Drama in Lombardy 

©TM/IMAGO

From the aura-filled Juventus of the nineties, to AC Milan’s star studded team of the noughties, to José Mourinho’s formidable Inter Milan of 2010, some of the very best teams and players to ever grace the Champions League have emanated from the giants of Serie A. Between 1993 and 2010, five of the 18 winners were Italian teams. Inter have also made two of the last three finals, losing to Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

Remarkably, ahead of Wednesday night’s fixtures, it looked likely that the Champions League round of 16 would be without a single Serie A team. Scudetto winners Napoli embarrassingly crashed out in the league phase, whilst current Serie A leaders Inter Milan were shocked by Arctic circle minnows BodøGlimt, losing 5-2 on aggregate. But Atalanta prevented an unwanted first for Serie A clubs as they produced a stunning second-leg fightback to beat Dortmund 4-1 in the second-leg to progress, courtesy of a last-minute penalty from Lazar Samardžić. Juventus could further revive Italian’s hopes in the most prestigious club competition but it’s still not been a vintage campaign, and we’ve gained expert insight from Italy itself on the reasons behind the demise.

The worst ever Champions League season for Serie A?

Illustrated in the graphic below is the number of Serie A teams to make it to the last 16 of the Champions League in the past 15 seasons. In that time period, at least two Italian teams have made it on 11 occasions, whilst three Italian sides have progressed to that stage five times. There have been just three seasons where only one Serie A team has made it, including last year when it was just Inter – as it stands, that will extend to four. But never have we seen no Italian sides in the round of 16 – not only in the last 15 seasons, but since the rebrand in the 1992/93 campaign.

Atalanta overturned a 2-0 deficit against Dortmund and they only had a 10/8% of achieving that according to Opta. In the late kick-offs tonight, Juve are currently 5-2 down to Turkish giants Galatasaray, with Opta giving them just a 7.4% chance of progressing. . The Old Lady are currently fifth in the Serie A table, with I Nerazzurri in seventh position. Let’s now cross over to Italy to get some insight to the reasons behind this downfall.

What’s gone wrong for Serie A?

“This seems to me to be a classic bad year,” admits Stefano Buonfino, one of Transfermarkt’s Content Managers in Italy. “Inter are trying to start a new cycle by bringing in young players and a potential great coach with little experience, Juventus need to resolve some technical and managerial issues, Napoli have Antonio Conte on the bench, who we already know is a Ferrari in the league but a Fiat Panda in the Champions League, and Atalanta are a great project from a small city and just being there is a great achievement. Milan were missing from the cups this year but are finding their feet again with Allegri. There are red flags, of course, but no major drama for me.”

Buonfino admits there have been some serious issues in the Italian top-flight, but actually believes there have been signs of improvement: “Serie A has been in deep crisis over the last decade, but in recent years it has been recovering with many European finals played and improving results. Honestly, apart from the Premier League, which is in a league of its own for purely economic reasons, I don’t see much difference between the other top five leagues. There is no top clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG or Bayern in Serie A, but let’s not forget that Inter have reached two Champions League finals in the last three seasons and Atalanta have won a Europa League in that time.”

The biggest shock by far of course came at the San Siro given Inter’s recent pedigree in the Champions League. Buonfino expands on the reaction in Italy: ” It was hugely negative, as it should be. Bodø/Glimt is certainly a very organised team, without the fatigue of a league campaign behind them, but the gap between them and Inter was too big for this to happen. Inter will have to lick their wounds after this poor performance, but there are still two competitions to win, for them one of which is the Serie A, which they are already in a great position in.”