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Extended Clip - AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Roma & Fiorentina dominate Europe - is Serie A BACK?
1.2k Plays3 years ago
With 5 Serie A teams out of the 12 semifinalists in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League for the first time ever, Nima Tavallaey Roodsari and Carlo Garganese debate and analyze if Calcio is back like the 90's or if this is just a one-off.
This is a clip from the weekly Thursday episode of the Italian Football Podcast.
To listen to this & all other full episodes of The Italian Football Podcast, go to Patreon.com/TIFP to become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
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Transcript
Historic Season for Italian Clubs
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. Talking about European.
00:00:08
Speaker
football, the European competitions, the Champions League, the Europa League, the Conference League. And this is a segment that we wanted to do on Monday. We run out of time. And it has been a historic Italian season in Europe, five of the 12 semifinalists remaining in the three European competitions come from Serie A. We have, of course, the Italian Milanese semifinal between Milan and Inter in the Champions League, the possible all Italian final in the Europa League with Juventus and Roma.
00:00:37
Speaker
on opposite semi-finals and as we discussed just there Fiorentina
00:00:42
Speaker
favorites against Basel to make the conference final, whether they play West Ham or AZ. It's like we're back in the 1990s when Serie A was basically doing this every year. So the question is nimmer and I want us to do a deep dive
Is Serie A's Success a Resurgence?
00:00:57
Speaker
on this. Is Serie A back? Is it back as a force in European competition or is this just circumstance and a great one-off season? It's just a great one-off season and it's circumstance. I think
00:01:11
Speaker
as much as the Serie A want to, putting out that incredibly cringe inducing video of Cappello, Toni and Fabio Cannavaro. Are you ready? Yes, I'm ready. It's not back like that at all, because that was a completely different era where Italian football was year after year after year dominating in Europe.
00:01:36
Speaker
and the best league, probably in the history of football, in terms of where all the best players in the world played in one league. That was the Serie A. We're nowhere near that. And I don't think it's even possible for anyone. Football is too globalised. There's too many big clubs in too many countries that have too much money for that to happen ever again. So no, if that's the comparison, absolutely not.
Impact of Globalization and Financial Dynamics
00:02:00
Speaker
But
00:02:01
Speaker
I think this is a one-off season in the sense that I think the pandemic kind of prevented a lot of teams from spending Real Madrid and Barcelona
00:02:13
Speaker
Barcelona are the exception because they just mortgage their entire future. But Real Madrid have not spent like they usually do with the Galactica spending. And I think the Premier League clubs have spent, Chelsea have spent, but have they spent wisely? I don't think they have.
00:02:34
Speaker
I think City have spent wisely, and that shows on the pitch. But other than that, I think it's one of those situations where teams in the top teams are kind of in between finding themselves. I think PSG's messy Neymar, you know, that their Galactical version is not paying off. And I think that we're going to see a massive changing of the guards there as well.
00:03:02
Speaker
And I think it kind of leaves the door open. And also Bayern Munich especially, because they were my favorites to win. What they have done is they've just imploded. The leadership of that club, they've gone full on their nickname FC Hollywood and just destroyed themselves this season. They might not even win the Bundesliga now.
00:03:23
Speaker
So it's I think it's I think it's a lot of I think it's circumstance and also the Italian teams are doing
Financial Issues in Other Leagues
00:03:29
Speaker
well. They're well organized. They're well coached. They they are. I mean, I just want to just want to expand on the point about the other leagues and the Premier League. I think that that is definitely a big reason. I think the other leagues, the other leagues, the other leagues outside of the Premier League are definitely weaker. And that's part of the whole Premier League taking over football that they're completely gobbling up every single league.
00:03:51
Speaker
and financially the monopoly that they have and financially Spain for example, Spain is there's a big decline in La Liga, you know Barcelona haven't got out the Champions League group stages two years in a row, Atletico Madrid have had a massive decline, they didn't even get out of the groups themselves this year and the other Spanish teams are not great, I mean like the other teams that are kind of just below those big three you know Valencia,
00:04:14
Speaker
fighting relegation. Sevilla have been fighting relegation for most of the season. Now they've, and they're still somehow in the 75 hours of the Europa League, but they've had a bad season. It's basically really just Real Madrid that you could describe as an elite team. I think Barcelona probably will get back if they financially don't implode themselves. But La Liga is financially in a crisis. Liga is just PSG, let's be honest. Bundesliga at the highest level is just Bayern Munich. They're the only team that can really
00:04:43
Speaker
compete to win the Champions League and the only team that should be feared by the Serie A clubs. So I think that in the recent past really Serie A has had to deal with two leagues that are much richer and stronger than it, either Premier League and La Liga. Now it's just a Premier League. La Liga is still financially stronger than Serie A, the new CV deal it's got is much bigger than the disastrous TV deal that Serie A has got, but it's not
Factors Behind Serie A's Success
00:05:12
Speaker
The gap is not so big that it's, you know, insurmountable on the pitch with good, clever ideas and projects like Serie A teams have done. And also that's number one. The number two is like just expanding on your Premier League point is three of the four Premier League teams in the Champions League this season have been in crisis. Chelsea, complete crisis despite all the spending.
00:05:32
Speaker
Todd Lasso, as I call him, Ted, Todd Bowley. I mean, completely, completely clueless. Liverpool have been in crisis this season as well. And Tottenham is the history of the Tottenham. They are, they're like a, they're a TV soap. Like on today's episodes of Tottenham Hotspur, like it's just every day.
00:05:53
Speaker
I think the bottom line is the competition against Serie A this season hasn't been so strong. And I also think that the draws have been very good for Serie A. We usually get bad draws this year. I mean, the knockouts we've played, I mean, let's be honest, we haven't played, none of our teams have played any giant teams in the knockouts. Let's be honest, they haven't. Who have they played? I mean, Milan played Tottenham.
00:06:15
Speaker
Inter had Bayern and Barcelona. Not a day in the group stages, but I mean in the knockout stages. Inter played Porto and Benfica, you can't ask for a better draw. Not saying they're not bad good teams, but you can't ask for a better draw. And Milan played Tottenham, and then they played Napoli, who are a great team, but it's a Serie A team. Basically, we didn't play any great non- Serie A teams. And we also had some luck in the Europa League as well. I mean, Man United and Arsenal both going out, opened the doors a little bit for
00:06:44
Speaker
for, you know, for Juventus, for Roma. And so I think that those circumstances I've just mentioned, I think definitely. And also Arsenal are a young team that are in, you know, building towards something and united under Edictan Haag era, that's just begun. So there's a lot of teams that are in transition in where they are in their projects. As for another thing is that, look, Italian football, we have a saying in Swedish that, you know, to be able to cook soup on the head of a nail,
00:07:14
Speaker
which means that you can work wonders with barely any money. There is no league in the world. There are no better directors in world football than Italian football directors in doing that, in cooking soup, in cooking soup on the head of a nail. They are unbelievable at that. Just look at Inter's squad, the lineup, loans and free transfers.
00:07:40
Speaker
you know, finding the right player for the right manager at the right time. They are the best at that. Italian football director. I think Napoli Milan have embraced this new team building through
00:07:53
Speaker
lowering your wages and the cost. Basically, scouting and developing young players and turning them into stars. That, unfortunately, is the new way. That is the reality. Everyone has to do that, but they are the best at it. They've executed it. All of them have done it before reaching the levels they did. All of them, Ricky Massara, Giuntoli Marotta, every single one of them came up through the ranks doing just that.
00:08:23
Speaker
you know with barely any money turning something into so you won't have to leave done in in getting rid of in senior martin's uh we've been replacing five pillars of the team experienced players and then bringing in you know karate scaly for 10 million kim min jay for 18 million
00:08:41
Speaker
You know and and and who else some other players as well I mean what they've done and while lowering the wage bill lowering the age of the squad and building a new team and making it You know the best team in Italy one of the best in Europe I mean just an example of like when you have a policy at a project and you
00:08:58
Speaker
Team building project but you execute it. Well, you know, it is possible It's not it's not sustainable because unfortunately the team gets broken up, you know And the Premier League teams will take cost him in the summer and they'll take Kim and Jay Maybe because of his release clause and they'll eventually you know over the course of a year two years three They will lose the players and as we saw let's say with Bruce your Dortmund ten years ago, you know Year after year after you can't have your best place taken away and then and sustain it It's not sustainable but on one in a one-off season
00:09:28
Speaker
It can all come together like it came together for Napoli and it's come together for the Italian team. So I think that's great as is the coaching. I mean, we have to say that Italy, where even during times of crisis, they have the best coaches in the world and that will never change. And the ones that come to Italy that aren't Italian like Mourinho, they up their game. You know, he always talks about how much of a better how Italy has improved him as a coach.
00:09:52
Speaker
Three of the four coaches in the Champions League semi-finals are Italian. It's Inzaghi, Ancelotti, Pioli.
00:10:05
Speaker
I mean, it just goes to show.
Need for Sustained Success
00:10:11
Speaker
But yeah, I think ultimately, until we see this done over two or three years, you know, we can't say that Italian football is back because it's one year. We need more years. I mean, just remember, I mean, it was how many years since we even got teams in the quarterfinals? Two years, you know, I mean, you know, and then it's just all come together. And then we know that all the problems that are in Serie A still, the financial crisis, the league and the clubs are in.
00:10:34
Speaker
know, the stadiums, the racism, the TV rights, the TV rights. Yeah. I mean, the production of Italian players that Manchini has been quite a money, 28% are Italian. So in conclusion, let's just enjoy it and not be prisoners of the moment.