Are the dark days of Italian football finally Over?
In 2023, the scene has changed dramatically. Five Italian clubs were in the semi-finals of three European competitions that exist nowadays.
In the recent past, the royalty of Italian football was nowhere to be seen. The epitaph has been written since a long time ago. 2010 was the last time an Italian club won the most prestigious tournament that club football can offer, the UEFA Champions League - Inter Milan. That was Inter's third triumph in the competition.
The next 13 years are a story of failure and frustration. Although Juventus reached two UCL finals in 2015 and 2017, that's all. No other team from Italy could even play in the semi-finals of any European competition.
Especially for the two clubs from Milan: Inter and AC. It has been utterly embarrassing for them at times because of their history and what they used to be. There was a time when the best players from around the world wanted to join the big boys in Italy at any cost. Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Andriy Shevchenko, and many more made their names playing in Italy.
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But what happened then? All of a sudden, Italian football fell from grace. The best players weren't interested in playing there anymore. Spanish football took over, and Italian football went into hiding. Big clubs like Milan and Inter were in shambles. Though Juventus came back from the mud, only to reign over the Italian domestic league and cups. In Europe, the story remained the same.
In 2015 and 2017, when Juventus competed in the final of the UCL, they were shown their true level by two mighty Spanish teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. Still, Juventus could actually come up with a bit of a fight against the world, as if they were the lone flagbearer of Italian football.
In 2023, the scene has changed dramatically. Five Italian clubs were in the semi-finals of three European competitions that exist nowadays. Three of them are in the finals of three particular tournaments. In the Champions League, three of the eight teams in the quarter-finals were Italian clubs, Napoli joined by the two giants of Milan. Then we saw a Milan derby in the semi-finals. Inter is now one win away from clinching their fourth UCL title. Manchester City and Pep Guardiola await them for the showdown in Istanbul.
In the Europa League, Jose Mourinho brought back his magic. He is on the verge of winning yet another European trophy, this time with Roma. Which would be Roma's second-ever European win followed by last year's success in the UEFA Conference League. Although the task would be very difficult given the opponent they will face in the final in the shape of Sevilla, the record six-time winner of this competition.
UEFA's almost brand-new competition, the Conference League also has an Italian finalist. Fiorentina reached only their fifth ever European Final this season, where they will face West Ham, the English club will play their first ever European Final. That would be a game to watch!
Now the question arises: Is Italian football finally back on track? We can discuss why and how it fell off in the first place the other day. Let's talk about whether its glory days are finally back.
The increased Italian success in Europe reflects Serie A's increased competitiveness. After Juventus dominated the league for nearly a decade with nine consecutive titles, there have been three different Serie A champions in the last three seasons.
Inter Milan broke Juventus' stranglehold on the league title in 2021, and Milan won it again last year. Napoli ended a 33-year wait for the "scudetto" and won only their fourth league title, the first after the Maradona era.
For the first time since its last Champions League victory in 2007, the seven-time champion AC Milan were back in the semifinals. Additionally, Inter had not made it to the final four since its treble-winning season. And now they are in the Final.
An Italian team has never won the Europa League in its current format. Parma won the Europa League in 1999 when it was still known as the UEFA Cup. Inter finished runner-up in 2020, losing to Sevilla in the final.
Roma's Conference League victory last season was the first European trophy won by an Italian team since Inter won the treble of the Champions League, Serie A, and the Italian Cup in 2010. The same man coached both teams: José Mourinho.
It was also only a year ago that Italy won the European Championship. All of this contributed to the belief that Italian teams could compete with the best in Europe. Furthermore, the return to the top of two of Italy's most illustrious clubs bolstered that belief.
There is an essence of the Italian style of playing as well with three coaches from the Italian region of Emilia Romagna reaching the semifinals of the Champions League: Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid, Stefano Pioli of Milan, and Simone Inzaghi of Inter. And it's a record, previously set by Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann from the German state of Bavaria, who had both made it to the final four in the same season.
It's not certain that all of the three Italian teams will come out victorious from their respective finals. All of them could lose, all of them might win. But one thing is guaranteed, Italian football is back and it's not going to sink in a hurry.
