WTI Magazine #59    2015 May, 1
Author : Simone Callisto Manca      Translation by:

There was a time, between the 80s and the 90s, when Italian football was the best in Europe. Not only the great historical teams such as the Milan of Sacchi and the one of Capello or Lippi's Juventus, but also teams new at such high levels, like Boskov's Sampdoria, the Parma of Nevio Scala and Eriksson's Lazio showed Europe the Italian strength winning games and cups and bringing Italy at the top of the continent and of the world.

Then came the crisis: in fact, after the all-Italian final of the 2003 Champions League between AC Milan and Juventus, in the last ten years the Italian teams have won just two trophies: Milan won the Champions League in 2007 in Athens in the rematch of the unfortunate night of two years before when Liverpool defeated the Rossoneri; and Inter, coached by Mourinho, who won in 2010 in Madrid against Bayern Monaco a cup the Inter fans had been waiting for several decades.

Since 2010 nothing else, and these por results brought us in the position of having just 3 teams in the most important competition, the Champions League, instead of the 4 teams we used to have before. Even worse is the situation in the Europa League, where our last winning team was Parma in 1999.

It seems, however, that in this 2015 things are bound to change: and even if we haven't won anything yet, having three (Juventus in Champions Juventus, Napoli and Fiorentina in Europa League) among the eight semi-finalists in the two continental competitions is a very good result, and lets us hope that at least one of the two trophies can get back to Italy. The other five semi-finalists are three Spanish teams, a German and a Ukraine one.

In Champions League, Juventus definitively is the underdog: the other three semi-finalists are in fact universally considered the best teams in the world. Real Madrid, who will play against Juventus on May 5 and May 13, won last year, has won 10 Champions League and has some of the best players in the world (one of all, the FIFA Ballon d'Or Cristiano Ronaldo) and one of the most successful coaches of recent years, the Italian Carlo Ancelotti; Barcellona has the strongest attack on the planet (Messi-Neymar-Suárez, who so far have scored 102 goals in one season); Bayern Munchen has most of the players who won last year the World Cup in Brazil and is coached by by one of the world guru of the football bench, Pep Guardiola. Juventus, instead, has won the Italian tournament for four years in a row, but in Europe has never reached not even closer results. It has a team of experienced and talented players (Buffon, Pirlo, Tévez), one of the best defenses (Bonucci, Barzagli, Chiellini) and Paul Pogba, a young complete midfielder, destined to become the strongest in the world in his role. They are trained by Italian coach Massimiliano Allegri, arrived in haste in July among the general skepticism following the sudden resignation of Antonio Conte, current head coach of the Italian national team: Allegri in a few months has managed to forget the ghost of his predecessor with a more quiet, measured approach, and without shouting.

In Europa League the situation is different: Napoli and Fiorentina have great chance to play for an all-Italian final next May 27. The Neapolitans are favorites against Dnipro and, to a lesser extent, so are the team from Florence against the last year winners, the Spaniard of Sevilla.

Then, last but not least we want to tell you a beautiful story: that of Carpi, promoted for the first time in its history in Serie A (the First League), after a championship lead at the top from the beginning to the end. The current one is actually its second season in Serie B (the Second Leaugue), after more than a century (the team was founded in 1909, and then re-founded in 2000) spent in the lower divisions. Carpi is a town of just over 70,000 inhabitants in Emilia Romagna: a small town, a perfect representative of the provincial Italy of the thousand bell towers and the thousands excellences. A curiosity: all its inhabitants, including the elderly and children, would not be enough to fill the stadium "Meazza" in Milan, where Inter and Milan play.

The rise in Serie A is not just a sports fact, but also a comeback for all the territory: only three years ago, in May 2012, Carpi and Modena were victims of an earthquake which caused many damages to the population. For once in a while, the Italian Football stands as a metaphor for social redemption.