🇮🇹 Seria A News, Match Previews and Discussions- 2020/21 Season Open Thread

[Goodness]

This thread is for news and discussions about Seria A

The 2020–21 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) is the 119th season of top-tier Italian football, the 89th in a round-robin tournament and the 11th since its organization under an own league committee, the Lega Serie A. Juventus are the nine-time defending champions.

Feel free to comment, share and discuss the below in this thread:

• 2020/21 season Serie A Match Previews, Match Results and Reviews
• News of your favorite Clubs and Players in Serie A

[Hemant]

Napoli have won Serie A twice and a European trophy once in their history.

All three trophies were won whilst Diego Maradona was at the club.

Forever loved and cherished in Naples

[Goodness]

The spoils are shared. Juventus had to settle for a point against Benevanto

[Goodness]

Milan beat Fiorentina 2-0 to go five points clear at the top of Serie A

[Goodness]

Tottenham remain interested in Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar despite talks between the two clubs breaking down in the summer. (Football Insider)

[Goodness]

Ac Milan have equaled their record streak of consecutive Serie A scoring games (29): the previous was between 1972 and 1973. Implacable.

[Goodness]

Ciro Immobile has scored 108 goals for Lazio in Serie A: he has now passed Giuseppe Signori, and he is second behind Silvio Piola (143) among the Lazio’s topscorers. Olympus.

[Goodness]

Inter Could Be Forced To Do Without Nicolo Barella & Lautaro Martinez Vs Bologna, Italian Media Report

Barella is currently suffering from muscle fatigue in one of his calves whilst Lautaro suffered a blow to his foot in Tuesday night’s UEFA Champions League group stage win away to Borussia Monchengladbach.

The report from the Milan based news outlet goes on to add that there is a chance that Stefano Sensi could find a place in the Inter midfield having now fully recovered from his recent injury trouble.

[Kayode]

Genarro Gattuso has agreed a new contract with SeriaA side Napoli…
Great job indeed for a great coach

[Goodness]

Seria A Match Day 10 fixtures:

Saturday, December 5th

• Spezia vs Lazio- 3pm (BST) 7:30pm (IST)
• Juventus vs Torino- 6pm (BST) 10:30pm (IST)
• Inter Milan vs Bologna- 8:45pm (BST) 1:15am (IST)

Sunday, 6th December

• Hellas Verona vs Cagliari- 12:30pm (BST) 5:30pm (IST)
• Roma vs Sassuolo- 3pm (BST) 7:30pm (IST)
• Udinese vs Atalanta- 3pm (BST) 7:30pm (IST)
• Parma vs Benevanto-3pm (BST) 7:30pm (IST)
• Crotone vs Napoli- 6pm (BST) 10:30pm (IST)
• Sampdoria vs Milan- 8:45 pm (BST) 11:15am (IST)

What are your predictions?

[Goodness]

Preview: Juventus vs Torino- 6pm (BST) 10:30pm (IST)

Champions Juventus await the challenge of perhaps their favourite opposition as they clash with neighbours Torino in Saturday’s Derby.

Dominant Juventus have only lost one of their last 28 Serie A matches against their city rivals, winning 21, with that last defeat coming as far back as April 2015. In fact, the last time the Old Lady lost a top-flight game at home to the Granata was remarkably 25 years ago.

Juventus have drawn five games out of nine in the current campaign, with the last time they drew at least six of their first 10 Serie A matches being as long ago as the 1965-66 season.

With a paltry six points in nine games, Torino have equalled their worst Serie A start in the history of the three-points-per-win era. In something of a doom-laden portent, that year they also lost the next game - 4-0 to Juventus.

All hopes for this derby will again be invested in Andrea Belotti, who with 99 Granata goals to his name is within a hair’s breadth of his 100th strike for the club in all competitions.

Juventus Serie A form: DDWDWD
Juventus form (all competitions): WDWWDW

Torino Serie A form: DLWDLD
Torino form (all competitions): LWDLWD

[Goodness]

Preview: Inter Milan vs Bologna- 8:45pm (BST) 1:15am (IST)

Both Inter Milan and Saturday’s Serie A opponents Bologna meet at San Siro having registered back-to-back league wins since last month’s international break.

Antonio Conte’s side comprehensively swept aside Sassuolo - who had been above them in the table until that point - while mid-table Bologna took care of winless bottom team Crotone.

In midweek, Inter escaped from another potential Champions League catastrophe by turning to Romelu Lukaku once more to save them. The goal-hungry Belgian striker put his side two goals ahead in Monchengladbach on Tuesday, but the Nerazzurri almost contrived to blow that lead and slip out of last-16 contention.

Nonetheless, that result keeps Conte’s men in with a shout in Europe and looking upwardly mobile at home, as they have ascended to second place in Serie A despite their still apparent shortcomings.

Since Sinisa Mihajlovic’s return to the Bologna bench, the Rossoblu have won two of the three Serie A meetings against Inter, as many as in the previous 25 games against the Nerazzurri - under a total of 13 different coaches.

Now, following their 2-1 success over Inter last July, Mihajlovic’s men could win two consecutive league games against the Milan giants for the first time since the turn of the century. Not only that, but since the beginning of 2012, Inter have suffered four San Siro defeats against Bologna - only against Juventus have they lost as many times at home in that period.

Inter Milan Serie A form: LWDDWW
Inter Milan form (all competitions): LDWLWW

Bologna Serie A form: LLWLWW
Bologna form (all competitions): WWLWLW

[Goodness]

Napoli’s stadium has officially been officially renamed the Diego Armando Maradona stadium.

[Goodness]

OGC Nice’s last five matches in all competitions:

2-3 Bayer Leverkusen
1-3 Dijon
1-3 Slavia Prague
1-2 Monaco
2-3 Slavia Prague

Only on two occasions in the last 20 years have they lost more games in a row

Does this justifies Patrick Vieira dismissal?

[Goodness]

AC Milan are eager to extend the contract of midfielder Franck Kessie as he continues to move from strength to strength, a report claims.

The Ivorian has become a true leader for Milan over the last few months, forming a fearsome double pivot in midfield alongside Ismael Bennacer and reaching a level of consistency with his performances that has not been seen yet in his career.

According to today’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Milan are taking steps to secure the renewal of Kessie, whose current contract is set to expire in June 2022.

The idea is to find an agreement within the next few months, to avoid a situation similar to the one the management are currently facing with Hakan Calhanoglu.

Kessie currently earns a salary of €2.2m net per season, with Paolo Maldini and co. well aware that they will have to give the 23-year-old a pay rise. Agent George Atangana will work to get the maximum possible for his client, who is eager to stay.

[Goodness]

Monza: medicals for Mario Balotelli

Today starts the adventure of Mario Balotelli with Monza . Former Inter, Milan, Liverpool and Manchester City striker has started the medicals at 11 am at La Madonnina’s center. After that, he will be ready to sign his new contract with Adriano Galliani and Silvio Berlusconi’s club until the end of the season.

[Goodness]

Inter Have Found Another Maicon In Achraf Hakimi, Italian Media Claim

Inter have found another Maicon in Achraf Hakimi according to a report in today’s print edition of Italian daily newspaper Corriere dello Sport.

After finding himself out of the starting line-up due to poor form, the Moroccan national team player returned to the starting line-up with a bang at the weekend as he scored twice in Inter’s 3-1 home win versus Bologna.

During the match with Bologna, Hakimi also showcased the speed that he showed at both Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund as he hit a top speed of 34 km/h at one point.

The report from the Rome based news outlet goes on to explain that Hakimi still has ample room for improvement but he is in the right team and working under the right manager in Antonio Conte which will allow him to become the best in the world in his position.

Since joining Inter, Hakimi has scored three goals and tallied four assists in 14 appearances across all competitions to date.

[Goodness]

FT | Sassuolo 1-0 Benevento (Berardi pen 7’):

De Zerbi’s men hold out for a win despite Haraslin’s red card early in the second half, and go back up to second in the table ahead of this weekend’s matches. Consigli crucial as the visitors squander a host of chances to equalise.

[Goodness]

Cristiano Ronaldo since joining Juventus:

Games played
Goals scored
Assists.

He’s playing his 100th game for the club today.

[Goodness]

Juventus president Andrea Agnelli says Paulo Dybala has a contract extension offer on the table “to put him among the 20 best-paid players in Europe”.