After 19 trophy-packed years, Alessandro Del Piero is set to leave Juventus, despite fans around the globe asking for the club to keep him.
Yet, Juve’s magical number 10 will not get that luxury, he is going to have to end his career elsewhere, as he was not offered a new contract.
Many feel that he should have followed ex-colleague Pavel Nedved’s career path and be given a position on the board.
The moment the legend ended his affiliation with the club was an emotional one, with Juventus having already won the league, he was replaced by Simone Pepe in the 57th minute.
As ADP left the field, every Juve player shook his hand, after finally getting to the bench, he was called to his feet again by the 40,000 fans who wanted to thank the man who they regard as a God.
He started at Padova, having come through the youth team, before being signed by Juventus in 1993. He scored 289 goals in 704 games, on the 6th April 2008, he became the club’s all-time highest capped player.
He has won the World Cup, Uefa Champions League, six Serie A titles and the Coppa Italia once.
It has not been all high points though, two Scudetto titles were taken from the club after the Calciopoli in 2006.
The following season also saw the club playing in Serie B after being demoted, whilst Fabio Capello left for Real Madrid and players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fabio Cannavaro and Lilian Thuram all left, yet ADP stayed at the club he loved.
His 20 goals in 35 games helped Juve to an immediate return to top flight football, but in the following four seasons failed to challenge for the Scudetto, but they changed this season when they went through the whole season undefeated and got the hands back on the title.
It is such a shame that the legendary number 10 is not given the chance to end his career at the club, a true star and a real gentleman.
On a positive we will have see tonight if he plays tonight in the Coppa Italia final in Rome against Napoli.
An incredible night, one that will live on in my memory forever.
Seven years ago on the 6th January 2005 Lazio beat Roma 3-1 in the ‘Derby della Capitale’ – the victory was made even more special because it was Biancocelesti’s first win against their bitter rivals in ten matches.
During that poor run, there were many dark days including a two-legged Coppa Italia defeat and a humiliating 5-1 home defeat when Vincenzo Montella scored four.
But less about that …
And back to the wonderful day – With both teams were struggling in the league and in need of a lift. Before the game all the talk was about Francesco Totti and Paolo di Canio – with neither player liking each other and lots of comments appeared in the papers in the build-up to match.
It turned out to be Di Canio’s day, he had kept his teammates up the night before by showing them ‘Gladiator’ and Any Given Sunday’ in an effort to ensure everyone was 100% motivated.
Lazio attacked the Curva Sud (the Roma end) in the first half, and in the 29th minute Fabio Liverani played a wonderful floated pass up field to Di Canio, who volleyed home from outside the box – He ran straight to the Romanistas to taunt them!
Whilst I am biased, Lazio dominated the first half and really should have been two or three up, but instead had to settle for a 1-0 lead at half-time.
In the 69th minute, Antonio Cassano equalized, my heart dropped and all I could think was “Here we go again!” I had seen Lazio throw away their lead all too often and with that awful run of form at the back of the players’minds. I was worried they would fall apart.
Fortunately this was not the case, just five minutes later Cesar recieved the ball on the edge of the box – to his surprise he had enough space to strike the ball past the stranded Roma keeper.
After that the Biancocelesti player’s confidence grew, and there was no way they were going to throw away the lead again.
In the 85th minute, Tomasso Rocchi killed the game off – he managed to get ahead of the Roma defence and cheekily knock the ball past the on-coming keeper.
Di Canio was then substitued, he got a standing ovation from the Lazio faithful – as he walked off he soaked up the moment and once again taunted the oppsing team and their fans, by raising hand in the air with three fingers raised.
At the final whistle, Di Canio made he his was across Curva Nord to celebrate with the Lazio fans, it was even more special for him as he spent his youth standing on terraces.
This was when he made his infamous salute, he still states it was a ‘Roman’ salute rather than a ‘Fascist’ one. He recieved a €10,000 fine, which one of the Far Right parites offered to pay, an offer that Paolo declined.
I don’t know how long it took to get away from the stadium, I was buzzing, it was such a great feeling to see the team win.
Having got off the bus at Piazza Risorgamento, I started to make my way home, but as I waited to cross the road the Roma team coach stopped at the traffic lights. There was just enough time for myself and some other Laziale to waves our flags and scarves as the coach went past.
Former Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti has been confirmed as the new coach of French side Paris Saint-Germain.
The Italian, 52, had held talks earlier this week and there had been lots of rumours about his expected appointment, but it was finally confirmed on Friday at a news conference at the Parc des Princes stadium.
After being sacked in May by Roman, Carlo had initially stated he wanted to take a year off but the lure of PSG and their spending power was too much.
There was a delay because their old boss, 48-year-old, Antoine Kombouare was only sacked on Friday despite being top of the league.
Since the Qatari owners took control there had been lots of talk concerning how long it would be until there was a change of coach, and failure to get out of the group stages of the Europa League gave them the chance to make that change.
It will be interesting to see if Carlo can bring in David Beckham, who he managed at Milan – But the England legend could still stay in America with LA Galaxy.
Carlo managed to win a league and cup double with Chelsea in his first season but was sacked at the end of the 2010/11 campaign, after seeing the Blues finish second in the Premier League having thrown away a huge lead that they had built up.
The French club have already spent £71.3m on players since the change of ownership, this included paying £35.2m for 22-year-old midfielder Javier Pastore from Palermo.
As a player the Italian won everything in club football, this included TWO European Cups and THREE Serie A titles.
During his time as Milan’s coach he led the team to TWO Champions League titles, TWO Fifa World Club Cups and a Serie A title.
It will be interesting to see how he gets on at PSG, one thing is guaranteed, he will be given funds to spend BUT the big question is: ‘Can he make them into one of Europe’s elite???’
It wasn’t until I moved to Southampton that I realized just how big a club the Saints actually is, whilst they spent a lot of time playing top flight football and have had big names likes Kevin Keegan, Alan Shearer and Matt le Tissier play for them, I still didn’t regard them as a big club.
It would be easy to say that they only seem big now they are looking to get back into the Premier League, but when I moved here 18 months ago, they were in League One and had got off to a stuttering start and were even below neighbours Bournemouth.
Despite dropping to the third level of English football and their finanical problems I was amazed to see how many people wore the club’s colours and not just on matchday – throughout the week you can see lots of people walking around the city in red and white.
Not only that, but you don’t even see that many Manchester United, Liverpool or Cheslea shirts which is refreshing.
On the move …
In recent years they have become a breeding ground for talented youngsters, which has stunted the club’s progession due to financial restraints as they got into the habit of seeing their best players get sold.
Many will forget that Gareth Bale, one of the Premier League’s most highly rated stars learned his trade on the South Coast, and thatTheo Walcott was bought as a 16-year-old by Arsene Wenger for the cup price.
Wenger once again went shopping in Hampshire in the summer when he bought Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but with the club in a better shape he Frenchman had to pay full price for the talented winger.
South Coast Derby
On Sunday the 18th December, Saints travelled to Portsmouth for the first league meeting since 24th April 2005. The two clubs met a few years ago in the FA Cup when Pompey had a comfortable 4-1 win at St Mary’s – to make matters worse for Saints their bitter rivals went on to reach the final.
Pompey are now having financial woes of their own, since all their big money signings, Milan Mandaric leaving the club and their FA Cup win, they now look like a club on their way down.
Like any ‘derby’, both sets of fans hate it eachother, after fears of a throwback to the days of football hooliganism the “south coast bubble” kicked in – every fan had to travel on an official coach as the tickets were only distributed on the way to the game.
One Southampton supporter commented before the game, that the travelling fans were planning to avoid buying any drinks or food in the stadium as they didn’t want to give their enemy any funds.
The atmoshpere at the game was intense, and that was without any alcohol thanks to the 13.00 kick off. Saints took the lead midway through the second-half thanks to talisman Richie Lambert’s header – his 17th goal of the season.
With the clock ticking down lifelong Pompey fan Joel Ward managed to get above the Saints defence and connect with George Thorne’s knock-back in the 84th minute to make it 1-1.
Southampton fans will be disappointed not to have won, especially as they had 58% of possession and nine attempts on goal compared to the home team’s four.
Fortunately there was no reported problems, it will be interesting to see if the same happens when the the two teams meet in the return leg on April 7th.
Last night left me with mixed emotions, I was pleased we came back from 1-0 down and relieved that we didn’t lose but as the same time I am frustrated that we failed to get the three points.
In reality it was a decent week, three points against Lecce, the impressive win against Sporting Lisbon meaning progression in the Europa League and yesterday’s point against Udinese.
It was crucial not to lose last night, a defeat would’ve meant a five point gap between ourselves and the Northern Italians, instead it’s two points and we have a six point cushion from fifth placed Inter.
Udinese face a tricky tie at home to Juve, so If we can beat Chievo on Wednesday, then we could see find ourselves in the top three going into the New Year.
It has been positive to see goals coming from all over the pitch, Miroslav Klose’s been an excellent signing, having scored eight league goals and is fourth in the ‘Serie A’ goal scoring charts . Skipper Tommaso Rocchi, Senad Lulic and Hernanes have all scored three, Giuseppe Sculli has grabbed two and Djibril Cisse has only got one.
Whilst Cisse’s goal return has been disappointing, he has made up for it with his FIVE assists and the GOAL KING Klose has even had three himself.
In the New Year, Lazio have a decent start with an away trip to Siena, followed by welcoming our old friends Hellas Verona in the Coppa Italia before 2012′s first home game which is against Atalanta.
The first big test will come on the 22nd January, when the boys head to Milan to take on Inter – Claudio Ranieri’s side have started to find form and are now up to fifth after their shocking start to the season.
With the season almost halfway through the season, it’s been a positive one – we’re in a good position to go for the Scudetto, at worst there is no reason we can’t get a Champions League place which would be an incredible achievement. As for the Europa League, the tie against Atletico is tricky but there is no reason we can’t get past them, especially with Klose’s goals.
At approximately 22.33 Roman time, on Sunday 16 October 2011, Lazio became the “Kings of Rome” when Miroslav Klose scored a late winner in the “Derby della Capitale”.
It was two and a half years and five straight defeats since the Biancocelesti last won the battle between the two teams. On the 11 April 2009, the game finished 4-2 with the goals coming from Goran Pandev (2), Mauro Zarate (4), Stefan Lichsteiner (58) and Aleksandar Kolarov (86) killing the game off.
It will not take a genius to see that none of these players are still at the club, the only exception of Zarate who is on loan at Inter and still officially a Lazio player but expected to leave for good at the end of the season. Despite seeing this list of leave the squad, the current crop of individuals showed some incredible passion and belief during last night’s victory.
Having confirmed he would miss the tie, Roma captain Francseco Totti mocked during the week:
“Who will be the key man for the derby?
“[Lazio’s manager Edy] Reja, he’s our good luck charm.”
It was easy to see why he made the statement, Reja had lost all four of his previous derby matches and seen the teams he had coached be defeated by Roma in 11 out of 13 meetings with the other two games ending in draws.
He is a man who has been under pressure this season and even offered his resignation earlier this season after a poor start. He is not appreciated or liked by those in the Curva Nord, and many have requested he walks, but after this win he is likely to be more popular, plus he can now raise a glass to Totti and say, ‘I now have my victory’.
The game started very badly for Lazio when Pablo Osvaldo neatly slipped the ball past Federico Marchetti, as he ran off to celebrate, watching Lazio fans could have been forgiven for thinking, ‘here we go again’.
The first half saw some good chances for both sides, but the Lazio forward line of Klose and Djibril Cisse failed to make the most of their chances, with the number of opportunities it was surprising that first 45 minutes ended with just the one goal.
In the second half, the Lazio team came out ready for a battle, we do not know what Reja said to his team but it got them going. Stefan Radu was replaced by Senad Lulic, the Romanian had been injured towards the end of the first half after a nasty follow through by Aleandro Rosi.
Against Palermo and Sporting Lisbon, Lulic had failed to impress, and often struggled to deliver quality crosses but the minute he stepped on the pitch he looked like a man possessed – It is fair to say it was by far his best display in Lazio colours.
Two men who stood out were Cristian Brocchi who rolled back the years and looked more like a 25-year-old than his actual age of 35. The ex-Milanista midfield player ran all over the pitch, and was the player brought down for the penalty. As he made his darting run into the box, Simon Kjær tugged at his shirt and Brocchi went down, all-be-it with a slight delay.
Referee Paolo Tagliavento ran across the box, pulled out his red card and sent the Dane off. It was a refreshing change for a Roma player to see red in a derby, especially when Tagliavento officiates – he had sent off three Lazio players in his last two derbies.
It was then down to Hernanes, the man named “Il Profeta” by the fans. He looked calm as he waited to take the spot-kick, and when the time was right he sent the Roma keeper the wrong way and sent the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.
After the goal, it looked like there was only going to be one winner. Lazio pushed and pushed, they restricted the opposition to limited chances after the equalizer.
Hernanes was incredible, he kept attacking down the left and caused problems every time he cut inside. Klose came close to making it 2-1 midway through the second half when he headed a corner onto the bar. Then, with five minutes to go Cisse connected with a through ball, but had to watch his sweet volley bounce off the post.
Lazio continued to attack, but as the fans thought they would have to accept a draw, Matuzalém chipped a ball through to Klose, who neatly finished past Maarten Stekelenburg. It was the German’s sixth goal and eight games and will give his coach, and fans hope that the team can improve on last season when they finished in fifth.
In England, football fans often grumble about the owners of their club and the way it’s being run, many of us have witnessed or been involved in sit-in protests, but that is nothing compared to how Lazio’s Ultras feel about club President Claudio Lotito.
Ultras Laziali of the Curva Nord released the following statement:
“Lotito has been, is and always will be the enemy of the ultras, being the only President to have his own fans arrested simply for protesting against him!
“We will always hate him even if only for that, quite apart from his work or the results of the team. We do not want this to be used as an alibi for the performances on the field.
“We have decided to support the team despite our ill feeling towards the President. We will always be close to Lazio regardless of the situation. We’re not changing our minds, nor will we be softened by a good transfer campaign, but won’t give the players an alibi to hide behind.
Before finishing with: “To those who accuse us of not representing the real Lazio supporters, don’t forget we have been here for decades and our sacrifices have made the history of this club.”
The Italian entrepreneur took ownership of the Roman club back in 2004, and despite saving the society from bankruptcy he has never really been accepted, during his ownership the fans have constantly protested against Lotito and asked for ownership.
When he took over, he made a very shrewd move by bringing Paolo di Canio back to the club, a player the fans had wanted to see return for years. Unfortunately, the two men ended up falling out, many Laziali put this down to Paolo’s popularity and the fact the fans treated him like a God whereas Lotito, the man who had saved the club received no gratitude – the row ended up with di Canio leaving the club.
Lazio enjoyed success in 2009, when they won the Coppa Italia after beating Sampdoria on penalties. Despite the team managing to finish fifth last season and being very progressive in the transfer market during the summer, where they have brought in big names such as Djibril Cisse and Miroslav Klose, it does not look like the Ultras are going to change their stance on how they feel about the club‘s President.
