World Cup by a mixture of incompetent refereeing and Trapattoni's strange
team selection. This was then followed by a delay to the Serie A and B
seasons as clubs and tv companies haggled over deals. In the background,
there was also the disappointing European record of Italian clubs for the
past three seasons. As Milan stumbled past Liberec in the third qualifying
round, going through on away goals, things didn't look much brighter.
Now, in the lazy days of summer, we can reflect on a momentous campaign for
Serie A. Juventus were worthy winners of the league, they had their dips in
form, both domestically and abroad, but were comfortably the most consistent
team. Perhaps their finest moment was in the CL, the destruction of Real
Madrid in the Delle Alpi was as good a performance as I've seen from Juve in
recent seasons. Milan deservedly won the CL but the bianconeri had a season
to be proud of. As for Inter, the great under-achievers. A fantastic defence
saw them reach the CL semi-finals but, despite a late flurry, Milan always
had the better of them over the 180 minutes. In A, they failed again. Cuper
will be on the panchina next season but won't last long if the nerazzurri
don't fire on all cylinders immediately.
Trapattoni's Italy have also found a wining formula, the Totti - Del Piero
axis looks to be the future and is starting to pay off now. Victory in
Portugal next summer looks like a good bet.
The CL final in May was a fitting end to a great season. Rightly, all
attention was focused on the great defenders present - Maldini, Costacurta,
Ferrara, Montero etc. Such was their skill, they held at bay Del Piero,
Inzagi, Rui Costa, Shevchenko et al. Milan looked the best team on the night
and Dida emerged as the hero with his saves in the shoot-out, a far cry from
his humiliation in Leeds a few seasons ago. As Milan paraded the trophy, few
would have remembered their thoughts on seeing their first round group last
autumn. The rossoneri were drawn with Deportivo, Lens and Bayern. If Liberec
were a problem, how would Milan cope with these exceptional teams?
Well, quite easily actually. A routine 2-1 win over Lens in the Giuseppe
Meazza was followed up by a 4-0 thrashing of Deportivo in Spain. People
started to take note of Ancelotti's Milan now. Stil defensively sound but
playing with an attacking verve that was putting good teams to the sword.
The best was yet to come though, Bayern were then defeated home and away,
ending their involvement in the competition. Four straight wins and Milan
were through, as group winners, Defeats to Lens and Deportivo reflected this
- why waste energy when you have completed the task.
All eyes were on the second group stage now. The draw didn't disappoint, out
of the hat came Madrid, Dortmund and Lokomotiv.
As in the previous stage, the rossoneri did the hard work early on. The
first game saw them outplay Madrid and the 1-0 victory didn't do them
justice. Following on from that, a trip to germany saw another 1-0 win over
Dortmund. Succesive 1-0 victories over Lokomotiv wrapped up the group. The
customary last two defeats followed but Milan were in the quarter-finals.
By the time Milan played Ajax in the CL, the domestic season was starting to
unravel somewhat. Leading the league at the half-way point, the rossoneri
had seen themselves overtaken by Juventus and Inter. Injuries to key players
such as Gattuso, Seedorf and Pirlo had taken their toll. As the game was
level at 2-2 in Milan, after a 0-0 draw in Amsterdam, the season looked to
be over for Maldini and Co until a 93rd minute winner by Tomasson sealed a
vital win. Not only had the game been won but the "Derby of Europe" against
Inter had just been arranged.
For the semi-final, the Meazza was a superb sight, on both evenings. The
noise was deafening, the football superb and it was a privilege to watch it.
The first match, Milan's "home" game ended 0-0, leaving the tie very well
balanced. When Shevchenko scored in the return match, it looked all over for
Inter. Without Vieri, they looked incapable of scoring and Recoba was at his
ineffectual best. There was a surprise left though, Obafemi Martins, scored
a late equaliser which sparked an avalanche of assualts on Abbiati's goal
but Milan held on.
The final in Manchester was then an all-Italian affair and I'm sure it's
fresh enough in our minds not to go over it. Suffice to say, it was a
gripping match, perhaps slightly affected by the draining semi-finals both
teams had played. The penalties were poor though. Buffon made good saves but
the Juve players' penalties were disappointing, as were the lack of
volunteers. In the end though, Milan deserved their sixth EC/CL crown.
Especially pleasing for Ancelotti as he had won with Milan as a player and
also made sweeter by Juve's decision to sack him two seasons ago. Mind you,
Juve won't be too disappointed as they have Lippi.
Where now for Italian football? Everything looks positive. The national team
are back on form, the U21's are as brilliant as ever and the league looks
strong. Importantly, the Italian teams have awakened to the new financial
realities. Lazio are still struggling but there is a new prudence about the
transfer market, swaps and loans rather than acquisitions. The game is
downsizing worldwide and the Italians are taking the lead. Don't get me
wrong, as it is the richest league in the world, there will still be some
big transfers but the heavy spending of the nineties is gone. The boom in
football can be traced to Italia 90. I'd be happy if the new reality was
seen as starting with Italy's domination of Europe in 2003.
In a footballing sense, defences are still tough, as they should be. A new
attacking flair has been detected though and it has to be welcomed. Bottom
line is though that a good defence will always beat a good attack. Ask
Madrid.
Congratulations to Milan, a great season which was topped off by victory
over Roma in the Coppa Italia. I'm looking forward to next season already,
remember Serie A will be live on British Eurosport.
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