It has been a long and exciting summer in Serie A and although the league season does not get underway for another three weeks the Italian Super Cup will be played in Beijing tonight. The game is between last year’s Scudetto winners AC Milan and their city rivals and Coppa Italia winners Internazionale.
The last few years have been a struggle in Italy after the Calciopoli scandal that rocked the game in 2006. The ramifications affected everyone associated with the game and left Serie A seriously low on confidence. With some of the top sides relegated the strength of the league deteriorated and has taken some years to rebuild. Five years later the incidents continue to crop up and earlier this week, Atalanta and a number of other clubs were all found guilty of match-fixing and punished accordingly.
The lack of competition for a few seasons seriously affected the success of Italian sides in Europe, which in turn has harmed their co-efficient. From next season, the Italian clubs will compete for one less place in the Champions League. A domestic league that is struggling financially can ill afford to lose out on the benefits associated with the biggest and richest competition in club football.
Last season saw AC Milan win their first Scudetto since 2004 and break their city neighbour’s stranglehold on the title. Much of the credit went to their new coach Massimiliano Allegri, whose man management and shrewd purchases saw his team triumph in his first season in charge. He inherited a very attacking side with almost too many options and struggled initially to impart his ideas on a strong-willed squad. The fact that he managed to offload Ronaldinho in January was a clear indication that he had the faith and trust of the owner and many of the senior players. He has strengthened this summer by adding Philippe Mexes, Taye Taiwo and others to his squad.
The biggest spenders thus far have been Juventus who have parted with over €70 million even though they are not competing in Europe this season. Their new coach Antonio Conte is a former player and knows all about the expectation and success levels required from the Bianconeri. He has bought wisely and foucsed the majority of his money on assembling a front line that now boasts Alessandro Del Piero, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Alessandro Matri, Fabio Quagliarella, Luca Toni and Mirko Vucinic. This exciting forward line will have ammunition fed to them by Andrea Pirlo, who moved from AC Milan on a free transfer. With no European distractions it will be fascinating too see how Conte’s Juventus get on.
There is also a new man-in-charge at Inter Milan where Gian Piero Gasperini has taken over from Leonardo. Most of the summer the transfer speculation surrounding the club has involved players leaving rather than arriving, but they have still managed to add several players in key positions. Many of Gasperini’s squad remain from their treble winning season two years ago and he will need to re-install that hunger if they are to compete for the title this year.
The most exciting developments have been at AS Roma where former Barcelona player Luis Enrique has taken over. He has promised to install the Catalan’s style at the Italian capital and after signing Bojan Krkic, his team will be fascinating to watch in the early part of the season. Enrique has brought in just the right blend of experience and potential which should make the football pleasing on the eye. The signing of Maarten Stekelenburg was a bit of coup as he was one of the most sought after goalkeepers in Europe.
Leaving aside the major clubs it will be interesting to see how Udinese fair against Arsenal in the Champions League qualifiers. Even though they have lost Alexis Sanchez, they will pose a significant threat to the English side. We will also get to see Napoli compete in Europe’s biggest and most glamorous club competition after finishing third last season.
There is genuine excitement about the coming season and it promises so much already. The four big sides will be in contention and if Napoli and Udinese can try and build on last season the fight for the Scudetto will be riveting.
