Toto Schillaci and Roberto Baggio, one more nostalgic photo

Team: Pescara

Shirt: Home 1992-93

Make: Pienne

Sponsor: Gelati GIS

Worn by: Dunga, Sivabaek, Mendy, Allegri and Sliskovic

Fact: Pescara wore this in their first season in Serie A when they managed to sign Brazilian captain Dunga. They had no problem scoring goals, beating Juventus 5-1, but they were poor at the back, losing out 5-4 in a thiller to Milan.

Firstly Stephen Lichtsteiner (via Twitter) swears allegiance to Juventus: “I’m staying at Juve “- writes the Swiss defender -. “The money they would give me is so much but the honor and the heart are first! Do not worry.” An honest and modern approach, reconfiming what we already knew that money can buy both honor and love. Thanks Stephen for reminding us of the price of loyalty

Inter, (now bored of swinging with Milan) have decided to move thier attentions to Napoli’s Walter Gargano. The 28 year old Uruguayan has signed on a season long loan and will arrive in Milan today. The Nerazzurri love a bad boy.

 Felipe is officially a player of Siena.The defender arrives on loan from Fiorentina (another man crossing a divide) He will be at Cosmi’s disposal at training this afternoon, whatever that may intail.

Daniele De Rossi has announced his desire to remain at Roma in turn rejecting the advances of English champions Manchester City. He said the advances made him angry and also laugh indicating that the Roma central man is full of emotion despite his hard exterior.

Super Coppa: Napoli 2-4 Juventus

Highlights of the game (unfortunately not with Gary Bloom commentating) 

The groundsmen have not yet drawn the white lines on the pitches; some players are still not back for pre season but before the new Serie A campaign kicks off, match fixing once again is in the headlines. Its almost as regular as Babbo Natale’s annual visit.

First and foremost Juventus, (to one mans complete surprise), have been at the center of the scandal. Antonio Conte who led his unbeaten team to the Scudetto last year now faces a possible 10 month ban and an uncertain future at the club. Meanwhile according to Gazzetta dello Sport the ‘Scommessopoli’ accusations have been dropped in relation to Leonardo Bonucci and Simone Pepe who were charged with fraud and failing to report match fixing respectively. Did someone say Luciano Moggi or does this topic now come with a nostalgic feel?

Sampdoria are to start their campaign back in Serie A with a one point deduction. The Genoese outfit having a plea bargin accepted on Friday in a deal that saw the IFF’s disciplinary committee agree deals with prosecutor Stefano Palazzi, including a 37,000 Euro fine. Could it be that this somewhat archaic court system just does not realise epically bad form? Maybe they should have Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini shot for desertion as it all started out from there.

Compared to Sampdoria, Serie B side Bari have been positively beastly and have had a five point deduction inflicted on them and this includes a 98,000 Euro fine to boot. Meanwhile the Witch Master General, sorry Chief Prosecutor, has saved most of his wrath for Atalanta defender (and ex Bari player) Alessandro Parisi, who has been banned for 26 months for his part in events, a punishment that even Cristiano Doni would find amusing. Joining their former team mate Alessandro Parisi (Torino) and Marco Rossi (Cesena) have managed to secure themselves a 24 and 20 month ban respectively. The Italian justice system once again, handing out penalties at the same rate as the Nerazzurri last season.

Away form the main highlights and Bologna also find themselves facing a two point deduction for the start of next term with defender Daniele Portanova being the main protagonist and facing a rather large 3 year suspension. One can only wonder how he singularly managed to fix matches so much as to warrant this suspension.

It must however, not be forgotten that this is Italy and in a flash, after the public have seen the ferocity of the punishments handed out, the justice system will sit back and reflect. On doing so they will realise that the start of the new season is just around the corner and in true Italian fashion reduce all the penalties. After all who wants to ruin the football season? Also they have been warned and surely won’t do it again? Will they?

“I spoke with the owners and they told me that the player is not on the market. But there is a gentlemen’s agreement and if someone makes an offer for him close to 30 million euro without some players in exchange, we can sit at a table and discuss. But we want to keep Jovetic.”

Daniele Prade (Fiorentina’s Sporting director) had spoken to Sky Sports Italia and in one paragraph he unleashed more confusion on the matter than Balotelli creates when putting on a training bib. The rough translation is that Jovetic is not for sale but if someone coughs up 30 million Euros then he might be, in other words, he would like Juventus to bid again without offering them Matri in exchange, but really they don’t want to sell him. Quite simple really?

Montella also has his thoughts on the matter and in his press conference declared that “Football today is like this, we must be prepared for these instances. For our part we have expressed our will to keep him, now it falls to Stevan to assess the situation, if he hasn’t already done so, Then, there must be a team willing to invest in him. He’s an extraordinary player who any Coach would want to work with. I have spoken with him first, with the promise that I would not then speak publicly. I know his intentions, he has been training well but it is understandable that at this moment he is thinking about things.

Montella in an attempt to make life much more simple for everyone decided to speak out letting people know that Fiorentina want to keep him, however, if Jovetic wants to go he can, but Montella does not know whether he does and even if he does it depends if anyone will pay the fee. To further clarify matters Montella then claims he does know about Jovetic’s intentions all of a sudden but he certainly is not telling anyone. Well, at least that clears that up, doesn’t it?

With the situation surrounding the little Serbs future a clear as a mug full of water from the Thames, Prado decided to talk of his perspective targets “Elm? He’s an important player but he has several offers. Viviano? The situation is on stand-by. We’ll talk with Inter and Palermo (co-owners of the player), we have good relations with them and we’ll find a solution. We will do something in the market. It will be a good Fiorentina but it needs the fans to be patient.”

Fiorentina fans will need to be more than patient it seems. If Prado and Montella make this much of a debacle over Jovetic’s future, imagine the conference call between the Viola, Palermo and Inter all trying to agree over Viviano. The conclusion could be that all three clubs end up coming out of the meeting with no idea who he plays for anymore.

“Age is nothing, class is everything”

Salvatore Schillaci, Top scorer in Italia 90, the iconic celebration, the face that explained the passion of the tournament. This is what he is remembered for.

Although it seemed as though ‘Toto’ just popped up for this tournament and then disappeared into obscurity, he was actually plying his trade in Serie A at its height. 

In between 1982 to 1994 ‘Toto’ was celebrating goals in Sicily and on the mainland, although perhaps not as prolifically as he did in when disposing of teams at Italia 90.

He started out at Messina in a slow fashion, only notching 25 goals in his first five seasons (he scored a total of 61 goals in 219 games) It was here that fate or lady luck took him under her wing, as he managed to score an impressive 23 goals in 35 games in the 1988/89 season. This earned him a move to Juventus and when he scored 15 in 30 in the season before the World Cup, it was enough for the national team to gamble on him.

It was a gamble that paid off and after the tournament he returned to Juventus where the pressure of performing at the standards he had set himself showed. With only 11 goals in the next two seasons he was offloaded to Inter.

The Nerazzurri hoped that his predatory instincts, icy composure, and ability to score with his head and from range would start a new point in his career. Alas the next two seasons only saw him notch 11 times and he moved to Japan. 

It was an up and down career in Italy but when Calcio ruled the world, everyone knew who ‘Toto’ Schillaci was.

The weekend in pictures.

1.) Diego Milito scores a hat-trick in the Milan Derby 

2.) Juventus take an early lead against Cagliari

3.) The Curva Nord before kick off

4.) Juve fans celebrate the title

5.) The penalty should not have been given

6.) More Juventus celebrations

“Three fatal minutes” and “We made life difficult for ourselves” with “Individual errors” were all words that Andrea Stramaccioni used to explain Inter’s defeat to Parma last night. With the Derby Della Madonnina just around the corner, the young Inter coach will not be allowed ten fatal seconds.

On the outset it looks bleak for the Nerazzurri, another performance was dogged by mistakes at the back, and the sluggish play was representative of a team that looked like it was craving for the end of the season.

In some parts of the game you could have been forgiven for assuming that the Nerazzurri had nothing to play for and that they certainly could not have had something as important as Champions League qualification at stake.

Milan on the other hand are now only a point away from league leaders Juventus after the ‘Old Lady’ inexplicably blew their lead at the top against relegation threatened Lecce. They are playing with passion and desire and a tempo that mirrors their self belief and it would seem that the Derby, is theirs for the taking.

Inter who lost a one goal lead and then imploded against Parma, have no time to dissect their 3-1 defeat as the Derby and all its fervour is now upon them. Even if they did tactically, mentally and physically assess the game it could be summed up in the simple terms of ‘could have, would have, should have.’ Focus will be easy to shift as this match is a game like no other in the season and there just may be some positive signs in the build up.

Firstly Inter are at home, with their neighbours still pushing for the title there will be no chance that the supporters will make this an easy fixture for the Rossoneri. Secondly the fact that Milan are under such pressure to get a result could play into Inter’s hands. It goes without saying that if they defend as they have been doing then they will get nothing for the game, but this is a different sort of match, where each player cannot dare to be lethargic, only nerves can force mistakes in this game and Inter’s veterans have seen it all.

If the Nerazzurri can get through the first twenty or thirty minutes without conceding then the nerves and the atmosphere will surely start to affect their neighbours. There will be pressure on the Nerazzurri but in the heart of hearts of many Inter supporters, after the Parma result the Champions League is now just a pipe dream.

The stage is now set for one of the greatest footballing derbies on the planet. Inter versus Milan, a title deciding derby that will make or break a season. For the Nerazzurri, analysing matches past is irrelevant as when this game comes around nothing else matters. What if they lose? It is true that if they do then European competition may elude them this year, but on the brightside, it did not do Juventus any harm this year, did it?

“The game against Lecce is the game of our lives.”Antonio Conte

Champions elect Juventus face relegation threatened Lecce in a game that Conte is labelling as his most important to date. If ‘The Old Lady’ can take three points off Serse Cosmi’s side and Atalanta beat Milan, then Juventus will be crowned champions tonight.

Juventus Coach Antonio Conte is in confident mood ahead of tonight’s clash stating that “We gave a further display of strength and development in our triumph at Novara. We made a difficult game easy. We need to keep going. The fact that we are handing solid displays and playing good football should fill us with pride and satisfaction.”

It is true that Juventus are in sparkling form and are on course to join Milan and Perugia as the only teams to go a whole Serie A season undefeated. Their obstacle tonight however, is a Lecce team that are fighting to the bitter end to stay in the division and they are determined to make Juventus earn all three points should they take them.

Since their last meeting in January where the Bianconeri grabbed an important 1-0 away win Lecce have taken some big scalps to keep them in with a fighting chance. The very next game they beat Fiorentina 1-0 away before beating Inter at home only a game later. They have pulled of fantastic away wins in both Sardinia and Sicily and have crushed Siena 4-1 but most recently they took apart Roma 4-2 in the Stadio Olimpico. Their last two results may have not gone the way they wanted but they have been hard fought affairs and with free falling Genoa only a point ahead of them, they smell blood.

Lecce head coach, the mad capped Serse Cosmi is in no doubt how difficult the task in hand is, but he is in confident mood. He spoke at the press conference saying that: “We know we’ll face ateam that has conceded just one goal in the last eight games, Juventus are having a superb championship, for the results they’re achieving and the quality of their play. I don’t know how much chance we have of getting a result in Turin, but with the right attitude we could give them a game. We’ll require playerswho don’t surrender and are able to find the strength to give even more than they have done up until now. It’s clear we squandered a great opportunity against Parma, but I still believe we can stay up.”

Conte has made it clear that Juventus know how close they are to the Scudetto and how close they are to achieving this unbeaten. It is for these reasons that he has called it “the game of their lives”. Serse Cosmi stands in his way, a man who was described by ‘The National’ as “an eccentric goblin of a man, but a wily coach” Football has many cruel twists but if Juventus fall when on the brink of regaining their status as Italy’s number one team, who else but Cosmi could be the man to spoil the party.

Team: Parma

Shirt: Away 1993-95

Make: Umbro

Sponsor: Parmalat

Worn by:Asprilla, Zola, Brolin, Crippa, Minotti amongst others.             

Fact: This shirt was worn in the 1994 Cup Winners Cup defeat to Arsenal in Copenhagen. It was also worn in the 1994/95 season when Parma faced Juventus in both the Coppa Italia Final and the UEFA Cup Final. In the latter they wore this shirt in the 1-1 second leg that secured them their first ever UEFA CUP