Play time cut, with Italian team past its best (3,7,4)
I believe the answer is:
the winters tale
'play' is the definition.
(Shakespeare play)
'time cut with italian team past its best' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'cut' becomes 'hew' (hew can mean to chop or cut).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'italian team' becomes 'inter' (Inter Milan FC).
'past its best' becomes 'stale' (stale food is past its best).
't'+'hew'+'inter'+'stale'='THE WINTERS TALE'
(Other definitions for the winters tale that I've seen before include "Play" , "The Bard's work" , "entertainment" .)