Martin O’Neill says he recognises his younger self in Antonio Conte.

No knee slides, no leaping and punching the air, no elaborately choreographed hand-shake routines. Just a little fist bump here, a fleeting palm slap there or maybe a passing pat on the back. 

Brarcelona 3 Juventus 1: After Barcelona had yet again proven themselves the best, Gerard Pique put it best.

Italy couldn’t provide Carlo Cudicini with a breakthrough to realise his international ambitions but he’s hoping a coaching stint with Ireland’s U21s this week provides fulfillment of a different kind.

Soccer writer, Liam Mackey, gives his thoughtful, considered reaction to the latest Luis Suarez outrage?

England 1 Italy 2

Gigi Buffon is not given to false modesty.

Blame the referee — we all do it.

Chelsea have already changed the dynamic of the Champions League so the big question now is whether they can also change its history.

It is usual in football for a crushing defeat to be followed by recrimination and the search for scapegoats.

Just a few short weeks ago — which now feels more like many long years, — Ireland were sitting pretty and serene in their Montecatini base in Tuscany while no more than 30 miles away at their Coverciano training camp, Italy’s footballers were waking up to dawn raids, shock-horror headlines and all the trappings of another explosive calcio scandal.

Not for the first time, Italy have upset the order.

Match of the Century, they called it. There’s even a plaque on the wall of the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City to commemorate the delirious 4-3 win that sent Italy through to the final of the 1970 World Cup at the expense of West Germany.

Italy are deservedly through to the semi-final of the European Championship after a dramatic penalty shoot-out, and how they celebrated after this captivating quarter-final in Kiev.

The scenario Italy feared from the start in this tournament was needing a win against Ireland with Spain and Croatia both in a position to qualify with a draw.

No one can be more qualified than Marco Tardelli to under-stand the pressures on players in a major tournament — and the twists of fate that separate triumph from disaster.

If a week can be a long time in politics, in football it can feel like an entire lifetime.

Daniele De Rossi faced a dilemma.

GOALKEEPERS are characters.

FORMER France midfielder Zinedine Zidane has re-ignited the row over Thierry Henry’s controversial handball in the World Cup play-off against Ireland by claiming that FIFA was right not to arrange a replay of the game.

THE threat posed by Italy’s marauding full-back Fabio Grosso is one of the reasons why Liam Lawrence appears poised for a starting place for Ireland at Croke Park tomorrow night.

JOE KINNEAR has hit out at Giovanni Trapattoni for recommending Shay Given to clubs in Italy.

AMONG the celebrating Juventus players following their Champions League win over Real Madrid 10 days ago were a handful of former Premier League players: one time Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg replaced Nicola Legrottaglie at half-time, and he high-fived ex-Liverpool midfielder Momo Sissoko, who had been immense in midfield, as the pair trooped off the pitch.

Bulgaria 0 Italy 0

IN A press conference room just off the hallowed marble halls of the Vassil Levski Stadium, the thin-faced Plamen Markov yesterday pondered the past and future roles of Italian football in his career as Bulgarian coach.

ALMOST two years ago to the day, under the closed roof of the Millennium Stadium, Manchester United launched their latest star signing on an unsuspecting domestic audience. Typically he marked his entrance with a goal.

Juventus coach Marcello Lippi was left to accept a shattering penalty shoot-out defeat to AC Milan at Old Trafford tonight but still claimed his team are better than the six-time European Cup winners.

Birindelli has drilled his penalty down the middle to equalise in tonight's shootout.

Gigi Buffon has made a spectacular save to deny Filipo Inzaghi's fierce diving header from opening the scoring.

Shevchenko has had a goal ruled out for offside after eight minutes in tonight's Champions League Final.