Spal

The Napoli-bound forward reportedly paid around $600 to receive a message from Rodman, who won three straight NBA titles with the Bulls playing alongside Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen between 1996 and 1998.

Rodman's success with one of the world's most famous sporting dynasties was the focus of the recent ESPN and Netflix docuseries 'The Last Dance', which may have been the prompt for Petagna to request a video.

So, there might have been a bit of a surprise when he was addressed as "honey" and told he may one day come up against Rodman's daughter Trinity on the pitch.

"Andrea, isn't it amazing?" Rodman said in the clip, which Petagna posted on Instagram alongside the caption 'I hope to meet you soon [Trinity Rodman], Keep going'.

"Dennis Rodman is calling you. Andrea, 'The Bulldozer', what does that mean? It means that you score a lot. 

"But I've got something for you right now, Andrea. I got a daughter named Trinity Rodman, she's the number one soccer player in the world right now.

"Come on, man. Look her up! One of these days you're going to face her and one of these days you're going to text me back and say, 'Dennis you know what? You're right, she's good, just like me. She's a bulldozer, but she's a Rodman'.

"Either way, honey, your friends really love you. Respect, respect, respect. Keep doing what you're doing."

Petagna later added to his Instagram story to show he had received a "Hey bro!!" from Rodman, who also won two NBA titles with the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990.

One-cap Italy international Petagna agreed to join Napoli in January but is staying with SPAL until the end of the season. The 24-year-old has 11 goals in 25 Serie A appearances this term.

As well as reopening parks, gardens and cemeteries to the public, the region has also declared individual sport training sessions can start up again.

That could be good news for top-flight clubs Bologna, Parma, Sassuolo and SPAL, although central government could yet overrule the regional guidance.

In a statement issued on its website on Friday, the Emilia-Romagna local authority listed various ways in which it intended to lift coronavirus restrictions from May 4.

The statement included the following: "Green light also for the training in individual form of professional and non-professional athletes recognised by the Italian National Olympic Committee, by the Italian Paralympic Committee and by their respective federations, in compliance with the rules of social distancing and without any gatherings in closed-door structures, also for athletes of non-individual sports disciplines."

The move by regional governor Stefano Bonaccini represents a significant shift in a country that has been hit hard by the global pandemic.

Reports in Italy have said clubs could yet be barred from welcoming back their players on Monday, after the national government's regional affairs minister Stefano Boccia intervened to express opposition when the Calabria region this week announced it would be reopening bars and restaurants.

Prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced last weekend that professional sports teams could resume training on May 18.

Sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora has urged Serie A teams to focus their energy on next season, after France and the Netherlands became the first high-profile European leagues to abandon the 2019-20 campaign.

Spadafora said on Wednesday: "I always said that resuming training absolutely does not mean resuming the season."

Following a government decree issued on Monday, Italy is on lockdown and all public gatherings are banned until April 3.

This development also means all sporting events in that timeframe have been postponed, throwing Serie A – which had previously been due to continue behind closed doors – into doubt.

Should Serie A resume on April 4, teams will have between 12 and 14 matches to cram in before the end of May, while some sides also have European ties to contend with.

FIGC has a limited amount of time to work with too, given Euro 2020 is set to begin in Rome on June 12, meaning facilities will need to be handed over to UEFA well in advance.

Italy's governing body is considering its options, accepting Serie A could either: finish early; be decided by play-offs; or simply halted and the title would go to no one.

A statement on the FIGC website read: "With reference to the recovery of Serie A matches, taking into account that the other leagues [Serie B, Serie C et cetera] have no international deadlines and therefore a wider margin of programming, the federal president proposed to the Serie A league to take advantage of all the dates available until May 31.

"If the COVID-19 emergency does not allow the conclusion of the championships, president Gabriele Gravina has submitted to the attention of the leagues concerned some hypotheses on which to discuss in the meeting of the Federal Council on 23 March.

"Without any order of priority, a hypothesis could be the non-assignment of the title of Campione of Italy and consequent communication to UEFA of the teams that qualified for the European competitions [Champions League and Europa League]; another would be to refer to the rankings accrued up to the moment of interruption; third and last hypothesis, to play only the play-offs for the title of Campione d'Italia and the play-offs for relegation to Serie B."

As it stands, Juventus are top of Serie A with 63 points – one clear of Lazio. Brescia, SPAL and Lecce occupy the three relegation spots, with the latter tied on 25 points with 17th-placed Genoa.

As of Tuesday, Italy is the most-affected European nation, with 9,172 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

In his place came another member of Italy's 2006 World Cup winning squad, with Massimo Oddo appointed until the end of the season on Tuesday, with a year's extension on offer if he keeps SPAL in Serie B.

SPAL announced De Rossi's dismissal on their website, saying five members of his staff had also lost their jobs.

Oddo has been handed the reins, with fellow former Italy star Stefano Fiore also joining as a technical collaborator.

Appointed in October, Roma legend De Rossi only lasted four months in his first role as a head coach.

The 39-year-old had been an assistant to Roberto Mancini as Italy won the Euro 2020 finals and hoped to achieve success by branching out on his own, but wins were hard to come by.

A 117-cap midfielder for Italy in his playing days, De Rossi leaves a SPAL side who have lost their last three games – to Cagliari, Bari and Venezia – and sit third-bottom in the 20-team Italian second division.

SPAL will be banking on the more experienced Oddo to rescue them. The 46-year-old former Napoli, Lazio and Milan player has previously coached Pescara, Udinese, Crotone, Perugia and Padova.

The outbreak of coronavirus in Italy forced four top-flight matches to be postponed over the weekend, including Sunday's clash between Scudetto hopefuls Inter and Sampdoria.

Italy's move came as part of preventative measures against the spread of the coronavirus, officially named COVID-19 which originated in China, after two people died and dozens more reportedly tested positive.

Now, upcoming fixtures across Italy's leagues are in doubt, with Serie A leaders Juve scheduled to host Inter in Turin on March 1.

"I don't think that in just one week we'd be able to slow down the contagion so much that we could resume sporting events," Conte told Rai.

"We are constantly monitoring the situation and will evaluate. We'll see the evolution of the contagion and evaluate postponing all next week's matches."

Juve are a point clear atop the table following Saturday's 2-1 victory away at bottom side SPAL.

Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 1,000th career appearance with a goal, scoring in an 11th consecutive top-flight match – matching a feat previously achieved by Gabriel Batistuta and Fabio Quagliarella.

In-form Lazio were also in action on Saturday and edged Genoa 3-2 to extend their unbeaten streak to 20 games, while Inter are six points off the pace with a game in hand.

The matches were initially due to be played behind closed doors, as was the case with Inter's Europa League victory over Ludogorets at San Siro on Thursday.

But Lega Serie A revealed on Saturday that the clash in Turin, along with Milan v Genoa, Parma against SPAL and Sassuolo versus Brescia would not go ahead on Sunday.

Udinese's encounter with Fiorentina on Saturday has also been called off.

The matches will instead be played on May 13, with the Coppa Italia final pushed back a week to May 20.

The 39-year-old De Rossi has signed up to join the team from Ferrara, in Emilia-Romagna, on a contract running until the end of June 2024.

De Rossi had recently been serving as a technical assistant to Italy boss Roberto Mancini but has vacated that post to strike out on his own in Italy's second tier.

SPAL sit 14th in Serie A and have lost their last two league matches, leading to the sacking of Venturato on Sunday.

De Rossi made 616 appearances across all competitions for Roma in an 18-year first-team career, captaining the team in 207 games. Only Francesco Totti has played more games for the capital giants than De Rossi.

He also won 117 caps for Italy, helping the team lift the World Cup in 2006 and playing on until 2017 in the national side.

He left Roma in 2019 and had a brief playing stint at Boca Juniors, before switching to coaching and uniting with Mancini in the Azzurri set-up.

De Rossi was part of Mancini's staff as Italy won the delayed Euro 2020 tournament last year, beating England on penalties in the Wembley final.

His move to SPAL was given the blessing of Italy's football association, the FIGC, with president Gabriele Gravina saying: "To Daniele, I wish you the best of luck for this new professional adventure.

"In the belief that the experience gained in Club Italia will be very useful to him, I thank him for the commitment and passion with which he has always honoured the blue shirt, giving himself and giving us so much satisfaction."

Italy's top flight is to get back underway from June 20, all being well, with the Coppa Italia semi-final second legs and final to be held during the week prior.

It means four of Europe's top-five leagues are committed to finishing the coronavirus-disrupted campaign, with only Ligue 1 having declared the season over.

Ahead of the return of the action, which includes a true title tussle, a fight for Europe and unease in the bottom half, we look at the story so far of 2019-20...

What is the state of play?

It's hardly a surprise that Juventus were top when the season was suspended in March, but this has by no means been a procession towards what would be a ninth consecutive Scudetto.

Simone Inzaghi's Lazio are just a point behind, while Inter, who have a game in hand, are a further eight points back.

Antonio Conte's Nerazzurri were beaten 2-0 by Juve in their final match before the season was halted, but while the title looks a touch beyond their reach, there would be little sense in writing them off entirely.

The race for Europe is similarly close. Free-scoring Atalanta are fourth but only three points above Roma, having played one game fewer, while only five points separate Napoli in sixth and Bologna in 10th. Milan, Hellas Verona and Parma are all in need of some improved form, though.

At the bottom, Brescia and SPAL look to be fighting a losing battle, but no side in the bottom half of the table could realistically declare themselves safe. Lecce are 18th, level on points with Genoa, but it's Torino who are enduring the worst form of all, losing six league games in a row to slide to within two points of the drop zone.

What have been the big controversies?

The return of football, for one.

There has been plenty of uncertainty around whether or not Italy, one of the world's hardest-hit countries by the pandemic, would sanction the resumption of the league. Indeed, Brescia owner Massimo Cellino has been outspoken against the idea from the start and branded the decision to declare a return date "crazy".

There is also concern around kick-off times as we move into the Italian summer. Umberto Calcagno, the vice-president of the Italian Footballers' Association, told La Repubblica there was "no way" the organisation would support matches taking place at 16:30 local time in June and July, when average temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celcius.

Even before the league was suspended, confusion reigned. When Parma were due to face SPAL in early March, players were sent back to the dressing rooms minutes before kick-off after sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora recommended all matches be stopped. The game eventually went ahead, 75 minutes late, with SPAL winning 1-0 in front of empty stands.

Juve might be top of the table, but things haven't been going swimmingly for Maurizio Sarri this season, either. The Bianconeri have often produced rather turgid displays and relied on individual brilliance from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo to see them through, and they only won four of their final eight games in all competitions before the enforced break.

Ronaldo's frustrations have boiled over at times. There have been suggestions of discord between the head coach and the 34-year-old, who was angry at being substituted last November and was caught on camera telling Paulo Dybala "We're left alone out there" at half-time of their Champions League last-16 first-leg loss to Lyon.

Who had momentum before everything stopped?

Juve's results have been sufficient to keep them top and the convincing 2-0 defeat of Inter on March 8 was a real statement of intent, but Lazio, unbeaten since September in the league, are the real form team.

Led by 27-goal man Ciro Immobile, their run of 16 wins from their past 18 games has come in stark contrast to city rivals Roma, who have lost five of their past nine in Serie A to lose ground on Atalanta in the Champions League race. As for Milan, some bright January form tailed off in February and their season is in danger of petering out, although they are level at 1-1 with Juve after the first leg of the Coppa semi-final.

Lecce's improved form has left SPAL and Brescia looking forlorn at the bottom, but Torino should be particularly concerned - their last points came on January 12.

Which clubs have had it toughest during the COVID-19 months?

Although the most high-profile confirmed coronavirus cases came from Juve, where Dybala, Blaise Matuidi and Daniele Rugani were infected, other clubs have had higher figures.

Fiorentina returned six positive tests this month, while Patrick Cutrone, German Pezzella and Dusan Vlahovic were all confirmed as having contracted the virus in March.

There were also confirmed positive tests at Sampdoria, one at Atalanta and one at Torino, while Milan director Paolo Maldini and son Daniel both had the virus.

All clubs have, of course, been hugely impacted by the loss of earnings during the suspended season.

Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina said to Riparte l'Italia this week that "more than €500million has already been lost to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown".