Here’s an exceptional illustration from artist Dan Leydon featuring Italy legend Andrea Pirlo.

The illustration is available for purchase as a print from Etsy. Who wouldn’t want Pirlo staring down at you all day in your home?

Andrea Pirlo: Effortless Cool [ILLUSTRATION] is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.

A photo has been leaked of Italy’s new home for 2013, which will be worn at this summer’s Confederations Cup in Brazil.

In my opinion, the above photo isn’t flattering. When released, the official photos of the shirt may look better when it’s actually worn by one of the Italy players, but right now it looks like a mish-mash of different ideas.

Designed by Puma, I like the red and green cuffs at the bottom of this short-sleeved shirt. But I’m not a fan of the v-neck collar or the criss-cross design on the upper chest.

But what do you think? Love it or hate it? Share your opinions below.

Italy Home Shirt for 2013 Confederations Cup: Leaked [PHOTO] is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.

A photo of Juventus’s home and away shirts for the 2013-14 season of Serie A has been leaked on the Internet.

The photo features the new shirts from Nike including the classic black and white striped shirt and a new yellow away shirt.

Share your opinions below regarding what you think of the shirt designs.

Juventus Home and Away Shirts for 2013-14 Season Leaked [PHOTO] is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.

Juventus are back in European action this week as they travel to Scotland to face SPL side Celtic in the Champions League last 16. The Italians are top of Serie A and will be betting favourites to prevail through to the quarter-finals, however after the Scots beat Barcelona on home soil earlier in the campaign the Bianconeri should be wary ahead of the first leg.

Juve had a slight dip in form towards the end of January but have steadied the ship over the last two fixtures, beating Chievo and Fiorentina on successive weekends to open up a five-point lead at the top. The Turin giants have strengthened in the January transfer window with the addition of veteran French forward Nicolas Anelka, which could be something of a gamble given the player’s age and less-than-perfect reputation.

Sports’ betting is rapidly catching up with casino betting on games such as roulette and blackjack. One of the reasons for this is that betting on sports such as football can be as skilful as betting on games such as poker. In both of these you are using your knowledge and skill in optimising your bets in such a way as to give you a better chance of winning overall. Professional sports betters and poker players think more in terms of investment just as might a banker than just gambling and hoping for some good luck as would a roulette player at an online casino such as http://www.iphonecasino.ca/, though a combination of skill peppered with some good luck is always the best bet. A simple game where this applies is the Soccer Safari slots game; you need good luck to het a bonus feature, but when you do you also need skill.

Having played a part in eliminating Chelsea from the tournament in the group stages, confidence is high in Turin and odds have been shortened that Juve could go all the way and lift the trophy that they have not won since 1995-96. The Old Lady have a strong squad full of Italian internationals, with their midfield the key part of their team. The likes of Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio will play a big part in whether the side succeed or fail at this stage.

Juventus favourites in their Champions League clash with Celtic is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.

After having a fairly rocky start to the season, it seems like AC Milan are finally getting back on track to contend amongst the top of the Serie A. The Rossoneri’s latest signing, Mario Balotelli managed to drag the team to a very lucky 2-1 victory over Udinese at the San Siro. With these three points, AC Milan has managed to catch up to fourth place rivals Inter Milan who suffered a 3-1 loss to Siena this weekend. Starting to rise back up the table with a great debut performance from Balotelli AC Milan fans can now look to the rest of the season with a bit of hope and relief.

It took about 25 minutes for Balotelli to light up the Stadio Meazza with his first goal for his new club. The 23 million Euro wonderboy rifled a powerful left foot volley into the back of Udinese’s goal, giving AC Milan the lead in what would be a very tightly contested match. Already in their first match together, El Sharaawy and Balotelli seem to have an understanding which will create plenty of goals. It was El Sharaawy himself who created Balotelli’s two goals, assisting and procuring a controversial late penalty. Among the pair of young Italians is the energetic Niang, who seems to complement his attacking partners fairly well with his pace and hard work.

Udinese on the other hand seemed too tentative in their attempts forward. Long balls for Di Natale were occasionally threatening, but not good enough to create any goals. Udinese’s equalizer came ten minutes after halftime, a long ball flicked on by Di Natale past the Milan defence for Muriel to center to Pinzi for a quick finish. Udinese was forced to defend for the rest of the second half, Padelli made some impressive saves to keep his team alive, but also getting a bit of luck with a shot by Balotelli barely deflected onto the crossbar by an Udinese defender.

The most controversial moment of the match came in the 93rd minute of the match, El Sharaawy breaking forward into the box, going down after a slide tackle from Heurteaux. The Udinese player had got the ball before knocking down El Sharaawy, and while the rest of his team protested, the referee awarded the penalty which would be the last kick of the game. Mario Balotelli told his teammates he’d take care of the penalty, managing to send Padelli the wrong way with a very cool side footed shot into the bottom left hand corner.

It was the debut of dreams for Balotelli, snagging his new club three points which they probably didn’t deserve. Even AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri acknowledged the luck his team had in getting the winner, “In the occasion of the penalty we were lucky. El Sharaawy touches the ball, then the Udinese defender touches it as well, and then El Sharaawy is taken down. It was given be given, just like it sometimes isn’t given: it’s all the more controversial because it’s 30 seconds from the end of the match”.

With the next two Serie A matches away at Cagliari, and then at home against Parma, AC Milan is going to have to solidify their position with two wins. Winning the next two matches is all the more important because after that Barcelona will be visiting the San Siro in the midweek, followed by the Milan derby that weekend. Mario Balotelli may have managed to make his mark on the Serie A with a fantastic debut for AC Milan, but it’s going to be a very different matter against Barcelona.

What are your predictions for AC Milan’s upcoming matches? Can Mario Balotelli continue performing, and maybe even score a few goals against Barcelona and his former team Inter Milan? Share your comments below!

Mario Balotelli Shines With Debut Double for AC Milan is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.

Leaked photos of AC Milan’s home and away shirts for the 2013-14 season have been leaked on the Internet.

The home shirt features the classic red and black stripes, but the new shirt features a unique collar design, which incorporates the Italian flag into the shirt collar. The shirt also features the trademark Adidas three stripes down the side of the shirt, but in this case they’re gold in color.

AC Milan’s new away shirt features, again, a unique collar design. The white shirt with gold stripes down the sleeves is beautiful, but the collar design will take some time to get used to.

The bizarre thing about the two photos of the away shirt is that the collar looks different in both.

What are your thoughts about AC Milan’s new home and away shirts? Share your feedback in the comments section below.

H/T Todo Sobre Camisetas.

AC Milan Home and Away Shirts For 2013-14 Season Leaked [PHOTOS] is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.

While the final result was not what AC Milan supporters wanted, Wednesday night’s match between Real Madrid and AC Milan at Yankee Stadium was an entertaining experience in front of a large crowd of soccer aficionados.

Here are the photographs from the evening courtesy of photographer Ed Winnick. You can read Ed’s article about the game on our sister site La Liga Talk.

Real Madrid 5-1 AC Milan, In Pictures [PHOTO] is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.

The new season of Serie A kicks off on August 25, but if you want to ensure that you don’t miss watching a game featuring your favorite Italian team, it’s time to take action.

Previously you’ve been accustomed to watching Serie A on FOX Soccer and ESPN3. But as we exclusively reported four months ago, beIN SPORT has acquired the US TV and Internet rights to Serie A. The new soccer network will launch two channels on August 15, 2012 — beIN SPORT 1 (English-language) and beIN SPORT 2 (Spanish-language). beIN SPORT has both the Spanish- and English-language rights to Serie A on US television and the Internet.

However, unless you take action now, it’s possible that you may not be able to watch Serie A when the new season kicks off on August 19.

Reason being is that beIN SPORT is feverishly working to negotiate deals with TV distributors, but unless the TV distributors hear from passionate soccer fans like you, they won’t realize that there’s a pent-up demand for Serie A games.

If you want to watch Serie A on TV and/or the Internet for this upcoming season, you need to contact your TV provider and tell them that you demand to have beIN SPORT added to your channel guide.

The complete list of contact information for TV distributors, including Twitter, Facebook and phones numbers, is available on the beIN SPORT website.

It’s imperative that you contact your TV provider, as well as telling your friends or family members to call, too.

Don’t be surprised if you find out that tons of Serie A fans switch on their TV sets during the weekend of August 25 and tune in to FOX Soccer, expecting to see a Serie A game. Many will be disappointed. But if you’re on top of Serie A news, take action now so you can watch beIN SPORT on your TV provider.

In addition to Serie A, beIN SPORT has the exclusive media rights in the United States to La Liga, Barca TV, Real Madrid TV, Copa del Rey, Ligue Un, Copa America, South American World Cup qualifiers and more.

There’s only one way for your TV provider to know that there is a demand for Serie A, and that’s by telling your TV provider that you want beIN SPORT. The TV business is a two way street where beIN SPORT is having negotations with TV distributors, but — at the same time — TV providers need to know that there’s enough demand to make adding the network worthwhile.

It’s time to take action. Contact your local TV provider today.

If You Want to Watch Serie A This Season, Contact Your TV Provider Today is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.

On Wednesday, August 8, two of the giants of world soccer will compete at Yankee Stadium in New York City. AC Milan will play Real Madrid as part of the 2012 World Football Challenge. And courtesy of the event organizers, we have 2 tickets to give away to one lucky fan.

To enter the contest, answer the following trivia question. And then e-mail the correct answer to thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com before 11:59pm ET on Thursday, August 2, 2012.

• How many times has Real Madrid and AC Milan won the UEFA Champions League and European Cup combined?

When you e-mail your question, be sure to include a mailing address (no PO boxes please). The contest is only open to US residents.

Best of luck in the contest!

Win 2 Tickets to AC Milan vs Real Madrid Friendly at Yankee Stadium In New York City is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.

In case you missed it, watch the above video to see Bradley’s golazo.

Hopefully Bradley can continue the superb goalscoring form once the Serie A season begins in mid-August.

Michael Bradley’s Goal for Roma Against Liverpool at Fenway Park [VIDEO] is a post from Serie A News from Serie A Talk.