Atalanta pulled off an exciting, last-gasp turnaround to make it to the Champions League final 16. Juventus battled valiantly into extra-time with 10 males. However that present of struggle hasn’t lifted the darkish cloud which settled over Italian soccer this week.
A 98th-minute penalty, transformed by Atalanta’s Lazar Samardzic, means there might be Italian illustration within the subsequent spherical of the Champions League knockouts.
However their giants have fallen.
There was a sure irony on Tuesday evening on the San Siro. Moments earlier than kick-off, Inter Milan welcomed membership legends Ronaldo Nazario and Christian Vieri onto the pitch as particular friends – two figures whose partnership as soon as demonstrated the may of what Serie A as soon as was.
Come full-time, that interval has by no means felt additional away. What adopted on the pitch was Inter – 10 factors clear on the prime of Serie A – being knocked out by a Bodo/Glimt crew who’re at the moment in pre-season.
They weren’t simply crushed; they had been effectively crushed, in opposition to a crew making their first-ever Champions League look this season, not to mention an look within the knockout levels.
And shedding their knockout play-off to Norway’s first Champions League correct crew for almost twenty years was not only a low for Inter, nevertheless it confirmed one for Italian soccer.
Bodo/Glimt’s gamers rejoice beating Inter Piero Cruciatti/AFP through Getty Pictures
The next day, Juventus salvaged some pleasure however a 7-5 mixture loss to Galatasaray continues to be a surprising exit for the earlier powerhouse of Serie A.
Reigning Serie A champions Napoli fell on the first hurdle, failing to progress from the league part. AC Milan aren’t even in European competitors this season.
Whereas Bologna and Roma proceed to fly the flag within the Europa League, Fiorentina completed fifteenth within the Convention League desk – requiring a play-off in opposition to Polish facet Jagiellonia Bialystok to make the final 16 of that competitors.
And talking of play-offs, it may worsen. Italy’s nationwide crew want one to keep away from a 3rd absence from a World Cup match – a contest the nation has received 4 occasions. So what has occurred to Italian soccer throughout the board?
It has been fairly clear this season that the Serie A groups haven’t been in a position to deal with the calls for of the European competitors – notably the velocity of play.
“Italian teams play at a slow pace,” Fabio Capello informed Sky in Italy. “When they face teams that run and press, they don’t have the quality, aren’t accustomed to playing at a high pace, and make mistakes.
“That is the important thing. Proper now, we aren’t accustomed to being aggressive. As quickly as they improve the tempo from the Italian league, they’re stopped as a result of a problem is just too arduous – a participant’s ear is touched, and so they go down, all this stuff.
“These are the results. We play at a slow pace, unfortunately, and when it happens, it’s hard to be dangerous.”
The numbers again that up. The direct velocity of Italy’s top-flight has been on a downward curve within the final 5 seasons, with many describing the present fashion of play as sluggish, in comparison with the remainder of Europe’s massive 5 leagues.
Serie A have the second-lowest direct velocity of play out of their European rivals, solely the French top-flight has a decrease velocity – with no Ligue 1 golf equipment qualifying for the highest eight positions within the desk.
The Premier League’s velocity happening an upward curve within the final 12 months may clarify why they’ve fared effectively this season – with all six of England’s groups safely and comfortably by means of to the final 16 throughout the board.
The velocity of play may even have one thing to do with a dip in participant high quality within the league, partly as a result of a scarcity of funding put in by golf equipment.
The place are the web technology of Italian stars?
Final summer time, the costliest switch made by an Italian membership was Christopher Nkunku’s £36m from Chelsea to AC Milan.
Essentially the most thrilling signings, and arguably essentially the most profitable, had been free transfers Kevin De Bruyne, Luka Modric and Jamie Vardy.
Milan counting on 40-year-old Modric for creativity, Juventus having ex-Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly as a beginning defender – who was despatched off within the second leg in opposition to Galatasaray – and Davide Frattesi going from almost becoming a member of Nottingham Forest in January to beginning within the Champions League defeat to Bodo maybe tells you every part it’s essential know concerning the stage.
And whereas Serie A is relying increasingly more on older and extra skilled gamers, there’s a lack of promising Italian youth coming by means of.
Since June of final yr, just one capped participant for the nationwide crew is beneath the age of 24 – Inter’s younger ahead Pio Esposito. England have managed a dozen.
In 2025, Italy additionally gave 1.9 per cent of their Serie A minutes to eligible gamers beneath the age of 21. That is the second-lowest out of the highest 50 leagues in world soccer. Solely the United Arab Emirates Professional League managed fewer.
It has been the case for some time. In accordance with the CIES Soccer Observatory, between 2020 and 2025, Italy produced simply 413 soccer exports. It ranked twenty fourth on the earth, behind the USA, Japan and Russia.
The opposite 4 nations in Europe’s massive 5 leagues all managed over 1,000 gamers in the identical class. Italy’s gamers – younger or outdated – are simply not as fancied by Europe’s elite.
A standard tactical drawback?
Additionally on the coronary heart of Italian soccer is a scarcity of tactical innovation. Whereas different leagues have carried out effectively to take new tactical perception from the remainder of Europe, Italy appears slightly caught in its methods.
Italian coaches Max Allegri, Maurizio Sarri, Luciano Spalletti and Antonio Conte have all been handed round Italy’s prime golf equipment in recent times, with out a lot differentiation.
Even Atalanta changed now-Roma coach Gian Piero Gasperini with ex-Fiorentina coach Raffaelle Palladino and Inter did the identical with Parma’s Christian Chivu coming in for Simone Inzaghi. Each Serie A appointment appears inside its personal boundaries.
Cesc Fabregas’ overachieving Como revolution is an efficient instance of what occurs while you take tactical concepts from elsewhere. Carlos Cuesta is one other instance, he’s faring effectively with Parma having joined from Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal backroom workers in the summertime.
May a scarcity of infrastructure in Italian soccer – one other theme banded round this week amid their golf equipment’ failings in Europe – have one thing to do with all these points?
This yr, Deloitte’s Soccer Money League noticed no Italian groups within the prime 10 wealthiest groups within the Europe. The report added that essentially the most vital a part of the rich groups’ income was the way in which wherein they used their stadiums on a non-matchday – comparable to Tottenham Hotspur’s NFL deal.
Italy’s plight may be seen within the San Siro. It’s a pantheon area of the sport however distinctive as a result of it’s outdated and ‘old-fashioned’ – therefore why it’s being renovated.
It’s so far behind its equal stadia in Europe – as is Italian soccer in comparison with the remainder of the continent.
