The Champions League quarter-finals have been determines and league breakdown has three Spanish sides through, two from England, two from Germany and one from France.
None from Italy.
A rare occurrence indeed.
One thing we knew for sure were death, taxes and a representative from Serie A in the quarters of Champions League alongside its great rivals. Alas, it's no longer the case.
While these things can shift back in a hurry, I think this time around it may take a little longer for Italian teams. Though they have been competitive in the last 15 years, they were not always the favorites as had been customary. Now, they're not even in the conversation. This means some retooling and rebuilding is needed and that takes money - in addition to some creative development.
If I look at the power house Italian teams - Juventus, AC Milan, and Inter Milan - they're currently not on par with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. In fact, I wonder if they may end more like Ajax in Holland. Once among the most powerful of all teams now wallows in mediocrity struggling to remain relevant.
Juventus seems further along but there's a lot of work to be done.
The second-tier teams of Napoli (who were unlucky to not get out of the group stage. They could just as easily be in the quarters as Dortmund who they split in group play) and Roma play well but still are in need of some reinforcements to challenge seriously. Roma in particular are well coached by Rudy Garcia.
Anyway.
We'll see.
None from Italy.
A rare occurrence indeed.
One thing we knew for sure were death, taxes and a representative from Serie A in the quarters of Champions League alongside its great rivals. Alas, it's no longer the case.
While these things can shift back in a hurry, I think this time around it may take a little longer for Italian teams. Though they have been competitive in the last 15 years, they were not always the favorites as had been customary. Now, they're not even in the conversation. This means some retooling and rebuilding is needed and that takes money - in addition to some creative development.
If I look at the power house Italian teams - Juventus, AC Milan, and Inter Milan - they're currently not on par with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. In fact, I wonder if they may end more like Ajax in Holland. Once among the most powerful of all teams now wallows in mediocrity struggling to remain relevant.
Juventus seems further along but there's a lot of work to be done.
The second-tier teams of Napoli (who were unlucky to not get out of the group stage. They could just as easily be in the quarters as Dortmund who they split in group play) and Roma play well but still are in need of some reinforcements to challenge seriously. Roma in particular are well coached by Rudy Garcia.
Anyway.
We'll see.
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