An hour into a conversation that has ranged from childhood TV favourites to the challenges of retirement, reflecting on destiny and “what if” moments that defined a career, I stumble into one topic that Francesco Totti considers taboo. All it took was a question about whether he lets his 15-year-old son, Cristian, beat him at pinball.
“No!” he exclaims, fixing me with incredulous eyes from the other end of our Zoom call. “Things have to be earned, not given!”
What other mindset could we expect from a man who stayed his whole career at one club, declining opportunities to earn and win more elsewhere? Totti made his senior debut with Roma in 1992 and played there for a quarter of a century, retiring in 201…
Out of a shameful moment in the history of the Milan derby came one of its most beautiful images. The last meeting of Milan and Inter in the Champions League, in April 2005, was paused by the referee after fans created a scene more reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno than a sporting event. Yet the legacy of this game is a story of camaraderie thanks to a split-second decision to press down on a shutter release button.
Against an apocalyptic backdrop of smoke and burning objects stood the Inter defender Marco Materazzi, with his elbow casually leaning on the shoulder of Milan’s midfielder Rui Costa. They stood together, watching the chaos unfold.
Eighteen years later, as the teams prepare to meet again on Wednesday in…
Jason Kenny delighted Team GB fans by winning a sixth career Olympic gold medal on Tuesday, but the controversy in the keirin final caught the ire of Monaco striker Radamel Falcao.
Kenny etched his name among the pantheon of British Olympic greats when he matched Chris Hoy s national record of six gold medals by sealing victory in contentious circumstances in the velodrome.
The race had to be restarted twice, and on the first instance Kenny was faced with the threat of disqualification for overtaking the derny bike before it left the track.
However, the 28-year-old was cleared of wrongdoing and, after a failed second attempt, Kenny finally took the win ahead of Matthijs Buchli of the Netherlands and Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang.
But Falcao, who is well k…
Day four of the Euro 2008 tournament saw Russia lose 4-1 to Spain and defending champions Greece lose 2-0 to Sweden.
Spain looked very impressive with a hat-trick from David Villa and a late goal from substitute Cesc Fabrigas. Russia were really not in the game at all and scored only a consolation through Roman Pavlyuchenko.
I don t want to sound anti-Greek but the talk before the tournament was that they would be more expansive than they were in 2004. They weren t. They were very, very, very boring. I didn t mind who won but I cheered when Sweden scored!
With the first round of matches completed it is time to look at who is hot and who is not, so far in the competition. We will revisit this after each round of matches and the quarter-finals, semi-finals and f…
Manchester City got back to winning ways in style at Tottenham and Manchester United s shock 1-0 loss to rock-bottom West Brom at Old Trafford handed their bitter rivals Premier League glory with five matches to spare.
The general brilliance of Pep Guardiola s side domestically this season has meant the destination of the title has long been a formality.
Having equalled United s best mark from 2000-01 of sealing the title with five games remaining, City are on course to break a clutch of Premier League records as long as their recent slump is not revisited before the end of the campaign.
Here, we look back at some of the key factors behind a dominant triumph.
7 Pep Guardiola has won the top-flight league title in seven of his nine seasons as a manager,…
Bayern Munich begin their 2009 campaign with a testing last-16 German Cup tie at Stuttgart, the same team who held the German champions to a 2-2 draw in their last match of 2008.
After a one-and-a-half-month winter break, a training camp in the Dubai sunshine and five wins from five friendly matches, Bayern must steel themselves for a return to competitive action.
The Bavarian giants, second in the German championship on goal difference behind leaders Hoffenheim and into the last 16 of the Champions League, need to step up another level in order to win trophies , according to president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Bayern s league campaign resumes with a trip to Hamburg on Friday.
The team, unbeaten in sixteen matches and reinforced by the arrival of American m…
Are you ready for some football? A Tuesday night party?? That’s right, we’ve got a pair of Tuesday games on the NFL betting board in Week 15 due to a surge in COVID-19 cases that caused the league to postpone several contests including a matchup between the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles.
While there’s still uncertainty about who will be lining up for Washington for this 7:00 p.m. ET kickoff, we have a better idea of what we’ll get from the Eagles. That’s where our focus lies in our free NFL prop picks and predictions for WFT vs. Eagles on December 21.
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Parity has been the name of the game in the NFL odds for years now, and that was on full display last week.
The Eagles fell as 11.5-point favorites to the Commanders on Monday night, assuring there would once again be no undefeated team in football. They were far from the only favorite to falter in Week 10, as seven underdogs won outright, four of which were pooches of four or more points.
However, it’s never a good idea to overreact to the results from one week of play in this league. I’ll stick my neck out and back a pair of favorites in my first parlay of this stanza. But I’ll also take a home underdog in my second parlay, along with an Over play on one of the loftiest totals of the week.
Without further ado, here are my top N…
A couple of 6-7 teams square off at Lambeau Field in Week 15 odds when the Green Bay Packers host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs are coming off back-to-back wins while the Packers will try to bounce back from an upset loss to the Giants on Monday Night Football.
NFL odds have the Packers installed as 3.5-point home favorites for this matchup, with the Over/Under listed at 42.5. Here are my best free NFL picks for Buccaneers vs. Packers on December 17.
Buccaneers vs Packers odds
Buccaneers vs Packers predictions
Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales received plenty of criticism early in the season for running the ball in questionable situations with disastrous results. Recently, howeve…
NFL parlay betting is a guilty pleasure for football fans each Sunday, with bettors trying to win a lot by risking a little.
Parlay betting requires multiple bets to be strung together under one wager with the promise of a sizable payout. The challenge is that each of those parlay picks must be correct for the parlay to be a winner, and just one wrong selection will blow up your parlay bet.
Parlay betting NFL odds is riskier than single wagers, but while some consider them sucker bets, there is some NFL parlay betting strategy and tips to follow to help cash in those accumulators.
How does football parlay betting work?
A football parlay bet requires two or more picks and allows the bettor to place a single wager on those selectio…