Marked for Giuseppe Sibilli
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Riccardo Pagano at 21 — 7.82
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Riccardo Pagano did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Sibilli 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
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Riccardo Pagano’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Bari.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
A hiding for Bari
Beaten 0‑3 by Monza, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Bari
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Bari are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mehdi Dorval in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Bari
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Bari can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Giuseppe Sibilli 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
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Bari dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Lucas Siqueira 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. 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
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mehdi Dorval in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriele Moncini 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.
Squad21 Sep 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Sibilli 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Bari
Lucas Siqueira 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Bari and Venezia cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Venezia came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Bari would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matthias Braunöder, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Valerio Mantovani 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Bari have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 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 Bari can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mehdi Dorval in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
4 academy players handed senior numbers at Bari
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Giuseppe Sibilli 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marcello Sartori is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market24 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pierpaolo Dalla Costa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dimitris Nikolaou commits to Bari for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Bari
Mehdi Dorval 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Gabriele Moncini 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
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mehdi Dorval and Bari agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mehdi Dorval in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Giuseppe Sibilli 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.