Inter dealt a blow to Juventus’ Serie A title defence and moved level on points with leaders Milan by securing a 2-0 victory at San Siro on Sunday.
Former Juve midfielder Arturo Vidal opened his Inter account with a 12th-minute header and Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku wasted chances to increase the Nerazzurri’s lead.
The Bianconeri were unable to make the most of those reprieves as an emphatic finish at the end of a route-one move saw Nicolo Barella double Inter’s advantage.
The 2020-2021 Serie A fixtures list has been released and Andrea Pirlo’s first league match in charge of Juventus will be at home to Sampdoria as he looks to guide the club to a record 10th successive Serie A title.
Juventus start at home to Sampdoria before a daunting trip to the Stadio Olimpico to take on Roma. For Inter Milan, who look set to be Juventus’ toughest challenger for the title, they begin their bid away to newly-promoted Benevento.
The release sparked lots of interest in when Pirlo and Conte will go head to head but fans will have to remain patient with the first meeting not until January 2021.
Lionel Messi “already has a new team” and will join Inter instead of Manchester City, according to the agent who instigated his move to Barcelona as a youngster.
The 33-year-old is reported to have had a clause in his contract that would allow him to unilaterally terminate their agreement following the 2019-20 season in order to join another club.
We knew things were bad at the Camp Nou between the Barcelona players and the board. We knew that Lionel Messi was upset but still we were shocked when the news came out that Messi had activated a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave on a free transfer this summer.
Although his contract is set to expire at the end of the 2020-21 season, Messi and his legal team believe the clause will allow him to terminate his deal unilaterally.
That is not a typo. Some members of the Barcelona board are actually in favor of selling the clubs best ever players, and one of the top five players ever to have played this game.
New Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has publicly said he wants to build the team around Messi, but ESPN is reporting that some directors say that they would be prepared to listen to offers that would allow Koeman to rebuild the team at the same time as reducing the wage bill.
Does Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu really want to be remembered as the president who sold Lionel Messi?
Serie A has announced that the 2020-2021 season will begin on September 12, decision that has upset Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis.
With five Serie A teams still involved in Champions League and the Europa League, there is a possibility that at least one Italian team will play its last game of the 2019-2020 season on August 23.
De Laurentiis feels that having a potential pre-season of only three weeks is not long enough and he feels that the 2020-21 season should start on October 4 instead.
Barcelona have no intention of activating the €111 million (£100m) release clause in Lautaro Martinez’s contract at Inter because they don’t have the money, but the Liga giants are still keen to thrash out a deal for the Argentine.
Those at San Siro have made any suitors of their South American forward aware that one window of opportunity will swing shut at the close of play on Tuesday.
For them, that is when the current release terms in Lautaro’s contract will expire.
Barcelona consider that clause to be valid for another week, through to July 15, but have no plans to take it up regardless.
Dries Mertens became Napoli’s record scorer after his goal edged out Inter Milan and sent the five-time winners into the Coppa Italia final.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Napoli’s advantage was quickly wiped out when Christian Eriksen scored direct from a corner.
Belgium forward Mertens made it 2-1 on aggregate after an assist from Lorenzo Insigne following a counter-attack. It was his 122nd goal for Napoli, one more than Slovakia’s Marek Hamsik.
Mertens, who is nicknamed ‘Ciro’ by Napoli fans to reflect his longstanding relationship with the club and city of Naples, is now seven goals clear of club legend Diego Maradona,
Paris Saint-Germain have finally completed the signing of Mauro Icardi from Inter for a reported €58m making this the biggest transfer in football since the coronavirus outbreak.
“FC Internazionale Milano announces the transfer of Mauro Icardi to Paris Saint-Germain FC: the striker, born in 1993, has permanently moved to the French club,” read a statement.
“The Club thanks the player for the six seasons he spent with us and wishes him the best for his future professional career.”
Icardi had been a huge success at Inter where he had scored 124 goals in 219 starts, but the incredibly short statement from the club reflected just how badly the relationship had deteriorated.
Hot on the heels of the Premier League decision to resume playing matches next month behind closed doors, it has announced that Serie A would also e resuming its season next month.
Italy’s top flight is to get back underway from June 20, all being well, with the Coppa Italia semifinal second legs and final to be held during the week prior.
It means four of Europe’s top-five leagues are committed to finishing the coronavirus-disrupted campaign, with only Ligue 1 having declared the season over.