Italian journalist Paolo Condo believes that Serie A is clearly a declining force in Europe, as evidenced by the fact that Inter were the last Italian team to win the Champions League and that this came well over a decade ago now.
Writing in his column in today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper La Repubblica, via FCInterNews, the journalist noted that, whilst Inter and the other Italian teams will have their chance this season, the overall trend is a bleak one for Serie A teams in European competitions.
Inter are back in the Champions League knockouts for the second season in a row, and they will hope to do at least one better against Porto in the round of sixteen this season than they had managed against Liverpool last time around.
Meanwhile, AC Milan and Napoli are still alive in Europe’s top club competition with round of sixteen ties to come against Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively.
Juvenuts, meanwhile, have dropped to the Europa League where they join Roma, whilst Fiorentina and Lazio are alive in the Europa Conference League.
“The art of knockout competition is a thrill that no league, not even the ‘super’ ones, will ever be able to recreate,” Condo writes in anticipation of the knockout rounds starting up.
“The Spaniards call it mata-mata, kill-kill, because as you get closer in the end the teams abandon their strategies to strike in any way, even at random, in desperation, while the clock ticks down.”
“Since the last Italian team to won in the Champions League, Inter in 2010, 25 cup competitions have been played for (twelve Champions League titles, twelve Europa Leagues, one Europa Conference League),” he notes.
“Spain has won fourteen, England six, Germany three, Portugal and Italy one (Roma’s ECL win last season),” Condo writes.
“If we look at the semifinal places to establish the overall quality and form of the different leagues, then we find that of the one hundred available, Spain have made up 33, England 22, Germany 13, and then Italy just nine,” he notes.
“By contrast, in the previous 25 cup competitions (1998-2010) there had been 19, more than double, with six cup competitions actually won to boot,” Condo goes on.
“In a situation where no team is guaranteed success (Chelsea has spent loads but still need to assemble their team, PSG have lost Mbappe for the time being, Bayern lack a striker, City are less fluid than usual), Inter have their card to play, though,” Condo argues.
“Against Porto immediately and perhaps even beyond then, Inzaghi has a knack in knockout competitions, he’s shown it several times,” Condo suggests, “his problem is, if anything, the daily grind.”
