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TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2017 SPORTS Ten talking-points from the Serie A season MILAN: Serie A has lost some of its allure in the last his first press conference.On the field, Palermo employed Lazio, Pescara and Udinese changed coaches. days after saying that AS Roma defender Antonio few seasons yet, with its unpredictable club owners five difference coaches and were relegated to Serie B. Marcelo Bielsa had the shortest reign, quitting after Ruediger was selling socks and belts in Stuttgart, and the tactical nous of its coaches, remains one of just two days at Lazio in July because he said the seeming to imply that the German, whose mother is the most colourful of the big five European leagues. MILAN DOLDRUMS club had failed to sign any of his transfer targets. from Sierra Leone, was once a street vendor. The following are 10 of the highlights and low points AC Milan followed in the footsteps of neighbours Ghanaian midfielder Sulley Muntari walked off in of the season which finished on Sunday: Inter as they were sold to a Chinese consortium in CROTONE’S GREAT ESCAPE protest during a match for Pescara at Cagliari, saying April but both teams had mediocre seasons. Eight points adrift of safety at the start of April, the referee had booked him for dissent when he UNSTOPPABLE JUVENTUS Seven-times European champions Milan finished Crotone spent the whole of their debut Serie A season complained about racist abuse from some fans. The Turin club won the title for their sixth succes- sixth to sneak into the Europa League qualifiers while in the relegation zone until the very last day, when sive season, the last three under phlegmatic coach Inter employed three coaches on their way to sev- they beat Lazio 3-1 to pull clear and send Empoli DZEKO Massimiliano Allegri. enth place as they missed out on Europe altogether. down instead. The Calabrians won six of their last nine Bosnia forward Edin Dzeko rediscovered his scor- They scored a pre-season blow by signing the top games, having won just three of their first 29. ing touch for AS Roma as he ended the season as the players from their two biggest rivals, Napoli striker GENOA league’s leading marksman with 29 goals. He netted Gonzalo Higuain and Roma midfielder Miralem Eighth at the end of the November, Genoa finished FRANCESCO TOTTI another eight in the Europa League and two more in Pjanic, and were almost invincible at home, winning four points clear of relegation after a second half The 40-year-old played his 25th and final season the Coppa Italia. 18 and drawing one of their 19 matches. slump. Fans protested at one match by turning their for AS Roma although it was often an uncomfortable backs to the pitch while coach Ivan Juric was fired in situation as coach Luciano Spalletti left the talisman NAPOLI PALERMO CHAOS February, only to be recalled in April after his replace- on the bench for most of the time. Despite Higuain’s pre-season departure, Napoli Volatile owner Maurizio Zamparini announced he ment Andrea Mandorlini failed to stop the rot. finished third and set club records for the number of was selling the club after 14 years to a fund led by RACISM points in a season (86) and goals scored (94). They American-born businessman Paul Baccaglini, who COACHES Serie A continued to struggle with racism. lost just four matches, three of them in October, in a opened his shirt to reveal a Palermo chest tattoo during Apart from Palermo, AC Milan and Genoa, only Lazio left back Senad Lulic was banned for 20 slump that effectively cost them the title. — Reuters Juventus the final hurdle to history for Zidane’s Madrid MADRID: Even for a man and a club syn- the season. “It is the happiest day of my onymous with European Cup glory, professional life by a distance,” Zidane, a Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid stand on World Cup winner with France in 1998, sur- the brink of history in Saturday’s prisingly said after winning the league title Champions League final against Juventus last weekend. in Cardiff. Since the European Cup was rebranded and expanded into the TWO DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIES Champions League in 1992, no team has Even by Real’s standards, victory in the been capable of defending the trophy. Welsh capital will seal the single most suc- However, just 18 months into his first senior cessful season in the club’s history. managerial role, Zidane is one match away That Juventus provide the final hurdle from joining a stellar cast as just the 20th adds extra intrigue as it is from the Italian coach to win the competition twice. giants that Madrid plucked Zidane for a Moreover, a 12th European crown for then world record fee in 2001. Madrid would reaffirm their status as self- The fact the Frenchman spent the prime proclaimed kings of Europe with a third decade of his career at two of the biggest Champions League in four seasons. “I am clubs in the world with two very different the coach which means I am doing some- philosophies on how to win has undoubt- thing right, but everyone in this squad is edly shaped his managerial style. Despite doing a phenomenal job,” said Zidane after being one of Real president Florentino Real withstood an Atletico Madrid Perez’s original “galactico” signings, Zidane onslaught in the semi-finals. hasn’t been afraid to bring more defensive Zidane has had a hand in all of Real’s last balance to his Madrid side by rewarding the four trips to the final. He famously scored hard work of the likes of Casemiro and one of the greatest ever Champions Lucas Vazquez over glamorous big money League final goals to win the game against buys like James Rodriguez. However, his Bayer Leverkusen back in his playing days experience as one of the greatest players of in 2002 and was part of Carlo Ancelotti’s his generation has given him a huge advan- coaching staff that ended a 12-year wait for tage over his predecessors at the Bernabeu Madrid’s 10th European Cup in 2014. with the respect he commands from an ROME: Roma’s forward from Italy Francesco Totti holds a framed Number 10 during a ceremony to celebrate his last match with AS Roma after Zidane went one step further by joining ego-filled dressing room. “Zidane has done the Italian Serie A football match AS Roma vs Genoa on Sunday at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. Italian football icon Francesco Totti retired Ancelotti as one of just seven men to win a phenomenal job,” said Cristiano Ronaldo from Serie A after 25 seasons with Roma, in the process joining a select group of ‘one-club’ players. — AFP the competition as both player and coach after Madrid sealed La Liga. Compared to when Real squeezed out local rivals Madrid’s 11 European Cups, Juventus’ two is Atletico on penalties in Milan in last year’s a meagre return for a club of their stature. Perotti rescues Roma on final. Yet, it is Real’s run back to European That record has come about by losing a football’s showpiece occasion this season record six finals, including their last four. which has been his most impressive feat in Zidane knows better than most the pain his first full season in charge. While Madrid of Juve’s previous failures having played in Totti’s farewell party rode the luck of the draw and from the spot the losing sides in 1997 and against Madrid last season, Zidane’s men have overcome in 1998. However, he plans on prolonging Napoli’s flair, the might of Bayern Munich that misery for Italy’s Old Lady. “For sure it MILAN: Diego Perotti struck at the death as time. With Napoli romping to a comfortable 4-2 he united a city that falls apart at the least prob- and Atletico’s intensity for the right to be in is special because it was a very important Roma handed club icon Francesco Totti a farewell win away to Sampdoria, Roma were in trouble, lem. “But Totti is now a friend that I won’t get to Cardiff. What is more, they have done all club for me as a player. It is a club that also to remember with a thrilling 3-2 win at home to on their way to a third-place finish and without see every day.” Napoli finished third as Dries that whilst ending Barcelona’s domestic gave me everything,” Zidane said after Genoa in a packed Stadio Olimpico on Sunday. an automatic place in the group stages of next Mertens missed out on Serie A’s ‘Capocanno- dominance by winning La Liga for the first booking Madrid’s place in the final. “Now, Totti, playing his final game with the capital side season’s Champions League. niere’ top scorer’s award. time in five years and lifting the European though, I am with Real Madrid, the club of after a storied 25-year career that garnered only He got the opener away to Sampdoria, with Super Cup and Club World Cup earlier in my life and it will be a great final.” — AFP one league title, was handed a final-day gift CROTONE’S GREAT ESCAPE Lorenzo Insigne, Marek Hamsik and Jose when he was called upon to replace Egyptian But moments after Totti saw a chance thwart- Callejon also scoring. The Belgian finished on 28 Mohamed Salah on 54 minutes.