'New Rambo' goalkeeping coach suspended after wearing military fatigues in woods in bid to discover rivals' tactics
On Wednesday the headlines spoke of global domination, after Italy qualified for the World Cup with two games to spare. By Saturday the focus had shifted completely. Instead of speculating about the strength of foreign rivals, reporters were now fretting about spies within their own borders.
"It's a 007 derby," yelped La Gazzetta dello Sport's front page, reporting on the curious tale of Luca De Prà. A goalkeeping coach for the Genoa youth team, he had been caught by city rivals Sampdoria attempting to spy on one of their senior training sessions. De Prà appeared to be gathering information ahead of Saturday's Derby della Lanterna.
It was hardly the first time such a thing had occurred. Plenty of scouts down the years have attempted a similar endeavour. What made this instance unique was De Prà's attire. In a bid to avoid detection in the woods that surround the team's Bogliasco training facility, he had dressed up in full military camouflage gear. On their official website, Sampdoria described him as "a new Rambo, hiding out amongst the branches".
"No prisoner has been taken," read the accompanying story, beside a photo of De Prà in his fatigues. "Nor has there been any needless spilling of blood. Once caught with his hands in the marmalade, the enemy soldier was allowed to return to his base. You must always pardon your enemies. Nothing annoys them more."
It was written with tongue firmly in cheek, yet this situation did indeed seem to irk Genoa's directors. The club disavowed all knowledge of De Prà's actions and suspended him from his job for good measure. "The unmasked secret agent is promptly cut loose," reported the Genoese newspaper Il Secolo XIX a day later. "Just like in the best spy films."
Watching the subsequent derby unfold, however, it was tempting to conclude that De Prà's mission must have succeeded after all. Genoa had previously endured a disastrous start to the new season, losing their opening two league games (and shipping seven goals along the way), as well as being knocked out of the Coppa Italia by Spezia, a team from Serie B. But on Sunday night, they crushed Sampdoria 3-0.
The conditions were not conducive to good football. It had rained so hard before kick-off that it seemed as though the game might be abandoned.
And yet Genoa's goals were superb. The full-back Luca Antonini, who had scored just once in the last seven seasons, provided the opener with a fine inside-of-the-boot volley; his team's second, was slotted home by Emanuele Calaiò, after an inspired first-time pass from Alberto Gilardino earlier in the move. Genoa's third was a trademark Francesco Lodi free-kick, whipped over the wall from just outside the box.
The manager, Fabio Liverani, ran on to the pitch to celebrate that last goal with his players. After two seasons coaching the club's youth teams, this is Liverani's first season of senior management. Following Genoa's slow start, some critics were already beginning to question how long he might last.
Liverani deserves credit for this performance. His was a bold decision to abandon the 4‑3-3 that his team had used thus far in favour of an untested 3-5-2. It is a system he might have learned from Sampdoria's manager, Delio Rossi. Prior to his retirement from playing in 2011, Liverani had played under his opposite number at Lazio and Palermo.
Either way, his first managerial victory will be celebrated by Genoa's fans for some time to come. And yet it was overshadowed on the national stage by another derby altogether. There are those who would question whether matches between Internzionale and Juventus truly deserve their designation as the Derby d'Italia – Italy's Derby – but that phrase has stuck since being coined by the journalist Gianni Brera in the 1960s.
Saturday's edition was significant for many reasons. Besides being the first meeting of the season between these two rivals, it also happened to be Antonio Conte's 100th game in charge of Juventus. More significantly, it had been billed as the first opportunity to find out what Walter Mazzarri's Inter team were really made of.
The Nerazzurri finished ninth last season – their lowest position since 1994 – coming in 33 points behind Juventus. Under Andrea Stramaccioni's leadership, they surrendered a staggering 57 goals – a figure exceeded only by the Pescara team that went down in last place.
When Mazzarri took over as manager in the summer, many assumed that he would need some time to turn things around. The manager had proven his qualities during four successful years at Napoli but he was not a miracle worker. Few expected his team to win both of their opening two games, at home to Genoa and away to Catania; even fewer would have imagined that they could do so while keeping consecutive clean sheets.
That, though, is exactly what Inter did, defeating those opponents by a combined scoreline of 5-0. Supporters were curious. Could this team really be back so soon? Juventus's goalkeeper, Gigi Buffon, expressed his thoughts in an interview with Gazzetta last week. "Keep an eye on the Nerazzurri," he said. "In some respects they remind me of Juventus from two years ago."
Certainly there were comparisons to be drawn. The Bianconeri were at a low ebb in 2011, seeming to have lost their way after a second consecutive seventh-place finish. And yet by May 2012 they were champions, galvanised by the arrival of Conte as manager, as well as Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal in midfield. They benefited that year from not playing in European competition, and thus being able to focus all energies on domestic success, just as Inter will this season.
By contrast, Juventus travelled to Milan this weekend knowing that their first Champions League fixture was coming up on Tuesday. It is a mark of Conte's respect for Inter and Mazzarri that he did not allow that consideration to affect his team selection. His starting XI was unchanged from the players who had beaten Lazio and Sampdoria over the two previous rounds of games.
Fresh from an international break, both teams were short on rest and preparation. The 12 Inter players called up to represent their countries over the previous fortnight had racked up an incredible 92,645 air miles but they had played an average of 50 fewer minutes per head than their Juventus counterparts.
Despite it all, the game did not disappoint. After a frantic opening, in which only a well-timed intervention from Hugo Campagnaro prevented Carlos Tévez from putting Mirko Vucinic through on goal, Inter gradually took control of the game.
In his short time at the club so far, Mazzarri has focused on keeping his team compact and cohesive – ensuring that they can protecting themselves from damage before seeking to hit out on the counter. On Saturday Inter completed the first part of that task to great effect, restricting Juventus to only one shot on goal in the first-half – albeit the Nerazzurri themselves only had two.
It was not until the second half that the game broke open. In the 69th minute Mazzarri made his gamble, introducing the forward Mauro Icardi to replace a midfielder in Saphir Taïder.
The manager could not have asked for a better option off the bench. If Buffon's nickname is Superman, then Icardi ought to be Kryptonite. Playing for Sampdoria last season, Icardi scored three times in two games against Juventus – including an improbable double to convert a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory for his team in Turin. Samp had been down to 10-men at the time.
Icardi repeated the trick here, sweeping the ball past Buffon with almost his first touch of the game. This time, though, the result did not hold. Only two minutes later Vidal equalised and Inter's heads dropped; by the end they were grateful to some lax finishing from Mauricio Isla for preserving their point.
Even so, there were reasons for Inter to be encouraged; Mazzarri's team had for large stretches outplayed and also outworked Juventus. The contribution of Ricky Alvarez, who stole the ball from Giorgio Chiellini to set up Icardi's goal, was indicative of a shifting mentality. Previously in his career Alvarez was thought to be both too weak physically and too inconsistent in his effort; in three games so far under Mazzarri he has been neither of those things.
And while Inter might not yet have found the next Vidal, they have clearly made some astute additions. Few 20-year-olds could take their one chance in such a high-pressure game as confidently as Icardi did. Taider, only 12 months older, looked similarly composed in midfield.
Nobody has done more, meanwhile, to shore up the defence than Campagnaro, a player who has followed Mazzarri from Sampdoria, to Napoli, to Inter. His understanding of the manager's tactical systems has been invaluable as the team adjusts to playing with a three-man defence. His work-rate through the first three games has also been phenomenal.
It is still too early to judge Mazzarri's Inter fully. Fans cannot have forgotten that they beat Juventus in Turin last November, only to collapse spectacularly thereafter. The club seems to be laying more solid foundations this time round but there is uncertainty, too, as the long-mooted sale to Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir continues to drag on.
If nothing else, their draw this weekend will have been celebrated by Napoli, who beat Atalanta to claim sole possession of first place (at least until Roma play Parma on Monday). It is the first time since 7 April 2012 that anyone has held more points than Juventus in Serie A. As the Bianconeri embark on their latest attempt to conquer Europe this week, they will know that they, too, are facing new challenges back home.
Talking Points
• Napoli got past Atalanta, incidentally, with goals from the Gonzalo Higuaín and José Callejón. It is tempting to wonder whether their former club, Real Madrid, might have missed either player as they laboured to a 2-2 draw with Villarreal. Perhaps not but both men are certainly popular in Naples right now after combining for five goals in only three league games.
• More underwhelming was Kaká's second Milan debut, following his own transfer from Madrid. It would be unfair to judge the Brazilian too harshly when he is clearly some way from peak match fitness, but his prospects of recovering top condition quickly took a blow when he left the game with a muscle complaint shortly after half-time.
Milan were lucky to get a point against Torino in the end, falling 2-0 behind before eventually equalising through a Mario Balotelli penalty in the fifth minute of injury time. But more troubling than this performance for the Rossoneri are the injuries that accompanied it, with Riccardo Montolivo also limping out.
The team was already missing Ignazio Abate, Mattia De Sciglio and Daniele Bonera in defence and reportedly might have to do without Andrea Poli on Wednesday, too. With six games to play in less than three weeks, this squad might soon be stretched to its limits.
• Torino deserve some credit before we move on from this game, and especially Alessio Cerci, who scored one, set up another and generally reminded us of why he will remain in Cesare Prandelli's thoughts as we move towards next summer's World Cup.
• Milan are not the only ones suffering with injuries, however. Fiorentina might have to do without Mario Gómez for the next three months after he sprained a knee against Cagliari (further scans will be taken in the next few days to determine the extent of the damage), while Juan Cuadrado is also expected to miss at least the next couple of weeks with a shoulder injury.
It was a frustrating weekend all round for the Viola, who drew 1-1 at home to Cagliari, and should have had a penalty when Giuseppe Rossi was brought down by Nicola Murru. Vincenzo Montella was more angry at the referee's decision to send off David Pizarro in second-half injury time.
"There is no consistency," he said. "Some players insult referees theatrically and nothing happens. Pizarro literally said: 'What the fuck are you doing?,' with his hands down at his sides. How many times does that happen in a match? How many sendings off should there be?"
• Antonio Di Natale celebrated his 300th appearance for Udinese with a goal, although it was not quite as pretty as the free-kick that Alessandro Diamanti scored at the other end.
• Six points each after only two games for Livorno and Hellas Verona but still none for Sassuolo – who sit joint-last with Catania on zero. It does not bode well for Eusebio Di Francesco's side that this should be the case when two of their three games so far have been against fellow newly promoted sides.
Results: Fiorentina 1-1 Cagliari, Inter 1-1 Juventus, Lazio 3-0 Chievo, Livorno 2-0 Catania, Napoli 2-0 Atalanta, Sampdoria 0-3 Genoa, Torino 2-2 Milan, Udinese 1-1 Bologna, Hellas Verona 2-0 Sassuolo. Parma play Roma on Monday night.
• Latest Serie A standings
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Paolo Bandini
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