“Paulie Gualtieri wanted to know why Tony Soprano was a quiet and sullen presence at dinner. The goomahs in attendance were having to listen about the good old days, a time when many of them weren’t even born; a beach house booked on the Jersey shore, the summer of ’78, the hippie kid who mysteriously drowned during a party. … On the morning of the World Cup draw on Friday, a photo from the restaurant of the FIFA hotel went viral. It showed the coach of Uzbekistan and Italy’s last World Cup-winning captain, Fabio Cannavaro, sat round a table with Christian Vieri. Behind them were Francesco Totti, the original Ronaldo, Marco Materazzi, Roberto Baggio and Vincent Candela. ‘Once upon a time in Serie A’ should have been the caption. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
NY Times/The Athletic: James Horncastle’s Serie A Briefing: Italian fans are getting high on Serie A supply
James Horncastle’s Serie A briefing: Italy’s ‘Operation Nostalgia’, Spalletti’s return and Vardymania
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“It was almost four in the morning in Milan. But the lights were still on in city hall. The councillors were not preparing to watch Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals of the China Open. Nor were they bringing the gavel down on another fantasy football auction, which is usually what keeps Italians up at that hour, albeit earlier in September. Something sport-related but far more consequential was going down at Palazzo Marino. A vote was being held, the outcome of which promised not only to change the face of Milan but the prospects of the city’s football clubs and the Italian game as a whole. …”
“Less than four months after Paris Saint-Germain lifted their inaugural Champions League title by thrashing Inter, the 2025-26 edition is upon us. The 36-team league phase of Europe’s premier club competition kicks off on Tuesday, with Arsenal facing Bilbao’s Athletic Club in one of the two early kick-offs. There are plenty of other highlights this week too, with Bayern Munich facing Chelsea in a 
“An early memory of visiting Milan involves walking through arrivals at Malpensa and being confronted by Andriy Shevchenko. Our meeting, then at least, was in portrait rather than in person. Shevchenko was the face, the masculine muse, of a monochrome Armani campaign. The poster showed him standing against a wall, pinstripe suit loosely buttoned at the lapel, his silhouette cast on marble tile. …”
“… Champagne Papi has been in Lombardy on his ‘$ome $pecial $hows 4 UK EU’ tour. He, in turn, missed Venezia, the team the Canadian hitmaker invested in, playing in Serie B. An away day in Castellammare di Stabia, hometown of Fabio Quagliarella down by the bay of Naples, either didn’t appeal or clashed with his schedule. Drake, as it happened, didn’t miss much. Venezia’s goalkeeper Filip Stankovic, son of Dejan, was the undisputed man of the match. Kitted out in 
“From the dugout at San Siro, Lautaro Martinez and Federico Dimarco were helpless. The Inter captain and his team-mate — a hometown hero and lifelong fan of the club — had already been taken off against Barcelona. A 2-0 first-half lead had been cut to 2-1, the visitors equalised soon afterwards, and then, with only three minutes remaining, Inter’s dream of reaching the Champions League final was apparently shattered, as Raphinha completed a remarkable remontada. …”
“The last time Inter visited Barcelona for a 
“Historically, Bayern Munich have always had the upper hand over Inter at San Siro. In their previous four competitive matches in Milan, the German side were victorious in each one of them. That’s why Harry Kane’s opener in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie gave the impression that history might be repeating itself. …”
“Fifteen of the 16 clubs left in the 
“If Liverpool’s loosely-defined ‘luck’ in the Premier League is a real thing then consider the not-so-compelling narrative in the 
“The 
“When a manager turns a match around in the second half, the logical question to ask is: what did they change at half-time? That was the first question Juventus’ head coach, Thiago Motta, was posed on television last night after his side changed the tide against Inter to earn a 1-0 Serie A home win. … Then in the post-match press conference, Motta was asked again about his half-time message, and explained that he’d talked about ‘the usual things’ alongside ‘small details’. …”
“The 
“David de Gea said on day one that he wanted to ‘make history’ with 
“The script was already written. 
“This was one of those results that felt like an instant piece of sports trivia, future material for the writers of football-themed pub quizzes. “In 2023-24, Inter won their 20th league title with a dominant league campaign in which they only lost two games. Which opponents beat them?” A trick question, as both defeats were to the same team. And an unlikely answer: 
“In the summer of 1999, Simone Inzaghi left boyhood club Piacenza and joined Lazio, where he would enjoy a fruitful first season by winning the Coppa Italia as well as their first Scudetto in 26 years (and their last to date). He would spend the following decade at the Biancocelesti before hanging up his boots, quickly transitioning into coaching with Lazio’s youth sides and eventually taking the reins as Lazio manager following Stefano Pioli’s sacking. Inzaghi’s interim spell in charge would last just a couple of months, but after his replacement Marcelo Bielsa walked away after less than a week at the helm, the Italian became the club’s permanent manager. Over the next five years, Inzaghi would lead Lazio to two trips to the Coppa Italia Final, winning the 2018/19 edition and coming away with the Supercoppa Italiana on two occasions. …”
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“Chances are you’ve watched a football match or two in your life. Sophisticated and stunningly handsome subscriber to The Athletic that you are, you’re probably pretty good at it. There’s no wrong way for anyone to enjoy the sport. But when it comes to understanding what you’re looking at, it turns out that trying to follow 22 people all doing a hundred different things to influence which way a ball bounces around the pitch is really hard. Coaches and players (and, in our own dumb way, even journalists) spend whole lifetimes learning to watch games better. Maybe you want to, too. …”
“At the start of Pep Guardiola’s managerial career, he seemed intent on creating the type of team that would have suited him as a player. A slender, technical midfielder who lacked physicality but could spread play calmly, Guardiola’s playing career ended prematurely because football no longer suited his type of player; defensive midfielders at the turn of the century were supposed to be about power and ball-winning ability. …”
“Europe’s top competition is back. For those who have missed the soothing tones of the Champions League anthem, fear not. The knockout stage is upon us and we have 16 more games to feast on over the next four weeks. Using 
“We’ve rated 
Scissors Kick 