AGE IS JUST A NUMBER: HOW 40-YEAR-OLD LUKA MODRIć SAVED MILAN IN PISA
Luka Modrić makes Serie A history with a late winner vs Pisa! Read the match report, Rabiot’s red card fallout, and Scudetto stats.
Luka Modric called his late winner against Pisa “crucial” for keeping Milan in the Scudetto race. Right after the match, Ruben Loftus-Cheek admitted he’d heard Max Allegri yelling from the sidelines, frustrated and loud as ever.
Honestly, this game in Pisa was way tougher than most people expected. Pisa already gave Milan trouble earlier in the season, earning a wild 2-2 draw at San Siro back in October.
Tonight, Loftus-Cheek got things started, scoring the opening goal. Then Niclas Füllkrug had a golden chance to stretch the lead, but he smacked his penalty off the post so close, but no luck.
Felipe Loyola brought Pisa level, and it looked like Milan might slip up again. But then Modric, somehow still going strong at 40, found another gear. He darted into the box, linked up with Samuele Ricci, and buried the winner.
After the match, Modric told DAZN Italia, “We couldn’t afford to drop points today. We knew how important these three points were if we wanted to keep fighting for the title, and we did it.”
He added, “We got a little too comfortable in the second half and lost focus; that’s when they scored. But we pushed on, attacked, and got the goal we needed. We’re happy with the win.”
Modric also said, “Serie A is tough. Every match is a battle, so we just have to keep working, improving, and focusing on the next one.”
With that goal, Modric became the third-oldest player ever to score in Serie A; only Alessandro Costacurta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, both Milan legends, did it at an older age.
The Milan fans travelling to Pisa even gave Modric a chant once made famous by Napoli supporters for Diego Maradona. Modric couldn’t hide his grin: “It’s such a privilege to hear them sing for me. Thank you, it makes me really happy.”
As for Loftus-Cheek, he revealed that before his goal, Allegri kept shouting at him to make runs into the box and act more like a striker. “Pisa was so compact, it was hard to find space,” Loftus-Cheek said to DAZN Italia, still smiling. “But when the ball went wide, you could definitely hear him yelling, ‘Get in the box! Attack the box!’ Zack played a great cross, and I got on the end of it. Really happy with that.”
Adrien Rabiot got himself sent off in stoppage time with two yellows, one for a foul and another for arguing too much. Now he’ll miss the matches against Como and Inter.
With the title race heating up, people keep asking: Should Milan chase Inter at the top or just focus on holding onto a top-four spot? Loftus-Cheek kept it simple: “The most important thing is to focus on ourselves. Every game is so tough; you can’t look too far ahead. We have to go one game at a time, because every match is a real fight. If we get distracted by what other teams are doing, it’ll hurt us. We’ll see where we end up.”
THE 2028 VISION: UNEARTHING THE LONG-TERM BLUEPRINT TO KEEP LUCIANO SPALLETTI IN TURIN
Juventus are going all-in on Luciano Spalletti: Read about the 2028 contract offer, the Galatasaray fallout, and Serie A top-four hopes.
Juventus isn’t wasting any time. Even after crashing out of the Champions League against Galatasaray, they’re pushing hard to lock Luciano Spalletti into a long-term deal. The board just wrapped up a few important contract renewals, and now they want to keep Spalletti around until 2028. The goal? Give the club some real direction and stability while they turn their focus fully to domestic trophies and building for the future.
They’re not just thinking about Spalletti, either. Juventus has already nailed down new contracts for Kenan Yildiz, Carlo Pinsoglio, and Weston McKennie. Talks are rolling with captain Manuel Locatelli and Dusan Vlahovic, too. The message from the top is loud and clear: Spalletti, who only arrived at the end of October, is at the centre of everything now. His short-term deal is up in June, but the club wants him to lead the rebuild.
It’s not just talk. The board is pushing for a two-year extension – no more flirting; this is a full-court press. Spalletti has managed 27 games so far, picked up 14 wins, and drawn seven. The recent Champions League exit stings, but it hasn’t changed the club’s mind. They want him to sign on for two more years, aiming for a handshake by mid-March and then the paperwork soon after. Champions League qualification didn’t factor into their decision at all. Meetings could even happen this week if things move fast.
For Spalletti, it’s not just about the money. He wants to build something real in Turin, especially after that wild 7-5 defeat to Galatasaray. Even with a 3-2 win in the second leg after leading 3-0, only to have everything fall apart after Lloyd Kelly’s red card, the ending was brutal. Extra-time goals from Victor Osimhen and Baris Yilmaz finished the job, and Juventus’s European hopes went up in smoke.
Now, both Spalletti and the club want to settle things quickly. He wants a clear plan for the future and some new signings, and he’s expected to earn between €4 million and €5 million a year. For him, the project on the pitch comes first.
With 11 games left in Serie A and the top four still up for grabs, Juventus needs a lift after their European letdown. Right now, they’re 6th with 47 points, just behind Como, Roma, and Napoli. It’s tight, but the club sees Spalletti as the right man for the job.
The big conversations ahead will focus on squad building and investments. By tying down both the coach and several core players before summer, Juventus is trying to set up a united front ahead of the transfer window. They’re betting that experience and a clear plan can get them back where they want to be.
THE MCTOMINAY VOID: WHY NAPOLI STATISTICALLY STRUGGLE WHENEVER THEIR SCOTTISH STAR IS SIDELINED
With Scott McTominay sidelined by tendon inflammation, Napoli relied on a late Lukaku strike to keep their top-four hopes alive.
Napoli finally got a win without Scott McTominay, thanks to a wild stoppage-time goal against bottom-of-the-table Hellas Verona on Saturday. It’s the first time all season they’ve managed a victory without him.
McTominay missed his fourth straight game for Gli Azzurri. He’s been out since aggravating an injury in that 3-2 win over Genoa back on February 7. Right now, Napoli aren’t taking any risks with their star midfielder. He’s still dealing with tendon inflammation between his hamstring and groin, which has kept him from really training at full speed.
There’s talk in Italy that McTominay could be back for the Torino match on Friday. Scotland manager Steve Clarke has his fingers crossed, hoping his 29-year-old midfielder will be fit in time for friendlies against Japan and the Ivory Coast later this month. That’s when Scotland’s World Cup prep really kicks off.
Napoli have looked lost without McTominay. They hadn’t won any of the four games he missed, including a 1-0 loss to Torino back in October when he was out with an ankle strain.
But they finally broke that bad run in Verona. Romelu Lukaku came off the bench and buried a huge winner in the 95th minute, after Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro had cancelled out Rasmus Hojlund’s early goal for Napoli.
The win keeps Napoli third in Serie A. They’re 14 points behind Inter Milan, so the title is probably out of reach, but they’re still fighting for a Champions League spot.
McTominay wasn’t the only Scot involved. There were actually two Scotland internationals on the pitch at the Marcantonio Bentegodi Stadium. Kieron Bowie played the whole game for Verona and nearly put his team ahead just minutes before Lukaku’s winner. The former Hibs man, who netted his old club a £7 million transfer fee in January, got on the end of a deep cross. Napoli’s keeper Alex Meret missed it, but Bowie, stretching at a tight angle, couldn’t steer the ball home. It rolled right across the empty goal.
Things went from bad to worse for Bowie. Moments later, he was marking Lukaku in the Verona box. The Belgian shrugged him off and slotted in the winning goal. Another tough blow for Verona, who are now bottom of the table, nine points from safety with 11 games left, and they’ve played a game more than everyone they’re chasing.
Billy Gilmour also got a run for Napoli, coming on with Lukaku in the 73rd minute. He earned praise from the Italian media for giving Napoli a late boost. This was only his second appearance off the bench since coming back from nearly four months out with a groin injury. He also played in the 2-2 draw against Roma on February 15.
