Gaetano Castrovilli’s Italy call-up was met by a sprouting of joy amongst the Azzurri faithful. There seems to be a collective admiration for the midfielder, whose graceful performances for Fiorentina this season have made a mark on more than just the Viola faithful.

In what is his first full campaign at the club, Castrovilli has come leaps and bounds in a very short space of time. He has left opposition teams rattled with his trickery, technical ability and how blessed he is on the ball.

Politics and Italian football often go hand-in-hand and right now at Napoli, issues off the pitch are threatening to completely derail the current squad, with President Aurelio De Laurentiis at the forefront of everything.

Napoli’s woes on the pitch had led to a scheduled week-long training camp, which De Laurentiis had ordered, only for players to dismiss the camp completely and return to their homes following the Champions League draw with RB Salzburg last week.

Take a look at Milan’s starting XI in their 1-0 defeat to Juventus on Sunday, what do you notice? If you don’t have the time, or patience, to figure it out, it’s this: Hakan Calhanoglu and Andrea Conti were the only starters that were bought from Yonghong Li’s hedonistic summer spending spree of 2017. The sole survivors.

For regular viewers of calcio, it was a game that had an all too familiar feel about it. Paraphrasing a certain Gary Lineker, Italian football is a simple game, two teams chase a ball for 90 minutes and in the end, despite being second best, Juventus always win.

Mediolanum, that was a football kit, red and black, worn by Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, and Frank Rijkaard. So many names are in this chapter, San Siro was iconic already, but was even more so after this. George Weah, Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, even writing these few sentences brings a smile, Il Grande Milan.

What Atalanta have done over the last two years is something other smaller clubs can genuinely dream of replicating. They have given an example to lesser clubs that with the right recruitment and a good tactical approach, they can challenge the big boys of Serie A.

The manner in which Cagliari and Fiorentina have started the season shows that they have the foundations for those ambitions.

Another week, another Europa League fiasco for the Serie A sides. The two almost identical defeats that Roma and Lazio suffered put the qualification of the two Capital clubs at serious risk with two games left.

It wouldn’t be harsh to say that Simone Inzaghi’s men need a miracle at this point, as they are now six points off second-placed Cluj, while Celtic’s triumph at the Olimpico puts Neil Lennon’s men out of reach. Odds in the USA - and everywhere else - are strongly against Lazio now.

The video went viral. If you are reading this article, chances are you’ve probably seen it. The video captured Lazio’s ultras, dressed in identikit clothing of denim jeans and black leather jackets, parading through Glasgow town centre giving the Roman salute.

Once the video hit the Internet it, not surprisingly, caused a huge backlash. The club were brandished as ‘Nazio’ (not exactly an original slur). Lazio released a statement condemning the behavior of these fans, and for ‘bringing Hitler into our club’.

If it turns out to have been what many thought it could be before kick-off - a qualification play-off - then what a game it was. For 45 minutes, we purred about an almost perfect Inter that showed it knew how to suffer while being beautifully clinical when chances came. And, when it all unraveled in the face of an unrelenting yellow-and-black tide, it felt like an object lesson in how far the Nerazzurri have come - but also how far they still have to go.

Mario Balotelli was subjected to racist abuse at the Stadio Bentegodi. This, somehow, is still up for debate in Italy. It is not about Italian football at this point, nor is it helpful to note all the recent incidents of racism in the Premier League, Ligue 1 and most blatantly in Bulgaria.