Champions League
Italian woe on the continent
While Serie A is booming with goals, incident and a four-way title race, Italian club sides’ fortunes in European competition could hardly be more contrasting.
It seemed as if the Italian game had recovered from the infamous Calciopoli scandal after AC Milan surged to Champions League glory last May; Serie A also thrived with a higher goal average than both La Liga and the Premier League. Yet with an exodus of young Italian talent over the summer and a lack of transfer pull from top-flight clubs, including big guns Inter and AC Milan, the league has suffered – and accordingly results on the continent have been poor.
In the Champions League, Inter have made their customary sluggish start to the campaign. The likes of Luís Figo have demanded long-awaited success in Europe this season, but the perpetual underachievers again look destined to struggle to mount a challenge. They fell to a humbling 1-0 defeat at Fenerbahçe on matchday one and although they triumphed 2-0 over PSV at the San Siro on Tuesday, more disciplinary problems look set to further harm their chances of ultimately claiming the coveted silverware, Chivu and Suazo both seeing red, adding to the list of suspensions which have been carried forward from last season’s mass brawl at Valencia.
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“Italy will have just one team in the Uefa Cup group stages with three sides surprisingly crashing out - that’s as many as Scotland” |
Their bitter city rivals are hardly faring much better. An unconvincing 2-1 victory at home to Benfica put a miserable start domestically behind them, but a tame defeat at the hands of unheralded Celtic heaped the pressure on coach Carlo Ancelotti and made qualification for the first knockout stage look problematical. Shakhtar Donetsk have already claimed six points from two matches and Celtic sit behind them in second with three, and a trip to Benfica promises to be a tough test of Milan’s credentials. It’s not all bad on the Champions League front, however – Lazio claimed a draw at home to Real Madrid to follow up a point in Greece against Olympiakos, and Roma look set to qualify despite a greatly unfortunate defeat at Old Trafford where they dominated for large parts.
The lack of depth in the Italian game is even more worrying, demonstrated by results in the Uefa Cup on Thursday. Spain had three representatives in the Uefa Cup semi-finals last season; England had three at the same stage of the Champions League, but Italy will have just one for the group stages as three sides surprisingly crashed out. That’s as many as Scotland – Aberdeen having edged through against Dnipro – and two less than both Spain and England.
Sampdoria, who strengthened significantly over the close season with the introduction of Montella and Cassano up front, crashed to little-known Danish outfit AaB, who became the first club from the country to knock an Italian side out of any European competition. Empoli followed suit, losing a 2-1 lead from the home leg at the hands of underdogs FC Zürich to go out 4-2 on aggregate. Palermo made it a hat-trick against Mlada Boleslav, losing 1-0 at home to leave the tie balanced at 1-1 on aggregate, and after extra time failed to separate the sides, the Czech visitors came out victorious 4-2 on penalties. Just one side managed to make the group stages – Fiorentina, who only qualified after a penalty shoot-out against FC Groningen – a poor return for a nation engulfed in football.
Is this the start of a decline in Italian influence on the continent or merely an anomalous year? If it’s the former, the game in Italy will have to take a long and hard look at itself and question where and why it went wrong, and what can be done to combat a problem that can quickly swell. After a dumbfounding week in European competition, the Scottish league appears to be closing in on its Italian counterpart – a situation no one would have envisaged 12 months ago. So what does the next year hold in store for the home of the world champions?
Italian football in irreversible decline? Share your views by leaving a comment below.
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in a year in which Italy and then Milan both won respective competitions in the world cup and the Champions League, i think its a bit quick to suggest that italian football is in irreversible decline - Fiorentina showed that this week in the Uefa Cup. Roma were never outplayed at Old Trafford and at least deserved a draw from a boring, lacklustre Man Utd. Inter, after a defeat to a good Fenerbache side, defeated Psv convincingly, and finally, praise must be shown to Lazio, who came twice from behind to draw with the ‘Galaticos’ Real Madrid. Lazio were impressive, and clearly worthy of their draw, if not more.
Serie A is stronger then people recognise, this is shown by the fact that any number of teams can easily break the mould of the top clubs. Udinese did it under Zacherroni, as did Palermo a couple of seasons back.
In Europe, we are only two games in, and i can bet my house on a Italian team being in the Semi Finals of the Champions League this season. It’s just not the Champions League without one.
Decline? I’d say a unfortunate series of results, but then thats football isn’t it?