Season preview: The stars come back to Italy

Finally, a superstar of world football is playing in Serie A again. With the purchase of Cristiano Ronaldo, record champions Juventus were able to pull off the transfer coup of the decade. Thanks to the 33-year-old Portuguese, the whole world is looking at Italy again and Serie A is regaining some of its former glory.

But it's not just Juve that has strengthened, the two Milan clubs have also upgraded themselves and finally want to play a central role in the championship again. The fight for the Champions League places will be exciting and the question will be whether anyone can hold a candle to series champions Juventus. A top game awaits on Saturday evening at 20.30 p.m. with Lazio against Napoli.

The favorites: Inter is Juve's toughest competitor Juventus starts the new season as favorites. However, a small change is taking place for the “Old Lady”. With goalkeeper icon Gianluigi Buffon, Stefan Lichtsteiner and Claudio Marchisio (he played for Juventus for 25 years), long-time supporters and leaders left the club. In addition, striker Gonzalo Higuain was handed over to league rivals Milan. In return, the “Bianconeri” strengthened themselves with Ronaldo (Real Madrid), the German Emre Can (Liverpool) and defender Jao Cancelo (Valencia). In addition, Leonardo Bonucci returned to his old place of work after just one year. With this team, Juve will hardly be able to dislodge their leadership position. Anything other than the fight for the title would be a huge disappointment for coach Max Allegri's team.

The new strike duo at Juventus: Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala © ANSA / DI MARCO

Last season it looked for a long time as if Napoli could win their first championship title since the 1989/1990 season. But in the final spurt, the “Partenopei” had to admit defeat to Juve again. This season, however, they want to do more than just annoy the record champions. With the new star coach Carlo Ancelotti, they want to finally push the hated Turin team off their throne. But while Juve strengthened themselves expensively, the southern Italians remained rather pale on the transfer market. Huge talent Fabian Ruiz (Real Betis), Simone Verdi (Bologna), Alex Meret (Spal/he is one of the greatest goalkeeper talents in Europe) and Kevin Malcuit (Lille) were brought in. Napoli suffered a bitter loss with the departure of Jorghino (with former coach Maurizio Sarri to Chelsea). The fight for the title will be difficult as the competition has strengthened. But a Champions League place should definitely be possible.

Inter started a transfer offensive this summer. They brought in Radja Nainggolan (Roma), Lautaro Martinez (Racing Club), Sime Vrsaljko (Atletico Madrid), Matteo Politano (Sassuolo), Keita Balde (Monaco), Stefan de Vrij (Lazio), Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus) - and that's it only the most important names. With these additions and the existing squad – especially striker Mauro Icardi – a lot is possible for the “Nerazzurri”. On paper, Inter appear to be Juve's biggest challengers. Coach Spaletti has to achieve at least a Champions League place with this team. Ideally, you can fight for the Scudetto with Juve.

Ice cold in front of the opposing goal: Mauro Icardi © APA/afp / GIUSEPPE CACACE

Last season will be remembered fondly at Roma. Third place in the league and the sensational Champions League semi-finals need to be confirmed. However, repeating these achievements will be very difficult. The semi-finals in the Champions League in particular seem almost impossible - but that was the case last year too. Sports director Monchi strengthened the team with a mix of experienced players such as Javier Pastore (PSG) and Steven Nzonzi (Sevilla) and with young talents such as Justin Kluivert (Ajax) and the Italian international Bryan Cristante (Atalanta). But the Romans also had to remove important supports. Radja Nainggolan moved to Inter, goalkeeper Alisson moved to Liverpool. The squad can't quite keep up with the other teams, but coach Eusebio di Francesco has proven that he can hold his own against strong opponents even with weaker players. Roma's goal will be to qualify for the Champions League again.

Milan, the second traditional club from Milan, has made its fans rave about the signing of Gonzalo Higuain. The Argentine star striker is the Rossoneri's king transfer. After a few tough years, including several changes of ownership, Milan finally wants to get back into the Champions League. In addition to Higuain, defender Mattia Caldara (Juventus/in exchange with Bonucci), Tiemoue Bakayoko (Chelsea), Samu Castillejo (Villareal) and Diego Laxalt (Genoa) were also brought in. Fourth place should be the Rossoneri's goal for the season. But: Despite the obligations, a Champions League place is anything but certain - because the competition is strong.

Lazio and Atalanta (although the team seems weaker than in previous years) can upset any of the top favorites and take a few points from the duels with Inter & Co. Lazio in particular with top scorer Ciro Immobile can keep an eye on the top 4. For the “Biancocelesti” the double burden of the championship and the Europa League becomes a challenge because you can’t has a squad as broad as the competition.

Ciro Immobile scored 29 goals last season © ANSA / CIRO FUSCO

The relegation candidates Parma managed the feat of marching straight from Serie D to Serie A. But staying in Serie A beyond the season will be a tough battle. For the mission to stay in the league, well-known players such as Bruno Alves (Cagliari), the experienced Massimo Gobbi (Chievo) and the striker Roberto Inglese (Napoli) were brought in. They are also close to signing winger Gervinho. Manuel Scavone from Bolzano is moving to Lecce in Serie B. Coach Roberto D'Aversa's team will have to prepare for a tough relegation battle. But with Inglese, who was most recently at Chievo, they have a goalscorer in their own ranks who will be good for a few points.

Serie B champions Empoli will also find themselves in a relegation battle. With Luca Antonelli (Milan) and Matias Silvestre (Sampdoria), two experienced players were brought in for the defense. In attack, talent Antonino La Gumina was brought in from Palermo. Together with the top scorer in Serie B, Francesco Caputo, he forms an interesting duo. It will be important for the club from Tuscany to take advantage of every opportunity to score points and not to miss any opportunities. If that works, Empoli can stay in the league.

Can Empoli also celebrate at the end of this season? © ANSA / FABIO MUZZI

The third promoted team, Frosinone, is also one of the relegation candidates. The club from Lazio wants to establish itself in Serie A after the second promotion in the club's history. To do this, they brought in some league-experienced players such as Marco Sportiello (Atalanta), Christian Molinaro (Torino) and the Icelandic national player Emil Hallfredson. It will still be an almost impossible task for Frosinone to stay in the league - in any case they are relegation candidate number 1. The elimination in the cup against FC Südtirol was also a bitter disappointment.

Chievo was just able to save itself last season. However, due to charges of falsifying the balance sheet, the club faces an uncertain future. The Veronese were lucky that the first procedure was discontinued due to inadmissibility. So there is no risk of points being deducted for the time being. However, if the falsification of the balance sheet is confirmed in a second attempt at the lawsuit and Chievo is found guilty, the club from Verona could face a points deduction of up to 15 points. With the points deduction, it would be hard to imagine Chievo staying in Serie A. The stars With Cristiano Ronaldo, a real world star is playing in the league again after years. In his career, the 33-year-old became a world footballer five times (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017), a Champions League winner five times (07/08;13/14;15/16;16/17;17/18) and in 2016 European champions with Portugal. These are just the superstar's most important achievements. In Madrid, the Portuguese scored a breathtaking 450 goals in just 438 games and is also the record goalscorer in the Champions League with 120 goals. The player is not only important in terms of sport, but also a weapon in terms of advertising. Cristiano Ronaldo has brought Serie A back to prominence and reawakened global interest in the league.

Gonzalo Higuain had to vacate his place for “CR7” at Juve. But the Argentine is still a goal machine and demonstrated this in his five years in Serie A. At Napoli he scored 92 goals in 147 games and at the Bianconeri he scored 55 goals in 105 games. The “Milanisti” are now hoping for a similar hit rate.

The 30-year-old Higuain will now be hunting for goals for Milan © ANSA / Andrea Comas

The same applies to the other Argentine top scorer Mauro Icardi as to Higuain. With 110 Serie A goals in 190 games, the 25-year-old is also one of the most dangerous goalscorers in the league. The attacker only underlined this last season when he became top scorer in Serie A for the second time. This season Icardi can finally show his skills in the Champions League.

The Serbian Sergej Milinkovic Savic is considered one of the greatest talents in the world. Despite being over 1,90 meters tall, the Lazio midfielder is a sophisticated technician who is unparalleled in the league. Due to this mix of physicality and technical finesse, the 23-year-old is in high demand on the transfer market. Lazio president Claudio Lotito is said to have already received offers of 100 million for the midfielder.

Kalidou Koulibaly may not be the most noticeable player at Napoli, but he is one of the most important. The 1,95 meter tall defender is hard to overcome in the air and in positional play and can also make an impact in the build-up game. Koulibaly has been linked to almost all of Europe's top clubs, but has always remained loyal to Napoli. The 27-year-old would like to finally celebrate a title with the “Partenopei” this season. Because of Cristiano Ronaldo, ticket prices have skyrocketed At Juventus, all ticket prices have increased by 30% compared to the previous year due to the Portuguese. A place in the curve now costs 55 euros, last year you could buy the same ticket for 40 euros. The same applies to the stands where the price was increased from 130 euros to 180 euros. This caused displeasure, especially among the ultras, who had already called for a boycott of the first championship game against Chievo.

But other clubs also use the “CR7 effect”, for example newly promoted Parma. For the home game against Juventus on November 2nd, Parma is charging the proud sum of 187 euros. For all other games the ticket only costs 25 euros.

Schedule 1st matchday

Saturday, 18.08.2018/XNUMX/XNUMX 18:00 p.m. Chievo – Juventus 20:30 p.m. Lazio – Napoli

Sunday, 19.08.2018/XNUMX/XNUMX 18:00 p.m. Torino – Roma 20:30 p.m. Empoli – Cagliari 20:30 p.m. Parma – Udinese 20:30 p.m. Bologna – SPAL 20:30 p.m. Sassuolo – Inter Monday, 20.08.2018 20:30 p.m. Atalanta - Frosinone

The Sampdoria – Fiorentina and Milan – Genoa games have been postponed due to the tragedy in Genoa.

Serie A Italy	SP	TV	P
1. Inter	33	72:32	71
2. Naples	33	52:25	71
3. Atalanta	33	66:30	64
4.Bologna	33	52:37	60
5. Juventus	33	49:31	59
6. Lazio	33	55:43	59
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Season preview: The stars come back to Italy

From this weekend the ball will roll again in Serie A. It starts with defending champions Juventus against Chievo on Saturday at 18 p.m. All eyes will be on world footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. The Milan clubs and Napoli want to finally push Juve off the top.

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