{"id":366,"date":"2019-11-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/"},"modified":"2019-11-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T00:00:00","slug":"how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Liverpool and Manchester City are sure to duke it out to the death in the English Premier League. Barcelona and Real Madrid look set for a bitter battle in the race to be La Liga champions. In the German Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund threaten to be as close to Bayern Munich as ever before. But could the closest title race not be in any of the top three leagues, but in the dormant Italian Serie A?<\/p>\n<p>After a decade that has seen the Italian Serie A diminished in stature in terms of worldwide recognition following the 2006 \u2018Calciopoli\u2019\u00a0<strong>scandal around match-fixing<\/strong>\u00a0that saw titles stripped from teams who were, in Juventus\u2019 case, relegated and in others cases such as A.C. Milan, docked 30 points.<\/p>\n<p>Serie A has benefited from the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, unquestionably, but another former Manchester United player is a key component of the hypnotic title race that is set before us this year.<\/p>\n<p>Romelu Lukaku\u2019s transfer to Inter Milan raised many eyebrows, not least in the Premier League, where the former Chelsea, Everton and West Brom striker had established himself as the number one striker at Manchester United prior to his departure. However, with the Norwegian former Old Trafford legend Solskj\u00e6r openly preferring Rashford from period before he even took the job, things were always going to be difficult for the Belgian:<\/p>\n<p class=\"author__bio\" itemprop=\"description\">\n<p class=\"comment-form-comment\"><label class=\"show-on-ie8\" for=\"comment\">Comment<\/label><br \/>\n<textarea aria-required=\"true\" cols=\"45\" id=\"comment\" name=\"comment\" placeholder=\"Message\" rows=\"8\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-form-author\"><label class=\"show-on-ie8\" for=\"author\">Name<\/label><input aria-required=\"true\" id=\"author\" name=\"author\" placeholder=\"Name...\" size=\"30\" type=\"text\" value=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-form-email\"><label class=\"show-on-ie8\" for=\"name\">Email<\/label><input aria-required=\"true\" id=\"email\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Email...\" size=\"30\" type=\"text\" value=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-form-url\"><label class=\"show-on-ie8\" for=\"url\">Url<\/label><input id=\"url\" name=\"url\" placeholder=\"Website...\" size=\"30\" type=\"text\" value=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-form-cookies-consent\"><input id=\"wp-comment-cookies-consent\" name=\"wp-comment-cookies-consent\" type=\"checkbox\" value=\"yes\"\/> <label for=\"wp-comment-cookies-consent\">Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.<\/label><\/p>\n<p class=\"form-submit\"><input class=\"submit\" id=\"comment-submit\" name=\"submit\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Send\"\/> <input id=\"comment_post_ID\" name=\"comment_post_ID\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"9730\"\/> <input id=\"comment_parent\" name=\"comment_parent\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liverpool and Manchester City are sure to duke it out to the death in the English Premier League. Barcelona and Real Madrid look set for a bitter battle in the race to be La Liga champions. In the German Bundesliga,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON - GBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON - GBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Liverpool and Manchester City are sure to duke it out to the death in the English Premier League. Barcelona and Real Madrid look set for a bitter battle in the race to be La Liga champions. In the German Bundesliga,...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-05T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_gbc.ng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_gbc.ng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin_gbc.ng\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/70f771a1dbb0b49ece8306c9d2cf7939\"},\"headline\":\"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-05T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/\"},\"wordCount\":258,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Europe\",\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/\",\"name\":\"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON - GBC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-05T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/\",\"name\":\"GBC\",\"description\":\"GBCommunity\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GBC\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-gaming-business-community.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-gaming-business-community.png\",\"width\":489,\"height\":340,\"caption\":\"GBC\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/70f771a1dbb0b49ece8306c9d2cf7939\",\"name\":\"admin_gbc.ng\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c99e4f09b50edb6ca65f3739d7bc1009b67f68098c25aa8c5f93b1f5f1bb38b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c99e4f09b50edb6ca65f3739d7bc1009b67f68098c25aa8c5f93b1f5f1bb38b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_gbc.ng\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/author\/admin_gbc-ng\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON - GBC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON - GBC","og_description":"Liverpool and Manchester City are sure to duke it out to the death in the English Premier League. Barcelona and Real Madrid look set for a bitter battle in the race to be La Liga champions. In the German Bundesliga,...","og_url":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/","og_site_name":"GBC","article_published_time":"2019-11-05T00:00:00+00:00","author":"admin_gbc.ng","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_gbc.ng","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/"},"author":{"name":"admin_gbc.ng","@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/70f771a1dbb0b49ece8306c9d2cf7939"},"headline":"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON","datePublished":"2019-11-05T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/"},"wordCount":258,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Europe","Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/","url":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/","name":"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON - GBC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-11-05T00:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/how-serie-a-might-be-the-closest-title-race-in-europe-this-season\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"HOW SERIE A MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST TITLE RACE IN EUROPE THIS SEASON"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/","name":"GBC","description":"GBCommunity","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#organization","name":"GBC","url":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-gaming-business-community.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-gaming-business-community.png","width":489,"height":340,"caption":"GBC"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/70f771a1dbb0b49ece8306c9d2cf7939","name":"admin_gbc.ng","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c99e4f09b50edb6ca65f3739d7bc1009b67f68098c25aa8c5f93b1f5f1bb38b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c99e4f09b50edb6ca65f3739d7bc1009b67f68098c25aa8c5f93b1f5f1bb38b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_gbc.ng"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gbc.ng"],"url":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/author\/admin_gbc-ng\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}