Tuesday may have been a terrible day for Chelsea FC. It was tragic for a young supporter.

A flock of Blues fans, on their way to the Stadio Olympico in Rome for Tuesday's Champions League tie against AS Roma, were caught in a torrential thunderstorm. A 13-year-old boy was killed when a tree in which he took shelter under was struck by lightning.

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The logo for the 2008-09 Champions League Final has been unveiled. Have to say, I'm partial to last year's version. Then again, no one shows up for the logo. Click to continue reading...

Waking up in Rome on Monday morning, hearing the word "Lazio" many times around the main train station, where there must be a "smoking compulsory" sign, seemed to confirm that there is a different tone to this fledgling Serie A season.

Lazio, whom the majority of Roman residents inelegantly look down at as a by-product of the worst secretions of the human body, are top of the league. Click to continue reading...

It was Real Madrid & Villareal´s turn tonight to start their unique roads towards the European Cup Final in Rome, with both sides not disappointing & maintaining the positive results of the... Read all the news, results, details & comments in English on Spanish Football & Sports Click to continue reading...

Champions League debutants CFR 1907 Cluj came from behind to beat Roma and record a stunning 2-1 victory at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Beyond the absence of Totti, Roma had a strong squad out on the field and will be disappointed with their performance. There has been a bit of turmoil off the field [. Click to continue reading...

There's an old 1962 movie with Charlton Heston (don't ask me how I know that) that has a very appropriate title for this match: "The Pigeon That Took Rome". CFR Cluj being the pigeon, a.k.a the David that no one knew but who at his first UCL appearance defeated the big Roma Goliath. Italian manager [. Click to continue reading...

The Champions League kicks off this evening as the route to Rome starts in earnest. Chelsea are at home to Bordeaux and Liverpool are in Marseille. There is also League action this evening, so comeback later and see how the results pan out. Click to continue reading...

RAFA BENITEZ believes it is only a matter of time before Andrea Dossena shows the form which made him one of Liverpool's top targets in the summer.

Dossena has endured a difficult start to his Anfield career since joining from Udinese in a £6m deal in July.

But his teething problems did not stop Italian national team manager Marcello Lippi from selecting the left back – who turns 27 today – for last night's 2-0 win over Georgia in a World Cup qualifier in Rome. Click to continue reading...

Remember that crazy story of the Napoli Ultras invading Rome.

Well, I found the video. It's pretty intense. There are like hundreds of 'em.

You hear they think the mafia's behind this behavior? Click to continue reading...

Suffice it to say, the opening week of the Serie A season hasn't gone so well for Napoli fans. Yes, their team fought hard for their draw with Roma in the derby, but because of a group of, quite frankly, idiots, that's the last away game they'll be able to attend all year long. One [...] Click to continue reading...

Apparently they were fighting cops, railway workers and anyone they wanted on some train to Rome.

All the passengers had to take alternate routes.

'It is disgusting that a group of thugs could be allowed to do this to us,' one woman who had to change her travel plans told an Italian television station.

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I have to admit it's cool if it happened. But this out of the Press association.

" -Sir Alex joked he would merely be happy to be alive by the time of the London Games."

All the news yesterday painted a picture that the knighted one would accept the challenge after he retired from his Red Devil post. Click to continue reading...

Italy's broadcasters have reached an Impasse with Federcalcio (Italy's ruling body for football) Federcalcio is demanding any broadcaster must pay 104 Million Euros for the broadcast rights to broadcast the Serie A this season.As of today Rai the government owned TV broadcaster has only bid 42 million Euros saying it would not meet the 15 percent rate hike to cover the serie A. Click to continue reading...

Daniel ¨Cata¨ Díaz got the call from coach Alfio Basile as a replacement for Inter defender Nicolás Burdisso.  Burdisso suffered a calf injury and will be out of action for approximately 45 days. The Getafe defender  will This injury ocurred in this weeks Italian Super cup final at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Click to continue reading...

The road Rome is a long one but that will end with gold for one team.  Today the draw for the group stages was made and the gods looked favourably on us. We got Porto, Fenerbahce and Dinamo Kiev.  Not too bad except for the long journeys.  This is a winnable group, three away draws are [...] Click to continue reading...

Arsenal face Porto, Fenerbahce and Dynamo Kiev in the first round group stage. I'm not sure which order the games are played in, but Match day one is 16/17 September. For those who, like me, were mumbling through "We're on our way..." last night, the final is in Rome this year. Should make a nice trip. Click to continue reading...

Maybe Champions League glory is just meant to be for Liverpool this season. Rafa Benitez was counting his lucky stars in Liege last night after watching his side scrape a very fortunate goalless draw against the Belgian champions on their home patch, meaning the dream of returning to Rome, scene of two previous European Cup [. Click to continue reading...

Sad news out of Italy today, as the father in law of Rome's Daniele De Rossi was found dead. Massimiliano Pisnoli was found in Aprilia near Rome with gunshot wounds to the head and shoulders. Forensics suggest that he had been dead for over a week. Pisnoli had a criminal record and was involved in robberies in the past. Click to continue reading...

Maybe you haven't noticed all the big name arrivals but lets put this into perspective, all roads are leading to Rome or more accurately all roads are leading to Serie A, once you consider AS Roma are the one club having difficulty signing a big name striker.   Looking at the numbers after consulting the transfer sites, more [. Click to continue reading...

It looks like Jeff Cooper and St. Louis United are headed to the birthplace of football to scare up some £££'s for the St Louis expansion bid.

According to this article:


Jeff Cooper's effort to bring Major League Soccer to St. Louis took him this week to London, where he met with several interested parties who are involved in pro soccer in the UK. Click to continue reading...

The speculation surrounding Yossi Benayoun's Liverpool future refuses to go away with Roma the latest club reported to be interested in the Israeli.

The news comes despite the fact that the midfielder's agent hit out earlier in the week after reports that both Manchester City and former club West Ham were interested in a move for Benayoun. Click to continue reading...

Roma defender Philippe Mexes and his family suffered a horrendous ordeal in Rome late last night, when armed thieves stole the player's car while his two-year-old daughter Eva slept in the back seat.
Car-jacking drama for Roma star Click to continue reading...

Like the Visigoths sacking Rome, Toronto's barricade-breaking fans probably weren't aware their violence would herald the end of an empire. Following their second game, best-of-three series 3-2 loss to the Chicago Sting on October 3rd, 1984, pitch-invading Toronto Blizzard fans caused so much disruption at Varsity Stadium that the trophy presentation was forced into the Sting's dressing room. Click to continue reading...

1. The stereotype is pretty much true.

The stereotype in Rome is that in the city of Rome most people are Roma fans, while Lazio fans are all from the outskirts and from cities in the region of Lazio. For the most part, it's true, as most people I encountered in Rome were Roma fans, with a few Laziali here and there.

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After making it publicly known that he does not want to return to Eastlands, Manchester City's on-loan striker is more than likely to stay at Celtic, but not if Lazio have anything to do with it. After a successful loan spell at Celtic Park, Gordon Strachan was very keen to make Georgios Samaras' deal permanent, as [. Click to continue reading...

Well, Brant does the rumors out of Europe so I thought I'd take a shot at everything from Mexico to Argentina. Some notable transfers that have been confirmed is Boca Juniors star Rodrigo Palacio going to Lazio of Rome. Boca... Click to continue reading...

John Arne Riise is in Rome to discuss a transfer to AS Roma after a fee was agreed between Liverpool and Roma.

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John Arne Riise is in Rome to discuss a transfer to AS Roma after a fee was agreed between Liverpool and Roma.

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Well, it's summer. And summer usually means vacation. So although I love writing about calcio here daily on the Offside, I'm leaving for Rome tonight and I will be in the capitale for the whole month of June. I will have limited to no internet access and will be unable to blog about all things calcio for a month.

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De Rossi it is the other great objective that has Real Madrid for the next season, objective that to day of today seems unattainable by the 45 million euros that Rome by the Italian midfield player requests. Real Madrid, to the margin of a forward, wants to mediocentro to reinforce that zone of the field. Click to continue reading...

A day late, we conclude this week's series on the 2006 World Cup by looking at fans celebrating at the Circus Maximus (Circo Massimo in Italian), Rome. Over 700,000 packed the site of the ancient Roman hippodrome the night Italy won the World Cup for the fourth time. Photo credit: hidden_vice on Flickr, via the Pitch [. Click to continue reading...

It seems that all I do is link to Spangly Princess, but that's because her writing about the death of Lazio ultra Gabriele Sandri in Italy on Sunday and its aftermath surpasses anything I could do even if I lived in Italy as she does. Today she writes about attending Sandri's funeral, and it's a [...] SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Gabriele Sandri's Funeral", url: "http://pitchinvasion. Click to continue reading...

Unfortunately I don't have the time (or the knowledge) to construct a thoughtful post on the aftermath of yesterday's terrible events in Italy this morning. But I can again urge you to read the commentary from two people on the ground there: see ursus' latest comment today on our post regarding what happened with the [...] SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "More on the Aftermath of Gabriele Sandri's Death and the Riots in Italy", url: "http://pitchinvasion. Click to continue reading...