How did Seven Nation Army take over Italy?

It's probably the most indie sports anthem ever, but if anyone was following the 2006 World Cup then they remember the simple, ever-so-catchy bassline of The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army. It ended up dominating the whole world of sports, but it became the beloved song of the Italian fans and players.

On October 11 last year in the provincial city of Pescara, Italy ended their qualifying campaign with a 3-0 win over Northern Ireland. It was the perfect ending as Italy finished top of their group. It was also just reward for coach Cesare Prandelli who managed to rebuild a strong Azzurri from the wreckage of the 2010 World Cup disaster.

We are half way through the Serie A season; Juventus were crowned winter champions after a hard fought 2-0 away win at Atalanta. Roma hit five on Saturday evening at home against Cesena where Francesco Totti hit his 211th goal for the club. Inter Milan won their eighth straight game in all competitions after defeating Lazio at the San Siro 2-1.

We are half way through the Serie A season; Juventus were crowned winter champions after a hard fought 2-0 away win at Atalanta. Roma hit five on Saturday evening at home against Cesena where Francesco Totti hit his 211th goal for the club. Inter Milan won their eighth straight game in all competitions after defeating Lazio at the San Siro 2-1.

Football is a romantic game and, to many, the raw emotion a football match can invoke surpasses that of any other sport. There is nothing better than seeing great players battling it out on the field. Fans take true delight in any match when legends, known all over the world, take to the pitch to fight for supremacy.

In soli 10 minuti di gioco la Roma chiude il match contro il Cesena nel primo anticipo dell'ultima giornata d'andata di Serie A e conquista la quarta vittoria consecutiva in campionato. Tre reti, due di capitan Totti e una di Borini, sconquassano i romagnoli che provano poi a tornare in gara con Eder ma frananoContinua a leggere .

It's clear that Michel Telo's Brazilian hit song 'Ai Seu Te Pego' is still popular within the Italian football scene, or at least to Milan's 'Carioca' Club of Robinho, Thiago Silva and Pato.

During Milan's 3-0 defeat of Novaro last night, Robinho did the famous dance move after netting the second goal.

AS Roma captain Francesco Totti cemented his name in the Serie A record books by becoming the leading goal scorer for a single club with 211 goals. The Roma Captain surpassed the great Swedish and AC Milan forward Gunner Nordhals 210 goals.
Luis Enrique's side ran rampant yesterday in a much needed romp.

Roma legend and skipper Francesco Totti broke the Serie A scoring record for a single club after managing to score a quick double on Saturday during the 5-1 win over Cesena. The two goals scored by Totti brought his tally to 211 goals with the Giallorossi in the Italian top flight.

Totti has now played 486 times in Serie A and scored 211 goals to beat the record of Swedish legend Gunnar Nordahl who managed to score 210 goals for Milan in league play.

One of Serie A biggest derby was played Sunday night and the blue and black side of Milan won the war. Inter Milan playing as the 'away' side won the derby for the first time in two seasons, thanks to a second half strike from Diego Milito who capitalised on an Ignazio Abate mistake. Juventus and Napoli dropped points at home; Lazio got their first win of the season and.

This weekend saw lots of action in the Serie A: a furious downpour which forced the suspension of a game; a feisty, highly-anticipated derby; and some very decisive wins. The result? The Serie A standings have been, to borrow from the late, great Elvis Presley, "all shook up"!

On Saturday, Roma travelled South to Sicily to take on Catania.

Continua il testa a testa, in vetta alla classifica di Serie A, tra Milan e Juventus appaiate con 37 punti. Nella 17/a giornata di campionato, prima del 2012, la corazzata di Conte soffre ma vince a Lecce con la rete di Matri, mentre il Milan espugna Bergamo per 2 a 0, grazie al rigore (generoso)Continua a leggere .

The Christmas break is over. This can only mean one thing: it's now time to put down the panettone and get back to calcio! The Serie A season resumed this weekend – and no holiday hangovers here; there was no shortage of action!

Perhaps still recovering from jet-setting-induced jet lag, Milan and Juventus, the league's joint leaders, both seemed to be struggling to get back into the swing of things with difficult wins against Atalanta and Lecce, respectively, on Sunday.

Image: REUTERS/Murad Sezer.

Remember the other day when we were bemoaning the detrimental effect that kit re-sizing had on our bringing you the best in short tents? Well, since that sad day, Polish NT striker Arkadiusz Piech has shown us there is still room for optimism (although not much else) during Poland's friendly against Bosnia on 16th December.

Hi guys, I was watching the Napoli v Roma derby yesterday,and I haven't watched Roma play for a good couple of years and to my surprise with along with young talents like Bojan in their team Totti was playing.Yes at the grand old age of 35 Francesco Totti was starting and captaining Roma.At the heart of AS Roma's attacking threat Totti was there.

Chelsea breathed life into their faint title hopes, while also helping open up the English Premier League title race after handing Manchester City their first loss of the season in a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

Frank Lampard came off the bench to convert the game-winning penalty as a Joleon Lescott handball doomed City to their first defeat, which leaves the Premier League leaders just two points ahead of Manchester United.

Another exciting match is upon on us Monday when two of the historically best teams in Italy collide in the country's capital, as Juventus travel to face Roma. This will be the Old Lady's fifth game in a little over two weeks. Juventus are coming in with blistering form as they continue to get positive results.

Francesco Totti treated his wife to a kid-less dinner out at Rome's Caminetto restaurant two nights ago. In other news, the Serie A power couple was recently dubbed Italy's answer to David & Victoria thanks to their high profile gigs, seemingly perfect offspring and because of the media's relentless reportage of their rumoured marital conflicts.

Udinese represented a challenge that, as Serie A Weekly suggested last week, would prove pivotal for new Roma and so it came to pass in an evening from which few positives could be taken. The ‘Zebrette', in many ways, are Roma's antithesis. Franceso Guidolin started his managerial career in 1988, the same year in which Luis Enrique made his senior playing debut in La Liga.

So Roma won one of those ‘should win' games hardly news to send ripples pulsating throughout Serie A. But slowly and surely, Luis Enrique's new Roma are coalescing into a more fluid unit with the signs of promise emerging. But while edging past Novara and Lecce is a positive, it remains a fundamental necessity and a journey to Udinese represents something far more meaningful and.

So Roma won one of those ‘should win' games hardly news to send ripples pulsating throughout Serie A. But slowly and surely, Luis Enrique's new Roma are coalescing into a more fluid unit with the signs of promise emerging. But while edging past Novara and Lecce is a positive, it remains a fundamental necessity and a journey to Udinese represents something far more meaningful and.

On Novara's synthetic surface, Roma had to dig deep, and dig they did, unearthing three much needed points thanks to a blend of persistence and vision. Against dogged and at times enterprising resistance, Roma looked to their new acquisitions as architects of an away day three points, rekindling the capital club's assault on Serie A but then came an unfortunately timed break for.

Roma - Lecce: Posticipo all'Olimpico Di Fabrizio Landolfi Domenica sera la Roma affronter il Lecce allo stadio Olimpico, nel posticipo della dodicesima giornata di campionato. Contro la formazione di Eusebio Di Francesco, potrebbe avvenire il ritorno in campo di Francesco Totti, dopo circa 50 giorni di assenza per infortunio.

The Milan tifosi and players rallied together last night to show their support for Antonio Cassano, the AC Milan striker who will undergo an interventional cardiac surgery (of his heart) to close the 'foramen ovale'. Doctors only ruled this when they discovered he was suffering from ischemic brain damage and he has been ruled out of football for up to six months.

Bad news for Italy's coach Cesare Prandelli, as one of his most talented forward could miss Euro 2012, on the next June. Antonio Cassano has suffered a small ischaemia after the winning of AC Milan against Roma last saturday. When it happened the player was with his teamates on the airplane, coming bacfrom Rome to Milan.

Bad news for Italy's coach Cesare Prandelli, as one of his most talented forward could miss Euro 2012, on the next June. Antonio Cassano has suffered a small ischaemia after the winning of AC Milan against Roma last saturday. When it happened the player was with his teamates on the airplane, coming bacfrom Rome to Milan.

Is it just us, or does Francesco Totti look remarkably relaxed for a man who appears to be on the verge of an invasive procedure while a smiling man looks on? To each their own, we suppose. Image via AS Roma's FB page.

Sunday marks this season's first addition of the Derby della Capitale, as Rome's two fierce rivals face each other at the Stadio Olimpico. In a season where Serie A looks to be wide open, winning a tense clash like this could put the wind in a team's sails and propel them towards the top of the table, so despite the fact this game appears early in the schedule it could have long term implications for both squads.

Italy finished off their qualifying campaign for Euro 2012 in fine fashion as they defeated Northern Ireland 3-0 with Antonio Cassano again the star. A superb volley for his first strike the Milan striker got his brace after a neat finish past the helpless Maik Taylor. His performance for the Azzurri reinforced one thing: this [.

Ryan Giggs has today been named the winner of the Golden Boot award, which is recognition given to players over the age of 29 who are selected by journalists from all over the world and voted for by fans.

The other nominations for the 2011 award were Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o, Carles Puyol, Raul, Xavi and Javier Zanetti.

Failure to beat Cagliari on the season's opening game served to make Roma's trip to Inter a considerably more daunting prospect. Normally, both a clean sheet and an accompanying San Siro point would have been considered a profitable raid to the north, but in retrospect, Enrique was left to rue his team's bewildering inability to score.

This summer transfer window has been fairly generic. We've seen Fabregas go to Barcelona, Atletico Madrid lose De Gea, Aguero and Forlan, along with a myriad of other deals which we all expected and knew were going to happen. There have been very few big surprises regarding signings, and instead we mostly got what we were waiting for as football/soccer fans.

AS Roma owner Thomas DiBenedetto has revealed that the Serie A outfit will not pressure Manchester City target Daniele DeRossi to stay at the club as the final decision will be made by the player himself.

De Rossi, 28, won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 but despite attracting interest from across the globe ever since, he has stayed committed to playing for the Giallorossi his entire career.

Closing in on a deal for Samir Nasri, Manchester City' manager, Roberto Mancini shared some interesting talks regarding the transfer market, not only about the incoming but also regarding the rumors about the Citizens players such as Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli.

While confirming the arrival of Samir Nasri, Mancini revealed to the press that he also has another dream signing, that he believes would definitely perfected the Eastlands, that player is As Roma's Daniele De Rossi.

Serie A blog: Why 'King of Roma' Totti needs to stop undermining the boss if he truly loves the club

For the new season, MirrorFootball is teaming up with some of the blogosphere's best new writers to bring you even more great football reads every single day. Today it's our new Serie A blogger, footballitaliano.

Saturday

- Francesco Totti was spotted soaking wet, in a bulge cupper on an Italian beach. Just how God intended it (PS his wife and kids were there too).

- We gave a warm chorizo welcome to Chelsea's latest transfer signing, Oriol Romeu. Don't be shy in your hellos, Kickettes, he doesn't bite*.

By Chris Wright

Not the first back-heeled penalty we've ever seen (that honour goes to Francesco Totti off the top of our heads), though it definitely took a sizeable set of swingers for the UAE's Awana Diab to step up and pull this off against Lebanon yesterday...

I have to admit for the first time in years i am giddy at the prospects of a Roma season.And admittedly it has more to do with manager then the owner. Despite understanding it all starts at the top. I am so intrigued to see how Roma play stylistically,how they adjust to stress tactically and then how the players react and respond.

Con gli 8 rigori trasformati nell'ultimo campionato (record stagionale) Francesco Totti ha raggiunto la quota di 57 penalty segnati in carriera in Serie A. La graduatoria storica è saldamente guidata dal "codino" Roberto Baggio con 68 rigori, il quale precede proprio il capitano giallorosso, stabile al secondo posto ad 11 lunghezze dalla vetta.

Losing Michael Essien for a possible six months because of a serious injury simply has simply worried Chelsea's manager, Andre Villas-Boas, considering the Ghanian has always been an important player for the Blues' midfield.

In order to keep the team strong for next summer, reports emerged that the former FC Porto tactician is keen on acquiring As Roma's star midfield player, Daniele De Rossi, who is being considered as the perfect replacement for Essien.