Marked for Maxime Leverbe
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Filippo Alessio is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Vicenza
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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
Squad16 Aug 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market16 Aug 2027
The paperwork is done: Michele Tommasi joins from Trento in a deal worth $420.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad16 Aug 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Gabi Pereira has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Ascoli are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Vicenza will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Aug 2027
Vicenza are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 74 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market2 Aug 2027
Vicenza say no — this time
The offer from Arezzo for Filippo Alessio was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad2 Aug 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Maxime Leverbe 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 Aug 2027
Vicenza release $145.7K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michele Cavion, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market2 Aug 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filippo Costa signs something — a contract at Vicenza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market2 Aug 2027
12 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jul 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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jul 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Casertana are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Vicenza will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Jordy Thomassen
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market12 Jul 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Riccardo Gagno signs something — a contract at Vicenza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Jul 2027
Vicenza up to position 1
74 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market5 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.
Squad5 Jul 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Giulio Pellizzari is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Lorenzo Caferri has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Market5 Jul 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Vicenza release $145.7K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Vicenza academy
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniil Dimitrișin is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Squad21 Jun 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Sambenedettese are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Vicenza will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Loan watch21 Jun 2027
36 appearances at Benevento and the goals keep coming. Vicenza are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
33 appearances away from home and 17 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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 Jun 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Sambenedettese have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Federico Tonin. The answer from Vicenza has not changed — yet.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom31 May 2027
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Squad31 May 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Vicenza told Gabi Pereira something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 May 2027
A fracture rules Mattia Vitale out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 May 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Maxime Leverbe 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2027
A fracture rules Mattia Vitale out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 May 2027
Vicenza refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 71 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.
Match8 May 2027
Whatever happens, Vicenza do not lose
11 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Getting past Riccardo Gagno has become the hardest job in the division
19 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Squad10 May 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
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 ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings10 May 2027
The one thing Nicola Rauti could not do
Shots: 10, 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
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules Mattia Vitale out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match1 May 2027
10 unbeaten for Vicenza
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Vicenza did not have in the autumn.
Squad3 May 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Vicenza will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Vicenza may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 May 2027
18 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Loan watch3 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Nicola Rauti’s exile
16 goals in 31 games at Vicenza — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vicenza updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Match1 May 2027
Three points for Vicenza, 2‑0 the final word against AlbinoLeffe in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Marked 8.37 — 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 ratings3 May 2027
Marked 8.06 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad19 Apr 2027
Mattia Vitale breaks a bone — 58 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match17 Apr 2027
Nobody wants to play Vicenza right now
8 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabriele Bertolini did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad19 Apr 2027
17 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Riccardo Gagno has given nobody the chance.
Squad19 Apr 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
29 appearances at Vicenza and the goals keep coming. Vicenza are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Gabriele Bertolini 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad12 Apr 2027
Mattia Vitale breaks a bone — 65 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Apr 2027
Vicenza up to position 1
63 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match10 Apr 2027
Vicenza cannot stop winning
7 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
6 on the bounce on the road for Vicenza. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad12 Apr 2027
16 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Riccardo Gagno has given nobody the chance.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Triestina made Vicenza work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad29 Mar 2027
Mattia Vitale breaks a bone — 79 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Giulio Pellizzari
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
A brace, and Nicola Rauti takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicola Rauti provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match27 Mar 2027
Vicenza cannot stop winning
5 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 ratings29 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 27, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match27 Mar 2027
Vicenza are at home on the road
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
15 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Match27 Mar 2027
Three points for Vicenza, 2‑0 the final word against Virtus Verona in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
Mattia Vitale breaks a bone — 93 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Mar 2027
Vicenza refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 51 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 ratings15 Mar 2027
Gabriele Bertolini, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Michele Cavion: 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.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
27 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Match13 Mar 2027
Vicenza make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Vicenza have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Vicenza keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommaso Corazza 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Mattia Vitale out for 101 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Mar 2027
Armand Rada has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vicenza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Mar 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A last season at home is what Jordy Thomassen is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Mar 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mattia Vitale breaks a bone — 109 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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 ratings1 Mar 2027
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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 Vicenza know it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Match27 Feb 2027
Vicenza keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match27 Feb 2027
Three points for Vicenza, 1‑0 the final word against Novara in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Lazio to sit and watch. I want to come back to Vicenza and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Mattia Vitale breaks a bone — 125 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Feb 2027
Vicenza up to position 1
42 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Getting past Riccardo Gagno has become the hardest job in the division
11 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
Riccardo Gagno damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Mattia Vitale breaks a bone — 132 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 132 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match6 Feb 2027
9 unbeaten for Vicenza
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Vicenza did not have in the autumn.
Market8 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Armand Rada
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Armand Rada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vicenza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Armand Rada has agreed terms with Atalanta for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Christos Kourfalidis. 2‑0 against Pro Vercelli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 8.43 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Riccardo Gagno damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Mattia Vitale breaks a bone — 146 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 146 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
7 unbeaten for Vicenza
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Vicenza did not have in the autumn.
Squad25 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
The afternoon belonged to Loris Zonta
7.37, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Vicenza had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match23 Jan 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Giana Erminio came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Jan 2027
Vicenza refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 37 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mattia Basso breaks a bone — 55 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match16 Jan 2027
Vicenza win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Alcione Milano will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match16 Jan 2027
Nobody wins at Vicenza
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Vicenza
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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Alcione Milano made Vicenza work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
Gabi Pereira 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 Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Vicenza's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vicenza has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Vicenza will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Match2 Jan 2027
The run at home goes on for Vicenza
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Nicola Rauti
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I watch every Vicenza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lazio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 7.40 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Vicenza had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Vicenza
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Maxime Leverbe, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad30 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
Vicenza make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicola Rauti. 1‑0 against Triestina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Giuseppe Cuomo 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
115% of the income goes out in wages at Vicenza
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.
Squad30 Nov 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
The afternoon belonged to Nicola Rauti
A mark of 7.76, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑1 against Dolomiti Bellunesi, and it could have been more.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Nicola Rauti, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market2 Nov 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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Gabriele Bertolini, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.49
A mark of 8.49 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad2 Nov 2026
61 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Vicenza and Dolomiti Bellunesi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The terraces2 Nov 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.82 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Riccardo Gagno 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 Oct 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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
The manager makes an example of Michele Cavion
“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
Squad19 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Giuseppe Cuomo at his very best
Marked 9.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Vicenza.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
At 22 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Claudio Morra, and the manager let it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Three points for Vicenza, 1‑0 the final word against Novara in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 15, 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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
Steady
Market5 Oct 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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad5 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Squad5 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 Vicenza know it.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 150% of everything Vicenza 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Filippo Costa
“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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Sep 2026
Cup progress for Vicenza
A 1‑0 win over Sambenedettese, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Filippo Alessio, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06
A mark of 8.06 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Vicenza do not lose
6 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Filippo Alessio 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Tribuzzi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Giuseppe Cuomo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Rauti, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 3.17. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Samuele Massolo out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Riccardo Gagno 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Loris Zonta
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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
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.
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Samuele Massolo out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A hand in 2 of them from Claudio Morra — 7.98
Marked 7.98. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Maxime Leverbe 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Claudio Morra. 2‑1 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Filippo Costa
“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 ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 5.57, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 6. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Samuele Massolo out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vicenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 Aug 2026
Vicenza say no — this time
The offer from Empoli for Lorenzo Caferri was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad24 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Squad
Maxime Leverbe falls out with a teammate over standards
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Boardroom
Vicenza turn down the training-ground plan
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Squad
Raul Talarico is training like a man with a point to make
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Lorenzo Caferri again, and this time the name on the line is Empoli. Vicenza are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Riccardo Gagno and Vicenza agree another 4 years.
Squad3 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Maxime Leverbe 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.