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Our weekly Italian Players Around the World segment is back!! (with a brand new logo… d’you like it? )

Inspired by Gazzetta dello Sport, here are the performances of all Italian soccer players operating in foreign European leagues (top divisions only). There are currently 32 Italians (yup, number’s gone up with Bellinzona’s promotion in the Swiss league) playing in first divisions abroad, and 12 of them stepped on the field this week-end.

The table below includes the team of the player, their opponents for this week, the time in minutes they played, their match contribution in goal(s) or assist(s), and the final score of the game.

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ENGLAND
Player	Team	Opp.	Time	Contrib.	Score
Carlo Cudicini	Chelsea	@Man City	(bench)	/	3-1
David Di Michele	West Ham	@West Brom	71	/	2-3
Andrea Dossena	Liverpool	Man Utd	(bench)	/	2-1
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SCOTLAND
Massimo Donati	Celtic	@Motherwell	(bench)	/	4-2
Manuel Pascali	Kilmarnock	@Rangers	89	/	1-2
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GERMANY
Andrea Barzagli	Wolfsburg	@Hertha	90	/	2-2
Cristian Zaccardo	Wolfsburg	@Hertha	(injd.)	/	2-2
Massimo Oddo	Bayern M.	@Köln	23	/	3-0
Luca Toni	Bayern M.	@Köln	90	2 GL, 1 AST	3-0
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SPAIN
Fabio Cannavaro	Real Madrid	Numancia	(injd.)	/	4-3
Enzo Maresca	Sevilla	Sp. Gijon	90	1 GL, 1 AST	4-3
Emiliano Moretti	Valencia	@Almeria	90	/	2-2
Giuseppe Rossi	Villareal	Deportivo	(injd.)	/	1-0
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FRANCE
Fabio Grosso	Lyon	Nice	(injd.)	/	3-2
Elia Legati	Monaco	Lorient	/	/	2-0
Flavio Roma	Monaco	Lorient	(bench)	/	2-0
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HOLLAND
Graziano Pellè	AZ Alkmaar	@ADO	/	/	0-3
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BELGIUM
Francesco Migliore	Mons	Anderlecht	(bench)	/	1-2
Roberto Mirri	Mons	Anderlecht	90	/	1-2
Alessandro Pistone	Mons	Anderlecht	/	/	1-2
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SWITZERLAND
Andrea Guatelli	FC Zürich	@Valduz	(bench)	/	7-1
Davide Belotti	Bellinzona	Young Boys	(bench)	/	1-2
Lorenzo Bucchi	Bellinzona	Young Boys	(bench)	/	1-2
Paolo Carbone	Bellinzona	Young Boys	/	/	1-2
Andrea Conti	Bellinzona	Young Boys	45	/	1-2
Alessio Ferrazza	Bellinzona	Young Boys	/	/	1-2
Matteo Gritti	Bellinzona	Young Boys	90	/	1-2
Iacopo La Rocca	Bellinzona	Young Boys	/	/	1-2
Giuseppe Miccolis	Bellinzona	Young Boys	/	/	1-2
Angelo Raso	Bellinzona	Young Boys	90	/	1-2
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TURKEY
Morgan De Sanctis	Galatasaray	Antalyaspor	90	/	1-1
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RUSSIA
Ivan Pelizzoli	Lok. Moscow	@S.Nalchik	(bench)	/	1-0

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Heroes of the week

As customary the “Heroes of the Week” section is where we celebrate those who, be it thanks to goals, assists, or amazing saves, have stood out among Italian ex-pats over the week-end. And would you believe it? This week the award takes us to Germany and Spain, one of our most common destination the previous year.

Luca Toni is back ladies & gentlemen. His scoring form with the Azzurri has been very disappointing lately (to say the least), but the man can still put in the back of the net in the Bundesliga. Bayern were away to Köln on Saturday, but the unfriendly crowd support certainly did not stop Klismann’s men from shining. Absolute protagonist of the night: the man with the “crazy-hand” celebration. 2 goals (a header, a left-footed finish) and 1 assist for Podolski. What more could Jürgen ask for?

Over to Spain, it still isn’t sure (to me at least) whether Enzo Maresca will be a starter for Sevilla this year, or simply part of the squad rotation. Sunday’s performance vs. Sporting Gijón should help the manager decide: 1 goal, 1 assist for Kanouté, and an otherwise very solid performance in midfield. As a Juve fan myself, I’m a bit nostalgic of Maresca…

In other news, David Di Michele made his season debut with new club West Ham (now under the guidance of Gianfranco Zola), as did Massimo Oddo with Bayern Munich.

Also, it’s interesting to note that Swiss club Bellinzona (just promoted to the Swiss top division, the Axpo Super League) contains a boatload of Italian ex-pats. In particular, a certain Andrea Conti who, you’ve guessed it, is one of the sons of Roma legend Bruno Conti (and whose brother Daniele Conti plays for Cagliari). On a sidenote, Bellinzona also own the contract of defender Andrea Russotto (playing on loan at Napoli this season).