Last season was a special one for the Blucerchiati, as they finished the season in fourth place in Serie A and qualified for the Champions League. The club also unveiled a striker-duo that could not only lead Sampdoria to further success but form the basis of a more potent attack on the Italian national team. […]

Today I was a Sampdoria fan, I cheered wildly for them, and I hated Werder Bremen with all my heart. It was partly nationalistic, and mostly due to the fact that I wanted to see Cassano in the Champions League. But Sampdoria didn't make it through, they lost in the most heartbreaking of manners, taking […]

In 2005-2006, Napoli was looking to escape dire finances and Serie C1. In 2010-2011, Napoli can credibly claim that it is competing for a Champions League berth. The Partenopei led by their president Aurelio De Laurentiis have been slowly built up and well managed to the point where last season they qualified for their their […]

Mention the 2009-2010 season to Juventus' 170 million fans and they will shake their head in disgust. Italy's most successful and beloved soccer team was a shell of itself, missing out on a European tournament spot due to poor play and aging players. It is not a coincidence that the Italian national team also failed […]

How can you follow up a season which finished with a treble? After 5 years of dominance in Italy, Inter Milan finally dominated in Europe, and now Rafa Benitez is left with a tough job on his hands. Benitez wants to change a lot of things with Inter, starting with the playing syle. The Spanish […]

Italy's oldest soccer club finished a disappointing ninth last season, and the management has made it clear this offseason that such a result is unacceptable. Disappointing play by a number of key players left the club outside the top six, one year after qualifying for the UEFA Cup and two years after returning to Serie A […]

Earlier today, UEFA unveiled its pairings for both the UEFA Champions League play-off rounds and the UEFA Europa League play-off draw. For Champions League participant Sampdoria, they will take on Bundesliga club SV Werder Bremen on August 18 (away) and August 24 (home). The Werder are the 2009 UEFA Cup runners-up, losing 2-1 to Shakhtar […]

While this was a mere friendly and many of the starters from both teams were not on hand, the manner with which Inter overcame Manchester City serves as a warning for those aiming to dethrone the Serie A champions and Champions League winners. The Nerazzurri were missing the likes of Diego Milito, Lucio and Wesley […]

Samuel Eto'o has won plenty of trophies, scored plenty of goals, and played in plenty of different systems. He has often played as a center-forward, finishing plays and scoring lots of goals, but for Inter Milan, under the orders of Jose Mourinho, Eto'o wasn't used as a finisher, but maybe more as a supporter. Now […]

All Manchester City fans were expecting a busy summer at Eastlands and while they have brought in £75 million pounds worth of talent, the players that have arrived will not spark fear into Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal. City have added David Silva, Yaya Toure, Jerome Boateng and most recently left back Aleksander Kolarov to […]

Derek Rae, one of the most talented US-based soccer commentators, will call his last game for ESPN US next week before he heads to the United Kingdom to work for ESPN UK. Rae will be the ESPN UK's main commentator for the Scottish Premier League, where ESPN UK will air 30 SPL games from the […]

Sampdoria have achieved great things under Del Neri, they were able to claim fourth spot and qualify for the qualifying rounds of the Champions League next season. Not only this, but they were competing heavily with Inter Milan for the scudetto at the beginning of the season. Now Del Neri is gone, and two names […]

The 2010 Champions League Final featuring Inter Milan against Bayern Munich drew a 1.1 overnight rating on the Fox Network. How does that compare to last year's final on ESPN? The 2009 Final, which was shown on a Wednesday afternoon, drew a 1.0 rating. So, in comparison, Fox's rating is a disappointment. That said, you […]

It is quite early to discuss next season's Champions League particularly with the World Cup looming ahead but Inter's historic treble was much more than a great achievement. It proved once again how difficult it is to repeat as a champion in Europe's elite club competition. For the Nerazzurri winning the Champions League is the […]

Ever since Bayern picked themselves up from their slouch at the beginning of the season, they've seemed unstoppable. With a consistent back-line (which includes some youngsters), a dominant midfield with Schweinsteiger and Van Bommel, and a deadly front-line with Ribery, Robben, and many dangerous strikers like Olic, Klose, and Muller. But this fantastic team was […]