11 minute read
BECOMING THE BRIDE
THE UGLY
The long, drawn-out sale of talented striker Dusan Vlahovic to bitter rivals Juventus provoked a ferocious, hate-filled backlash from Fiorentina ultras. The Viola's hardcore fans hung threatening banners outside the Stadio Artemio Franchi, filled with crude, racist insults, labelling the Serbian attacker a 'mercenary' among other inflammatory remarks, in the lead-up to his January move to Juve. The club's Italian-American owner, Rocco Commisso, was also targeted for allowing the €80m deal to go through, despite publicly criticising both Juventus and Inter for alleged Financial Fair Play breaches. A banner portraying Commisso as the Joker from the Batman movie series was deliberately placed on Florence's famous Ponte Vecchio in protest. The Special Branch of the city's police launched investigations to find the culprits, as the forthright Commisso suggested he could walk away from the club amid the fallout of the Vlahovic saga. The billionaire was incensed with the criticism and warned that after spending €314m - including the cost of an expensive new training centre - on Fiorentina, he would carefully consider his future at the Tuscan club. Prolific attacker Vlahovic joined a growing list of high-profile players to make the switch from Fiorentina to Juventus. When Italy playmaker Roberto Baggio left the Viola for Juve in 1990, it led to riots on the streets of Florence. Azzurri wingers Federico Bernardeschi and Federico Chiesa also followed the same path in recent years, but the loss of leading goalscorer Vlahovic proved a tipping point for Fiorentina supporters sick of losing their best players to the Bianconeri. Meanwhile, Lazio ultras gathered outside the club's Formello training ground bemoaning a barren transfer window and high ticket prices. Coach Mauricio Sarri was unimpressed as Lazio failed to make any significant reinforcements and demanded a more direct role in future player recruitment.
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FAR LEFT: Dusan Vlahovic’s departure brought the wrath of Fiorentina fans
ABOVE: Dusan Vlahovic's last game for Fiorentina before being transfered to juventus
LEFT: Vlahovic has joined the likes of Chiesa and other high profile Juventus strikers
TOP (OPPOSITE PAGE): Olivier Giroud settled the Derby della Madonnina in emphatic style
BOTTOM (OPPOSITE PAGE): Samir Handanovic faces competition from Andre Onana
Zlatan Ibrahimovic enjoyed a day o by cruising around town in his €450,000 electric Ferrari. The AC Milan star, 40, looked ice-cool as he showed o his gold supercar to stunned onlookers. Ibrahimovic bought the Ferrari SF90 Stradale as a birthday present to himself in October. The hybrid luxury vehicle boasts a four-litre turbocharged V8 engine, and has a whopping 986hp when paired with its electric motor. Radja Nainggolan revealed that he turned down o ers from Chelsea and Juventus because he wasn’t interested in the money. The Belgium midfielder had a rather unique career, spending a number of years in Sardinia with Cagliari, where he became a cult figure. A successful spell in Rome followed, before he made a rather unsuccessful move to Inter. Last summer, he signed for Royal Antwerp, ending his association with Italy for the first time in his career.
GOING UP
Two goals in the Derby di Milano showed veteran French striker Olivier Giroud is far from finished, despite an injury-marred first season in Italy. The 35-year-old endeared himself to the Rossoneri support with a crucial double in a stirring comeback win, which kept Milan in a thrilling title race with city rivals Inter and Napoli.
GOING DOWN
Criticised for his erratic distribution and glaring errors, it has been a testing season for Inter's Slovenian goalkeeper, Samir Handanovic. The 37-year-old failed to prevent Olivier Giroud from netting the winner in the Derby della Madonnina and will face competition from Cameroon international Andre Onana at San Siro next season.
Ex-Fiorentina & Sampdoria star Flachi has returned to pitch at age 46 following 12-year ban for cocaine. The ex-Serie A forward, who played over 100 games in the top tier of Italian football between 1993 and 2010, returned in the fifth tier. With a desire to end his career on his terms, Flachi has made a return with fifth-tier outfit Signa 1914 near his hometown of Florence after training with the club throughout the past five months.
TOP 6 SERIE A WINTER SIGNINGS 2022
Fiorentina's forward Jonathan Ikone in action during the Italian serie A soccer match ACF Fiorentina vs Genoa
Ainsley Maitland-Niles may have failed to make favorable headlines at Arsenal, but only three Serie A matches into his new adventure at Roma, and he is already one of Jose Mourinho’s favorites. Roma have paid Arsenal €500 thousand in loan fee to bring him to the Italian capital for the remainder of the season. Roma have no option to buy Maitland-Niles permanently at the end of the season, but if he continues to impress in Italy, the Giallorossi will likely find the way to buy him out.
Stefano Sensi carried a reputation as one of Italy’s finest talents when he swapped Sassuolo for Inter Milan in summer 2019. Unfortunately, a series of injury setbacks hampered his progress at Meazza, forcing the Nerazzurri to send him to Sampdoria on a short-term loan to provide him with time and space to regain his confidence. Sampdoria will only pay the wages of Sensi throughout the loan period; there is no loan fee involved.
Jonathan Ikone’s move from Lille to Fiorentina went through without much media coverage, but the French star could be one of the revelations in the second half of the season. During his illustrious three-and-a-half-year stint at Les Dogues, the 23-year-old earned four caps for the France national team and grew into one of the most skilful players in Ligue 1. Ikone warranted a €15 million transfer fee.
Atalanta are not known for spending large sums of money on signings, but when they splash out €22m on one player, rest assured that they know what they are doing. Following an underwhelming episode at Chelsea, Jeremie Boga has taken Serie A by storm, establishing himself as one of the best wingers in Italy’s top-flight over the past couple of years. Bursting runs down the flanks, coupled with lightning-quick feet and a keen eye for goal, earned the 25-yearold a household status at Sassuolo. But time has come for Boga to take his career to the next level, and competing for a top-four finish in Serie A should motivate him to try and repay Atalanta’s trust for making him the club’s record signing.
When it comes to Serie A transfers in January, Dusan Vlahovic’s mega-money switch from Fiorentina to Juventus is, without any doubt, the icing on the cake. Despite playing for a mid-table team in Serie A, Vlahovic has been by far the most prolific player in Italy’s top-flight in the last couple of seasons, earning a lucrative €70m move to Juventus as a reward.
Signing Vlahovic was not the only masterstroke Juventus pulled o in January. They also acquired Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Denis Zakaria for a bargain price of €8.6 million. The Swiss international can transform the Juve midfield that has been vastly lacking in quality this season.
Juventus’ Denis Zakaria celebrates after scoring the 2-0 goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match Juventus FC vs Hellas Verona FC
BELOW (MAIN): Sevilla FC's Rafa Mir (L) celebrates after scoring during the Spanish LaLiga soccer match between Real Madrid and Sevilla FC
LEFT: Sevilla players celebrate a win
CAN THE BRIDESMAIDS BECOME THE BRIDE?
AS LA LIGA’S TITLE RACE ENTERS ITS FINAL STAGES, FEARGAL BRENNAN ASKS WHETHER IT’S ALREADY A TWO-HORSE RACE
The 2021-22 La Liga title race finds itself edging towards a two-horse race in the final stretch of the domestic season. However, despite the longheld assumption of an El Clasico scrap between age old foes Real Madrid and Barcelona, or Los Blancos doing battle with their cross city rivals and defending Spanish champions, Atletico Madrid, there is a new contender for the title this term. Atletico and Barcelona look to have left themselves with too much to do in 2022. After making sluggish starts to the season, Diego Simeone has struggled to reignite his battle-weary champions and the Xavi-inspired revolution is taking time to bear results in Catalonia. That state of transition has created a gap in the title race and Julen Lopetegui’s Sevilla have seized their own chance to go on and challenge Real Madrid down the final straight. Carlo Ancelotti’s smooth return back to the Santiago Bernabeu last summer has achieved the desired goal for Los Blancos, with their experienced
Tstars once again responding positively to the Italian’s light-touch coaching mantra. Real’s ability to turn on the burners and power on at the top of the table means Atletico and Barcelona’s inconsistency has been ruthlessly punished. But with the more traditional powers flailing in reaction to Madrid, Sevilla have risen to the challenge as a dark horse ready to land a major hit. Sevilla have failed to break the MadridBarcelona hegemony in the last two decades, with the club gaining a painful reputation of falling apart at crunch periods in the season. Title challenges have come and gone for Sevilla in recent years with a mantle of always the bridesmaid becoming an agonising and expected pattern for their frustrated fans. However, Lopetegui appears determined to learn the lessons of the past, with Sevilla looking to bury their nearly-men ghost in 2022. If Sevilla do manage to stay the course and push Real Madrid all the way, they will need certain things to count in their favour, and some of those will simply not be within Lopetegui’s control. Neighbours Real Betis look to have slipped away in terms of their own title challenge, while Sevilla will hope that
ABOVE: Real Madrid and Sevilla appear to be in a two-way title battle
BELOW: Real Madrid and Karim Benzema are leading the way
TOP RIGHT: Barcelona and Real Madrid in action earlier this season
FIVE FIXTURES TO LOOK OUT FOR
Feargal Brennan picks out five key dates in La Liga from now to the end of the season
REAL MADRID V BARCELONA - 20 MARCH El Clasico is El Clasico, regardless of either side’s standing in the league and Barcelona would love to upset Real Madrid’s title charge. However, Los Blancos have a dominant recent record in this fixture with five straight wins, and Barca have not won in Madrid since 2019.
BARCELONA V SEVILLA - 3 APRIL The end-of-season run-in will be littered with acid tests for Lopetegui’s Sevilla in their quest for the title. Despite Barcelona fans wanting to do anything to stop Real Madrid from clinching the title, Xavi’s developing side need some big results to seal a Champions League place, and they are unbeaten at home in league action against Sevilla since 2002.
SEVILLA V REAL MADRID - 17 APRIL Real Madrid’s trip to Sevilla could be a straight title decider if the gap between them is narrowed to a single result by mid-April. It could be all on the line for Sevilla in this game and their reaction will be crucial, as they have not won at home against Los Blancos since 2018.
ATLETICO MADRID V REAL MADRID - 8 MAY In a similar sense to Real’s clash with Barcelona, Atletico’s only bonus could be landing a blow to their neighbour’s title tilt. Simeone has secured a home draw in three of their last four league meetings at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano, and two points dropped could be huge for Los Blancos.
ATLETICO MADRID V SEVILLA - 15 MAY Sevilla head to the Wanda on the penultimate weekend of the season with the stakes potentially sky high in Madrid. Lopetegui will hope his charges are still in the title race, with Simeone’s outgoing champions likely to still need points to seal a top-four spot.
