Italian Credibility.

Milan, Italy’s last hope…

… Not to put too much pressure on them but it’s true; they are now the sole Italian club in the Champions League and thus have become an ambassador of Serie A. For many people the Champions League is the only opportunity they get to sample different leagues and they don’t often get to see what they can do, but instead they only see them play in this one competition and assume the whole league is like this.

People who do only get to see Serie A in the Champions League may assume it’s a weak league, but that would be a mistake to assume such things because they may just be having an “off” day. Just take Juventus as an example, they have been eliminated, but what the average spectator won’t take into account is that this is just their second appearance in the completion after some very hard times, and I do admit that after surprising everyone last season and reaching the quarter finals, crashing out in the group stages is a blow. Yet I take into account the fact that the game had been postponed because of heavy snow, so that sort of disruption can do a lot to throw you off your game, also the abysmal state of the playing surface didn’t help. Having said that, they shouldn’t have left qualification till the last game.

In a group that had Copenhagen, Real Madrid and Galatassary, they were looking favourites to come in second behind Real Madrid, but that’s just it… They believed it was a done deal and they only had to worry about the Spanish side, and it was that arrogance that saw them leave early. What every fan should really be concerned about is that they could only manage a draw with the Danish side.  It as if they were coasting on past success and it only took the 4-2 defeat against Fiorentina in Serie A for them to realise that it wasn’t going to be easy. It was unfortunate that that defeat happened after the Copenhagen games, or who knows they may have actually worked harder to win it?

Now Juve will hopefully pay more attention in the Europa League as the final is in The Juventus Stadium there will be an expectation for them to be there.

Napoli, on the other hand won their game against Arsenal but were still knocked out of the competition. Their squad was not as big and full of quality at the Juve one and one could maybe excuse their exit, but they went down fighting, that’s the kind of attitude I had grown accustomed from Juve, but not this time.

There is still the club from Milan that is doing poorly in the domestic league but seems to be thriving in the Champions League, so people shouldn’t draw conclusions about Serie A because it’s a different beast entirely.