Marked for Nicolas Viola
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Jul 2028
Ravenna up to position 2
66 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market17 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Rashad Pelage
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rashad Pelage will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ravenna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Jun 2028
Ravenna refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 66 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market19 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Rashad Pelage
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rashad Pelage will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ravenna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jun 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Jun 2028
Business is business: Matteo Motti goes
Monopoli paid $840.0K and Ravenna took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolas Viola commits to Ravenna for another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Franco Carboni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Apr 2028
Ravenna refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 66 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
An average of 7.08 in a first team he is several years too young for. Ravenna have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Nicolas Viola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match27 Mar 2028
Ravenna up to position 2
57 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
A defender's afternoon for Nicolas Viola
Defensive actions: 30. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match25 Mar 2028
Nobody wants to play Ravenna right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A season average of 7.07 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Ravenna know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Franco Carboni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match25 Mar 2028
Forli made Ravenna work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Defensive actions: 32, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Adriano Esposito: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ravenna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match18 Mar 2028
Ravenna cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad20 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Marked 9.19 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolas Viola, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Joshua Tenkorang
6 goals and a season average of 7.46 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match18 Mar 2028
Pontedera made Ravenna work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Mar 2028
Whatever happens, Ravenna do not lose
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Cristiano Bani commits to Ravenna for another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A season average of 7.21 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match4 Mar 2028
Three points for Ravenna, 2‑0 the final word against Gubbio in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mattia Porro, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
Rashad Pelage hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravenna can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Feb 2028
Whatever happens, Ravenna do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad7 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Marked 8.50 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match5 Feb 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Mattia Porro knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ravenna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The terraces7 Feb 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Jan 2028
4‑1, and Pierluca Luciani took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ravenna tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad17 Jan 2028
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Nicolas Viola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Poluzzi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Marked 8.54 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ravenna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
A performance of 9.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match25 Dec 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Joshua Tenkorang’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ravenna.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Joshua Tenkorang
4 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Nicolas Viola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Paolo Rrapaj gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Shots: 12, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Nov 2027
Ravenna refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 23 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 26, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Stefano Okaka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.23, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match20 Nov 2027
Three points for Ravenna, 2‑0 the final word against Pontedera in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
A performance of 8.55 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Solini, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Stefano Okaka knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ravenna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 31 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market15 Nov 2027
Rashad Pelage hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravenna can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
A performance of 9.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match13 Nov 2027
Three points for Ravenna, 2‑0 the final word against Ternana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Stefano Okaka knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ravenna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pierluca Luciani and Ravenna agree another 4 years.
Squad1 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Stefano Okaka
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Marked 8.49 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match30 Oct 2027
Honours even between Ravenna and Bra
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Ravenna will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
A mark of 5.60 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Oct 2027
Stefano Okaka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match23 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pierluca Luciani. 2‑1 against Pianese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.93, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolas Viola, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.62, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Giulio Donati knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ravenna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market25 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ravenna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Manuel Fischnaller has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Ravenna know, and have known for weeks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A performance of 9.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Cristian Spini commits to Ravenna for another 3 years.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolas Viola and Ravenna agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Poluzzi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Ravenna needed to.
Match2 Oct 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Arezzo leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match4 Sep 2027
Sambenedettese made Ravenna work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolas Viola, and the manager let it.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Joshua Tenkorang. Ravenna will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Nicolas Viola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Matteo Motti knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ravenna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 May 2027
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 May 2027
Stefano Okaka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Stefano Okaka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match17 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Kelvin Neijenhuis’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ravenna.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 8.36 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
A defender's afternoon for Giulio Donati
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
93% of the income goes out in wages at Ravenna
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Matteo Rossetti
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ravenna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Stefano Okaka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Poluzzi, and the manager let it.
Match3 Apr 2027
A bad afternoon for Ravenna against Ascoli
0‑1 to Ascoli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Nicolas Viola. Ravenna will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ravenna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 27. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Stefano Okaka, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolas Viola commits to Ravenna for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Stefano Okaka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Feb 2027
42 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paolo Rrapaj, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The team sheet said everything about Stefano Okaka
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Stefano Okaka.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 75 days on the sidelines for Nicolas Viola, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match16 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win for Ravenna
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ravenna are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Hellas Verona have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matteo Solini. The answer from Ravenna has not changed — yet.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Ravenna
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Paolo Rrapaj
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 7.57 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ravenna had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A defender's afternoon for Matteo Solini
Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 325% of everything Ravenna earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.59 on the card, and the Ravenna support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
105 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.42, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 3‑3 draw with Campobasso leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Joyce Anacoura
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ravenna, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Cristiano Bani
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match5 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Ravenna against Ascoli
0‑1 to Ascoli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 36 with 164 appearances behind him, and Ravenna have to plan for both answers.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
5.64 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A mark of 5.73 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Stefano Okaka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 399% of everything Ravenna earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Okaka, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.58 on the card, and the Ravenna support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match28 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Forli defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tommaso Di Marco is not enjoying his job description
Played out of position, hooked on the hour, asked to be somebody he is not — the details vary and the mood does not. Ravenna have a player doing his work under protest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Nov 2026
Ravenna sink to position 16
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match14 Nov 2026
7 matches without a win for Ravenna
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Ravenna are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Manuel Fischnaller was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Ravenna against Ternana
1‑3 to Ternana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Matteo Solini
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
The one thing Stefano Okaka could not do
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A mark of 5.60 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Ravenna that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Ravenna
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Ravenna are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Nicolas Viola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giulio Donati, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravenna can pretend not to have heard.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Ravenna's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ravenna has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Stefano Okaka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 399% of everything Ravenna earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match31 Oct 2026
Bra take the points off Ravenna
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Matteo Motti
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Giulio Donati knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giulio Donati trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Oct 2026
Jaime Romero hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravenna can pretend not to have heard.
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Ravenna
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ravenna know it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Giacomo Poluzzi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match24 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Ravenna against Pianese
0‑1 to Pianese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
The one thing Stefano Okaka could not do
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 5.80, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Stefano Okaka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Shots: 12. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
5.79 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Jaime Romero
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Sep 2026
Ravenna bow out of the cup
Giugliano go through and Ravenna go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market28 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ravenna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 9.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match26 Sep 2026
Livorno made Ravenna work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Tommaso Di Marco scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Torres, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 9.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 10, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad21 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Ravenna have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Matteo Motti knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Motti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
5.51 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Nicolas Viola
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Poluzzi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.56 on the card, and the Ravenna support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The one thing Stefano Okaka could not do
Shots: 11, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravenna can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravenna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Matteo Mandorlini again, and this time the name on the line is Pro Vercelli. Ravenna are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match29 Aug 2026
Pineto made Ravenna work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Corsinelli, and the manager let it.