Milan, Napoli and Atalanta all have new head coaches as Italian football hopes to return to the spotlight

And so, calcio’s “third apocalypse” has passed. A lot of Italians enjoyed the World Cup more than they expected. Without a team to cheer for, again, a country turned its attention to different sports. And found its athletes dominating them.

On the day Spain defeated Argentina in New Jersey, Kimi Antonelli, the first Italian to win a Formula One race in 20 years, extended his lead in the standings by triumphing again at the Belgian Grand Prix. A week before that, Jannik Sinner defended his men’s singles title at Wimbledon.

• Vicario has lost No 1 slot at Spurs to Antonin Kinsky

• Coventry and Ipswich also busy in the market

Juventus have agreed a deal with Tottenham for Guglielmo Vicario to join on an initial loan after the Italian side decided against a move for Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martínez.

Vicario is set to leave Spurs having lost his place as Roberto De Zerbi’s No 1 to Antonin Kinsky, with the agreement with Juventus containing an option to make the Italy goalkeeper’s move permanent next year for £8.6m. Martínez had been linked with the Turin club after Villa agreed a deal to sign Parma’s Zion Suzuki for around £30m but Juventus saw a €10m offer rejected over the weekend and decided to switch their attention elsewhere. The Argentina goalkeeper is currently sidelined due to a finger injury.

• Ian Rush among those from Liverpool and Juventus at ceremony

• New Anfield Road monument replaces original plaque

Liverpool have unveiled a new memorial on the 41st anniversary of the Heysel Stadium tragedy to the 39 fans who died.

Representatives from Juventus, Liverpool’s opponents in the 1985 European Cup final, attended the unveiling ceremony at Anfield on Friday along with the Liverpool ambassador Ian Rush and the chief executive, Billy Hogan. Entitled Forever Bound, the memorial is in a more prominent location behind the Anfield Road Stand and replaces the original plaque on the wall of the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, which was felt to be inadequate.

The battle for the top four in Italy was overshadowed by violence in Turin, where Juve joined Milan in missing out

The stage was set for a grand finale: five games to settle season-long battles at either end of the Serie A table. Top spot was decided – Inter claimed their 21st Scudetto at the start of this month – but there were four teams contesting two Champions League berths, while Lecce and Cremonese fought to escape relegation. All of them would play simultaneously. Or at least, that was the plan.

Among these five games was a derby between Torino and Juventus. As kick-off approached, supporters clashed close to the stadium. One, a 36-year-old Juve fan named Marco Leonardo Basoccu, was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after suffering a head wound.

• Juventus and Milan miss out on top four Serie A spots

• Turin derby at Torino delayed after pre-match clash

Antonio Conte announced his departure as Napoli head coach on Sunday after guiding the team to a 1-0 home victory over Udinese in their final match of the Serie A season.

The 56-year-old confirmed the decision at a press conference alongside the Napoli president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, after the match. Having joined the club in July 2024, he won the league title in his debut campaign. Conte’s final match was settled by a 23rd-minute goal from striker Rasmus Højlund, securing a second-place finish in the league table for the hosts behind Inter.

• Sevilla safe despite defeat against Real Madrid

• Tiny Elversberg seal first promotion to Bundesliga

Roma took a huge step towards returning to the Champions League by beating Lazio 2-0 in a feisty derby which finished with both teams down to 10 men, while Napoli won 3-0 at Pisa to secure a top-four spot.

Gianluca Mancini smashed home two headers from corners, one in each half, at the Stadio Olimpico to move Roma up to fourth thanks also to Juventus’s shock 2-0 home defeat by Fiorentina.

• Kane misses first Bundesliga spot-kick in 25 attempts in win

• Slavia-Sparta derby abandoned after pitch invasion

Harry Kane missed a penalty as Bayern Munich failed to hit top form but the Bundesliga champions still edged struggling Wolfsburg 1-0 to bounce back after their midweek Champions League semi-final exit to Paris Saint-Germain.

Bayern, who won with a Michael Olise goal, had suffered a 6-5 aggregate loss to PSG after their 1-1 draw in Munich on Wednesday, narrowly missing out on what would have been their first Champions League final in six years. The frustration was evident at the start as the Bavarian side, with six changes in the lineup, lacked their usual attacking spark despite having Kane, the top scorer, in the starting XI.

In this exclusive book extract, the former Italy goalkeeper describes a moment of crisis before a game against Reggina

If I have to identify the most important moment of this crisis, it was just before a Juventus-Reggina match in February 2004. It was an evening game. We were six points off the top of the table. There were 13 games left in the season, so anything could still happen, but there was an air of negativity, as if the season was already over. We had just had two crazy and very different games. In our previous league match, we had conceded four goals to Totti and Cassano’s Roma, while in midweek we had won the Coppa Italia semi-final against Inter at San Siro, on penalties. Although we were still in the running in the Champions League and perhaps even a little in the league, inside me I was certain that in that season everything was lost.

It was a classic winter Turin evening, wet and cold, and the stadium was half-empty. The speakers played a song that I only heard as an annoying buzz. During the warm-up I prayed and performed my usual pre-match routine, but it felt as if something was wrong with my muscles. After two minutes I put on my gloves, I stood in the goal and I realised that I was struggling to breathe. I stood there, staring at the pitch, and I felt slightly dizzy. What scared me, however, was the tightness I felt in my diaphragm, between chest and stomach, as if I had been hit.

Italy’s goalkeeping legend on getting used to retirement, the decline of Italian football and why he blames himself for Zidane’s World Cup final red card

“I tear the gloves off my hands and my bare knuckles, reddened and soaked with sweat, shine in the neon light,” Gianluigi Buffon writes when he remembers leaving the pitch at half-time during the final game of his remarkable career, in May 2023. “I really feel dead inside. I am 45 years old, and around me many of my teammates walking in shorts towards the dressing room could easily be my children.”

The gripping and intimate tone of Buffon’s book, Saved, which opens with his last-ever game in a Serie B playoff for Parma, is matched by his warm and open character. The great goalkeeper played professionally for 28 years and his reflections are as moving as they are sombre. “Can you live without it, Gigi?” he asks. “No, I can’t … when you have outlived your youth, and the time when you feel strong and all-powerful has ended, and your muscles, joints and reflexes start to wear out, then it really is like dying.”

• Bayern bounce back from early concession to win 4-2

• PSG’s title hopes hit after 2-1 home defeat by Lyon

Bayern Munich secured their 35th German league title by beating Stuttgart 4-2 to open up an unassailable lead with four games to play. Sunday’s result sent Bayern 15 points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund.

The Bavarian side, who face Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup semi-final next week before taking on Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on 28 April, were a goal down before scoring four times to quickly turn the game around.

• Goretzka hits leaders’ 102nd goal in 5-0 win at St Pauli

• Ferran Torres double helps Barcelona beat Espanyol 4-1

Bayern Munich crushed hosts St Pauli 5-0 in the Bundesliga to set an all-time season scoring record while also extending their lead at the top to 12 points with five games left to play.

The Bavarian club, who host Real Madrid on Wednesday in their Champions League quarter-final second leg after their 2-1 win in Spain, are within touching distance of the league title on 76 points, with second-placed Borussia Dortmund stuck on 64 after their 1-0 home loss to Bayer Leverkusen.

• Bundesliga leaders reach 97 goals with Kane scoring 31

• PSG return to Ligue 1 summit, Juve held by Sassuolo

Bayern Munich scored three times in seven minutes to cruise past Union Berlin 4-0 in the Bundesliga on Saturday to stay clear at the top while edging closer to an all-time club scoring record.

The Bavarian club, chasing three trophies and fresh from their midweek Champions League quarter-final qualification with a 10-2 aggregate win over Atalanta, are nine points clear at the top.

• Harry Kane has goal disallowed on return

• Guler scores from own half in Real Madrid victory

Bayern Munich came from behind and finished the match with nine players in a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, allowing Borussia Dortmund to close to within nine points of the Bundesliga leaders. Luis Díaz, who scored the equaliser after Aleix García’s opener, was sent off in the 84th minute for a second yellow card. Nicolas Jackson had received a red card in the 42nd minute.

Leverkusen took the lead in the sixth minute after Montrell Culbreath stole the ball off Díaz and fed it to Patrik Schick, who set up García on the edge of the box. The midfielder slotted home with a deflected shot. The hosts defended well to contain Bayern, and frustration showed when Jackson was sent off before half-time for a late challenge on Martin Terrier.

• Teenager’s goal edges champions to 1-0 victory

• Borussia Dortmund overcome Cologne 2-1

Lamine Yamal’s superbly taken goal earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday in La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead on second-placed Real Madrid, who had temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo on Friday.

Yamal curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mamés stadium in a hard-fought clash.

• Visitors score twice in last 12 minutes to draw 3-3 in Rome

• Sevilla come from 2-0 down to draw derby at Real Betis

Juventus maintained their hopes of reaching next season’s Champions League after bouncing back from two goals down to draw 3-3 at their top-four rivals Roma with nearly the last kick of the game. Federico Gatti lashed in Juve’s leveller in the third minute of stoppage time to give the visitors a point in Rome that keeps them four points behind their opponents in fourth.

Juve were trailing 3-1 with 12 minutes remaining after goals from Wesley França, Evan Ndicka and Donyell Malen gave the hosts a commanding lead in front of more than 65,000 delighted fans. But Jérémie Boga volleyed Juventus back into the game and just as Roma looked as if they would hold out for the win Gatti pounced on a poorly defended free-kick to snatch an unlikely point.

• Serie A side win 4-3 on aggregate after 4-1 victory

• Istanbul giants fend off 10-man Juve in extra time

Lazar Samardzic slotted home a stoppage-time penalty to complete a dramatic 4-1 victory for Atalanta against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, sending the Italian side into the Champions League’s last 16 with a comeback 4-3 aggregate triumph.

Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini was sent off after his studs caught the head of Atalanta’s Nikola Krstovic in the penalty area and Samardzic converted the spot kick in the 98th minute to send the Italians through. Atalanta will now face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the round of 16, with the draw on Friday.

• Raúl García’s 90th-minute winner sinks Real Madrid

• Bayern go eight points clear at top; PSG return to Ligue 1 summit

Raúl García’s superb 90th-minute strike consigned La Liga leaders Real Madrid to a 2-1 defeat at Osasuna in La Liga on Saturday.

Champions Barcelona trail Madrid by two points but can overtake them on Sunday if they beat Levante at Camp Nou.

• Désiré Doué helps Paris side fight back for 3-2 first-leg win

• Galatasaray stun 10-man Juve; Dortmund beat Atalanta

The Champions League holders, Paris Saint-Germain, overcame a terrible start and a two-goal deficit to beat 10-man Monaco 3-2 in the first leg of their playoff tie. Désiré Doué came off the bench to engineer an impressive turnaround for PSG, who conceded a goal in the opening minute and were 2-0 down after 18 minutes as Folarin Balogun grabbed a double for the hosts.

The 20-year-old Doué replaced the Ballon d’Or winner, Ousmane Dembélé, who went off injured after 27 minutes, and proved decisive for the visitors as he struck two superb goals and set up one for Achraf Hakimi.

• La Penna wrongly sent off Juve’s Kalulu against Inter

• Official could face one-month ban following incident

The referee Federico La Penna has received dozens of death threats after wrongly sending off a Juventus player at Inter on Saturday. Italian police have reportedly advised him not to leave his home.

La Penna sparked fury among Juventus fans after dismissing Pierre Kalulu, showing the defender a second yellow card for a challenge on Alessandro Bastoni. Replays showed Bastoni had clearly simulated the fall. Juventus officials and fans argued that the decision heavily influenced the game, which Inter won 3-2, despite the Bianconeri having fought back to level the score with 10 men.

Juve directors condemned Pierre Kalulu’s dismissal but beyond the outrage there were reasons to take heart

At the end of a spectacular, ferocious Derby d’Italia, none of Juventus’s players nor their manager would answer questions from the media. Instead, their chief executive, Damien Comolli, and director of football strategy, Giorgio Chiellini, spoke on the club’s behalf. They were not there to discuss tactical nuance.

“You can’t talk about football today,” said Chiellini. “Something unacceptable happened.” Comolli offered an even more grave verdict: “Juventus lost three points, but Italian football lost much more.” A strong claim. If true, might Comolli have done better to acknowledge his part in it?