Marked for Massimo Borghi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
A brace, and Davide Lamesta takes the afternoon — 8.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Davide Lamesta provided it, and the 8.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Leonardo Sernicola 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.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Benevento asked and Torino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“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.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Benevento told Simone Verdi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match13 Jan 2029
A 2‑2 draw with Lecco leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Juventus have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Half-satisfied: Mauro Mazza on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Borghi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market13 Nov 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Benevento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Simone Verdi, 36, rolls back the years — 7.90
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market13 Nov 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Benevento
Leonardo Sernicola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces13 Nov 2028
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match11 Nov 2028
Three points for Benevento, 2‑0 the final word against Ospitaletto in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ernesto Starita, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Benevento are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mauro Mazza kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
What a way to start for Massimo Borghi — 8.11
2 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 8.11 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Squad25 Sep 2028
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match20 Sep 2028
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Massimo Borghi obliged against Livorno. 2‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Benevento.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
Anger at Benevento spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Leonardo Sernicola 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.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 15-year-old it feels ownership of. Massimo Borghi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match23 Sep 2028
A 1‑0 win over Vicenza, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Paternoster is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“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.
In brief
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Player ratings
The kick that got away from Edwin Ody
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Player ratings
Davide Lamesta takes the honours
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The dugout
The view from the dugout