Marked for Leonardo Zarpellon
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
A one-man rearguard from Sheikh Sibi
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match16 Jan 2027
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.
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 Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Jan 2027
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Virtus Verona can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Jonny Arriba ran the middle of the pitch — 6.61
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 6.61, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Virtus Verona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonny Arriba 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Clement Bischoff 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Jonny Arriba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leonardo Zarpellon. 1‑0 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 7.91. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad14 Dec 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Clement Bischoff at 20 — 7.74
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Clement Bischoff did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match5 Dec 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
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 Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
At 20 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
A 1‑0 win over Arzignano, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Virtus Verona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicola Patanè 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Mateo Tanlongo
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mateo Tanlongo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Virtus Verona have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Romario Da Silva dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Clement Bischoff: 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.” Virtus Verona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 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 Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jonny Arriba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
115% of the income goes out in wages at Virtus Verona
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Pro Patria will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Triestina made Virtus Verona work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.83 on the card, and the Virtus Verona support went home talking about one name.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Virtus Verona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicola Patanè 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and Virtus Verona are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Clement Bischoff 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
Jonny Arriba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad19 Oct 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
Uneasy
Match23 Sep 2026
Südtirol go through and Virtus Verona go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mateo Tanlongo 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Virtus Verona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonny Arriba 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Virtus Verona
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Clement Bischoff, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Virtus Verona are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match26 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Dolomiti Bellunesi came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mateo Tanlongo 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.
Squad14 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Novara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Virtus Verona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicola Patanè 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Virtus Verona would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Virtus Verona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Virtus Verona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonny Arriba 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Virtus Verona know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Virtus Verona are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Ospitaletto came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.