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Team Focus: Desperate and Wayward Shots Summing Up Juventus' Season

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Team Focus: Desperate and Wayward Shots Summing Up Juventus' Season La Stampa defined it a “golden opportunity.” “If we win,” insisted Max Allegri, “it will be decisive.” Overcome a resurgent Borussia Mönchengladbach in Turin and Juventus would be on maximum points and have a foot in the knock-out stages with a genuine chance...

Player Focus: Maturing Kalinic Proving to be a Fan Favourite at Fiorentina

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Player Focus: Maturing Kalinic Proving to be a Fan Favourite at Fiorentina Before leaving for Istanbul, Mario Gomez sat down and composed a letter to the Fiorentina fans. He wished to thank them for their “mega support.” Leaving Florence, wrote the striker, was “tremendously difficult” and a “very sad moment” in his career. “I will...

Player Focus: Football Immortality in Impressive Insigne's Sights

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Player Focus: Football Immortality in Impressive Insigne's Sights Even the Boston Celtics were on their feet. VIPs on Sunday night at San Siro, they had been impressed by the pick and roll and the small ball played by Napoli. Lorenzo Insigne probably reminded them of Muggsy Bogues. 15 minutes from the end, he left the field to a standing ovation, not only from the...

Team Focus: Juventus Must Translate European Form to Serie A

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Team Focus: Juventus Must Translate European Form to Serie A Before kick off at the J Stadium on Wednesday night, the Curva Nord exhibited its latest choreography. It depicted a knight rearing up on a zebra about to embark on a quest. Ahead of him lay a promised land where the Champions League trophy stands like a monument. Above was the date and place of Juv...

Player Focus: Hiljemark the Latest Prospect Picked Up by Palermo

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Player Focus: Hiljemark the Latest Prospect Picked Up by Palermo In Sweden, he is the most talked about Oscar since the last of Ingmar Bergman’s Academy awarding winning films in 1983. The name is Hiljemark. Oscar Hiljemark. On Saturday night, he once again had the critics writing glittering reviews. “A revelation” went the consensus. Gracing th...

Player Focus: Baselli Beginning to Fulfil 'Eternal Promise' at Torino

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Player Focus: Baselli Beginning to Fulfil 'Eternal Promise' at Torino “I found it hard to eat,” Daniele Baselli recalls. “I was so anxious.” On deadline day last January his stomach turned over as much as his mind. His future was in the hands of others. Everyone anticipated that Milan would come in late for him. After all, it seemed to make per...

Team Focus: Can Chievo Pen Another Fairytale Under Maran?

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Team Focus: Can Chievo Pen Another Fairytale Under Maran? “Donkeys will fly before there’s a derby in Serie A,” Hellas fans used to sing. If you’ve ever wondered how Chievo got their nickname, there’s your answer. Rolando Maran knows the chant well. A former player with the club, he joined Chievo shortly after they had been pr...

Player Focus: Jovetic Quickly Becoming Integral Player in Inter Revolution

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Player Focus: Jovetic Quickly Becoming Integral Player in Inter Revolution Stevan Jovetic was 17 when he led Partizan out as captain for a friendly in Bolzano against Inter in the summer of 2007. His team lost. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the only goal of the game. But amid all the star names Jovetic still caught the eye against the champions of Italy. Memorably he hit the p...

League Focus: Where Serie A's Big Hitters Need to Strengthen this Week

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League Focus: Where Serie A's Big Hitters Need to Strengthen this Week “The league is a marathon, not a 100m sprint,” Max Allegri reflected after Juventus’ false start on Sunday evening. As the calciomercato enters its final week, however, a mad dash is beginning. The front page of Tuesday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport gave the impression that panic...

League Focus: Serie A Team-by-Team Guide to the Season

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League Focus: Serie A Team-by-Team Guide to the Season Juventus Favourites for a fifth straight title for first time since the 30s, it’ll be a challenge to win without Pirlo, Vidal and Tevez. If Llorente follows Juventus will have lost the players behind 114 of the 210 goals they scored in the last two years. The club has bought well, spending &eu...