Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne insisted he is focused on playing amid growing speculation over his future as the Partenopei challenge for the Scudetto.
Insigne led the way with two successful penalties in Napoli s 3-0 win over Bologna on Thursday – a result that sent Luciano Spalletti s back to the Serie A summit ahead of Milan on goal difference.
Napoli star Insigne has converted all four of his Serie A penalties this season – no other player has scored more among the players who found the net exclusively via spot-kicks in the top five European leagues.
Insigne also became the first Napoli player in Serie A to score a brace from the penalty spot since Dries Mertens in September 2017.
28 Napoli have earned their joint-most points after the opening 10…
Cristiano Ronaldo is still an elite talent who has no plans to slow down, according to new Roma boss Jose Mourinho.
Juventus forward Ronaldo has been linked with Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain after his side failed to retain their Serie A title and struggled in the Champions League last season.
The 36-year-old himself, though, had another productive campaign, topping the Serie A goalscoring charts with 29 goals and finishing with 36 in all competitions.
Mourinho managed Ronaldo at Real Madrid and is now set to face him with Roma, unless his former player does indeed make a move.
He should leave Italy now and leave me in peace! Mourinho joked in an interview with talkSPORT.
Everybody says, and I say the same, he is not 25 any more. H…
Lee Carsley insists Harry Maguire s omission from his latest England squad is not due to form and he still has an important role to play for his country.
Manchester United centre-back Maguire missed Euro 2024 for beaten finalists England due to injury but was involved for interim boss Carlsey s first squad since Gareth Southgate departed for the Nations League victories over the Republic of Ireland and Finland last month.
However, there was no place for the 31-year-old ahead of this month s Nations League double-header against Greece and the return clash with the Finnish.
Maguire was the fifth-most utilised player for England under Southgate, with only Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, Jordan Pickford and John Stones appearing more, and Carsley explained that the decision…
Every league seems to have those teams that just produce talent on an apparently non-stop basis, before those players inevitably get picked off by the bigger boys.
In Germany, you can t move for former Schalke or Stuttgart players. There s Lyon and Monaco in France, Athletic Bilbao and Valencia in Spain, Southampton and Aston Villa in England.
In Italy, that team is probably Fiorentina, who are in the same position once again after La Viola sold star striker Dusan Vlahovic to Juventus in a €70million deal.
Stats Perform takes a look at some of the biggest names in Italian football who made a name for themselves with the team from Tuscany, and what they went on to achieve in the game.
Roberto Baggio
Having begun his career at Vicenza, The Divine …
Fernandinho is still to make a decision on whether he ll be staying at Manchester City beyond the end of this season.
Speaking to BT Sport, the veteran midfielder said only God knew what the future holds for him. Fabrizio Romano adds that the Premier League champions want him to stay put but the final decision rests with the player, while manager Pep Guardiola claims the best decision will be reached between the club and the player in due time.
Fernandinho joined City from Shakhtar Donetsk back in 2013 for a reported fee of €40million and has been a vital ingredient in the successes they ve achieved since, consisting of five Premier League titles, six League Cups and one FA Cup. In all competitions, the 36-year-old Brazil international has worn the sky-blue shirt on 3…
Football in May really can be all or nothing. Some teams have nothing left to play for beyond pride, while others have everything on the line in the closing weeks of the season.
It is safe to say that Liverpool s clash with Tottenham at Anfield on Saturday is in the latter category.
Liverpool remain in the hunt for an astonishing quadruple having already won the EFL Cup and booked their place in both the FA Cup and Champions League finals, while sitting just a point behind Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
Tottenham, meanwhile, are still in with a chance of securing Champions League football for next season with a top-four finish. They are currently in fifth place, two points behind north London rivals Arsenal.
Such is the precarious pos…
Gareth Southgate has revealed in-form Arsenal defender Ben White does not want to be selected by England at the moment.
The 26-year-old has starred for the Premier League leaders this season but has not featured for the national team since the 2022 World Cup.
White returned early from Qatar for what the Football Association called “personal reasons” and reports later emerged of an alleged bust-up with England assistant Steve Holland.
Southgate denied any such bust-up on Thursday, when he had hoped to include the defender in his squad for March’s Euro 2024 warm-up friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.
The manager revealed White would otherwise have been in his 25-man squad, explaining: “Clearly on form I can’t sit here and say he doesn’t deser…
Cardiff have expressed their determination to “seek justice” and pursue their negligence claim against Nantes as the fifth anniversary of Emiliano Sala’s death approaches.
Sala died on January 21, 2019 when the light aircraft he was travelling in from France crashed into the English Channel, two days after Cardiff had announced the signing of the 28-year-old Argentinian forward from Nantes.
Cardiff were ordered by football’s global governing body FIFA to pay the £15million transfer fee after maintaining Nantes must be held accountable for the accident which led to Sala’s death, saying the flight was organised by the French club’s agent.
The Sky Bet Championship club have lodged a negligence claim in the French courts against Nantes.
“As we …
Stefano Pioli believes his longevity in the AC Milan top job speaks for itself amid ceaseless speculation the boss could soon be replaced at San Siro.
Milan, who won the Serie A title under Pioli in 2022, have won six of their last eight games in an unbeaten spell but nevertheless sit eight points behind league leaders and city rivals Inter Milan ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Napoli.
Pioli took charge of the Rossoneri in October 2019 and is poised to draw level with Milan great Arrigo Sacchi – a 1988 Scudetto winner and twice a European champion with the club – on 220 matches coached this weekend.
However, reports in Italy continue to suggest the likes of Julen Lopetegui and Antonio Conte are being lined up to replace him, a situation which the 58-year-ol…
Robert Lewandowski claims no one remembers Bayern Munich s 8-2 victory against his new side Barcelona in the 2020 Champions League quarter-final.
The Poland international played in that game for the German giants, and even scored Bayern s sixth goal before Philippe Coutinho, on loan from Barcelona at the time, added two more late on to rub salt in the wounds.
After embarrassing Barcelona, Bayern went on to become European champions for a sixth time, with a Kingsley Coman winner enough to overcome French side Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the final.
The 8-2 thrashing meant Bayern became the first team ever to score five or more goals against Barcelona in a European Cup or Champions League match.
Heading into Dallas like
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarce…