The 2011 Serie A champions, AC Milan were all smiles at the Birds' nest in China last month when they defeated city rivals and neighbors, Inter Milan to the Super Cup title with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ghana's KP Boateng scoring to secure a 2-1 victory, despite being 1-0 down, courtesy of Wesley Sneijder's gorgeous free kick in the first half.
Serie A runners-up, Inter Milan, let the third coach out of their grasp, when Brazilian manager, Leonardo left for PSG. Former Genoa Tactician, Gian piero Gasperini has since been given the mantle of leadership. They also sold Samuel Eto'o to big spending Russian clubside, Anzhi Makhachkala - A deal which made the Cameroonian great, the highest paid footballer ever. The Nerazurri also sold Davide Santon to English club, Newcastle. They brought in the likes of Ricky Alvarez from Velez Sarsfield, Diego Forlan Corazo from 2010 Europa cup winners, Atletico Madrid and a few other quality additions. The black and blue will be looking to recover the Scudetto from the hands of Berlusconi's Milan.
The SENSI family finally relinquished control of the Capital club, Roma after almost two decades at the helm. Although it was officially agreed in the summer of 2010, Rosella Sensi was still a Director until Thomas DiBenedetto, a wealthy entrepreneur and his consortium, signed an agreement with UNICREDIT to buy about 67% of the club, thus becoming the Largest shareholder. He immediately went into action, bringing in the likes of Walter Sabatini as Club Director, signing a deal with the England assistant manager, Franco Baldini to take over as general manager after the European Championships next year, and recruiting former Spanish playmaker and Barcelona B coach, Luis Enrique to take over as Head Coach.
It is not only the board room that experienced bounteous changes. The playing staff was also altered and bolstered with the likes of Bojan Krkic, highly rated Celeste, Eric Lamela, Pablo Oswaldo, and Netherlands safe hands, Martin Stekenlenburg coming in. Free agent, Gabriel Heinze also joined the giallorossi. Roma seem to love south americans, especially argentines a lot. After the captures of heinze, lamela, and Oswaldo(argie-italian), the club added another argie in Fernando Gago, the much maligned midfielder who came from Real Madrid on a season long loan. The Italian giants also let the likes of Jeremy Menez, John Arne Rise and Mirko Vucinic leave for PSG, FULHAM AND JUVENTUS respectively.
There are some internal issues to be resolved though. The roman army was struck a major blow last month as they fell to lowly rated minnows, Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League Qualifying rounds. That isn't as burdensome to them as the rift between their most decorated and successful player, Francesco Totti and new manager, Enrique. Something that started when the new manager decided to leave the talismanic captain out of the matches against the Slovakian club. The President and Directors have however been working round the clock to reconcile the pair. The hierarchy of the team made it clear from the onset that nobody is bigger than the team-------but we all know that some players are almost indispensable and Er pupone (TOTTI) falls into that category. For a player that has been at the club for 19 years and scored more than 200 league goals, some rules can be bent to accommodate his excesses.
Roma's city rivals, SS Lazio haven't been shy in the transfer market either. If you take into account, the dealings they have made, they certainly mean business. Club Supermo, Claudio Lotto managed to tempt seasoned and experienced players like Miroslav Klose------ a player who is 6 goals short of equaling the all time record of Gerd Muller for the German national team and just one goal behind the great Ronaldo Da Lima as the highest goal scorer in World Cup History. Coincidentally, it is 'Da Bomber' Muller's world cup record that he equaled in South Africa. the Biancoceleste haven't stopped there. Players like Djibril Cisse, Marius Stankevicius, Abdoulay Konko and former Marseille skipper, Lorik Cana have also teamed up with the 'sky blue and white'. They let Mauro Mathias Zarate join Inter Milan on loan, but still have the likes of Tomasso Rocchi and major threat, Hernanes to depend on. No one would argue against them staking a claim for at least a UEFA champions League spot come the end of the season.
AC Milan won their 1st Italian League title (Scudetto) in seven years. They have Swedish Superstar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the ever reliable Dutch great, Clarence Seedorf, the ' duck' from Brazil, Alex Pato, Robinho and co, to thank for leading them to GLORY, after so many near misses in years gone by. Since the Departure of KAKA, no other player had really taken the bull by the horn, until they signed 'Ibracadabra' from Barcelona......by winning the 2011 Scudetto, it extended the giant Swede's incredible run of 9 league titles in 9 straight years with Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona and of course Milan.
Coach, Maximilliano Allegri has brought in the likes of Taye Taiwo, Stephan El Shaarawy, Philippe Mexes, and Alberto Aquilani who is on loan from Liverpool. Aquilani was brought in to fill in the void left by long serving Andrea Pirlo who transferred to rejuvenated Juventus after 10 successful years with the Rossoneri. The Milan side will hope to bring back the glory days in Europe this season after falling in the second round to Spurs in the previous campaign. They officially kick start the 11-12 League season with a home game vs Lazio later tonight.
Since the Calciopoli scandal that rocked the Italian League some years ago. The 'old lady'----a sobriquet used to describe Juventus, has suffered a great decline both in form and in finesse. Last season was one of the worst in recent history. I cannot remember when Juventus failed to qualify for any European competition. Luigi Delneri was immediately shown the exit door by Andrea Agnelli and former player and legend, Antonio Conte installed to try and return Juve to the summit of Italian football where they truly belong. The most successful club in Italian football history with 29 Serie A titles, they spent heavily to tempt the very best players of the jump to jump ship. The club also officially opened their new home, the 'JUVENTUS ARENA' on the 8th of September with a friendly match against Notts County.
Quality players like Andrea Pirlo, Mirko Vucinic, Arturo Vidal, Eljero Elia, Stephan Lichtsteiner have been purchased from the likes of Hamburg, Bayer Lverkusen, etc..Marcelo Estigarribia, the flying Paraguayan has also become a Bianconeri. All these in their bid to at least challenge for honours when the season starts. Carvalho Amauri has returned from a successful spell at Parma and will fight for a place in the starting 11 with the likes of Quagliarela, Vucinic, Matri. Luca Toni, Ianquinta, and captain, Alex Del Piero.
SSC Napoli, the 4th most supported club in Italy, has returned to the European stage (UCL). The main catalyst behind their recent success is 2010 summer acquisition, Edison Cavani...........El Matador as he is affectionately called, scored 26 league goals to propel the Napolitans to the third and last automatic qualifying spot in the League. The partenopei predator was only just beaten to the Caponcannonierie (highest goal scorer) crown by lethal Zebrette veteran, Antonio Di Natale----scored 28 league goals to scoop the award for the second consecutive year. It will be unjust to neglect the excellent contributions of Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Captain Paolo Cannavaro and others......as a team they were almost unstoppable. The club which has boasted the likes of Diego Maradona and Fabio Cannavaro in their ranks, will hope to go one or two places better in their quest to restore the victory times the club enjoyed in the late 80s and early 90s. They are certainly title challengers and they signaled their intention of gatecrashing the big two of last season, with the inclusion of Goran Pandev who has enjoyed success with Lazio and Inter Milan. Swiss midfield gem and ex-Udinese star, has also teamed up with the Walter Mazzarri led team.
Udinese Calcio began the summer with the fight for the signature of speedy winger, Alexis Sanchez who was chased by Barcelona, and both Manchester Clubs. He eventually joined Barcelona after Chile's elimination from the Copa America. Giampaolo Pozzo immediately replaced him with Gabriel Torje.......a Romanian winger who is blessed with similar characteristics. Cristian Zapata, one of the reasons the Italian outfit came fourth last season, has been sold to Villareal. They also lost Gokhan Inler to Champions league campaigners, Napoli. Despite the set backs, they can continue to count on the dependable Tonio di Natale who has provided 57 goals in 71 League games in 2 seasons.
Other clubs like Palermo, Fiorentina, Genoa and co will have to make do with scampering for top 10 positions or at best Europa League spots.
Ohireime Eboreime
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