagliari on loan from Qatari side Al-Gharafa last week, made the vital contribution a little over a minute after his entry to the game as a second-half sub. Gli Isolani went on to win the match 2-1.
📈 The goal may be hugely consequential in the relegation battle: the win put Cagliari four points clear of safety. Parma, meanwhile, are a point shy of safety in the 18th spot.
Up next for Cagliari 👉 Coman and co. will face a tough test on Saturday when they head north to title-chasing Atalanta (9am ET, CBS Sports).
💫 Christian Pulisic assists Milan to victory
Milan earned a 2-0 win on the road at Empoli in their most recent outing, with USMNT star Christian Pulisic coming off the bench to provide assists for goalscorers Rafael Leão and Santiago Giménez.
👏 Despite only playing the second half, Pulisic earned the Man of the Match award, thanks in part to his goal contributions.
🔥 The American now has six goals and eight assists on the league season, with a further four goals and an assist in the Champions League.
🗣️ “We want consistency and to finish in the top four,” said Pulisic after the win. “That’s our goal.”
Up next for Milan 👉 The Rossoneri sit seven points outside the top four but could close in on Pulisic’s stated aim with a home win against Verona on Saturday (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports, FOX Deportes, and SiriusXM FC). Milan has won its last eight consecutive games against Verona.
👕 Genoa drops incredible retro kits
Genoa turned the clock back a quarter of a century to bring back three beautiful Kappa designs from the 1999/00 season…
👉 The kits, which all come in long-sleeve versions, are on sale on Genoa’s site.
🌒 Il Grifone has a habit of releasing stunning kits, as evidenced by their Dark Side drop earlier this season.
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports, Paramount+, FOX Deportes, and SiriusXM
Friday, February 14th
Bologna v Torino (2.45pm ET)
Saturday, February 15th
Atalanta v Cagliari (9am ET)
Lazio v Napoli (12pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Milan v Verona (2.45pm ET, also on FOX Deportes and SiriusXM FC)
Sunday, February 16th
Fiorentina v Como (6.30am ET)
Monza v Lecce (9am ET)
Udinese v Empoli (9am ET)
Parma v Roma (12pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Juventus v Inter (2.45pm ET, also on SiriusXM FC)
Monday, February 17th
Genoa v Venezia (2.45pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
🇨🇦 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 🇺🇸
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