The Rise Of Italian Football In Europe

The Italian team, Inter Milan, has penetrated the Champions League final this season. (Photo: Twitter/@Inter)

JAKARTA - Italian football is again stretched in Europe. This can be seen from the elite competition between clubs of the Blue Continent for the 2022/2023 season.

Three teams from Italy, namely Inter Milan, AS Roma and Fiorentina, are confirmed to advance to the final for three editions of the European caste competition, namely the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League.

Inter Milan will face Manchester City in the Champions League final, June 11. Then AS Roma will challenge Europa League champions Sevilla 1 June. Meanwhile, Fiorentina has the ambition to win the Conference League trophy by hosting West Ham United, June 8.

Previously, the Italian teams in Europe more than a decade since Inter Milan won the Champions League in the 2010 season and even won trebles in the Jose Mourinho coaching era.

In fact, in the Europa League, the Italian team seemed to just have a contest and was far from fierce after the last time the second caste trophy of the European League arrived in Italy in 2000 brought by Parma.

Although said to be the age of corn, the Conference League, which is Europe's third tier competition, was brought to the Italian capital by AS Roma in the Jose Mourinho era last season.

Italian clubs have lost their prestige after becoming the world's top league in the 1980s to 1990s. At that time, Italian teams such as AC Milan, Napoli, Juventus, Inter Milan to Parma went back and forth to lift European trophies.

Was Hit By A Strange Problem

But into millennials, Italian clubs are not as sexy then. Apart from being left behind by world stars such as Michael Platini, Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkard, Ronaldo da Lima and Zinedine Zidane, the Italian League has drawn a number of complicated problems.

The financial crisis that hit the Italian state in 2000 sparked the ompong of the Italian League competition. One of the impacts hit Fiorentina, which in 2002 experienced a financial crisis and had to go down to Serie B and change the name of the club.

The impact of the financial crisis also caused Italian clubs to change their transfer policies by bringing in elderly players or borrowing players.

The peak occurred in 2006, although the Italian national team was able to win the World Cup, this achievement could not cover up any of the biggest scandals in football's history, namely the Calciopoli case that dragged the names of two major Juventus and AC Milan clubs.

The scandal caused Juventus to relegate to Serie B and be removed from the Serie A title for the 2005/2006 season. Until several years, the domino effect of a number of cases has not yet been felt in terms of the club's achievements in the European arena. It is proven that AC Milan is still able to win the Champions League in the 2006/2007 and Inter Milan seasons in the 2009/2010 seasons.

However, the Italian club's feasibility felt lost in European competitions after the 2009/2010 season after clubs did not show any activity in bringing in star players despite being left behind by the names of the caliber Paolo Maldini, Javier Zanetti and Alessandro Del Piero who decided to retire.

The absence of big stars is because Italian clubs are unable to provide the high standard of salary desired by players or coaches who in that era can be obtained from the top Premier League and La Liga teams.

Practically only Juventus dominated the league for nine years from 2011 to 2019. The Old Lady was also able to reach the Champions League final stage in the 2015 and 2017 seasons.

But the Old Lady is so toothless to fight two Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid who are in the best form with their two superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Italian Team Starts Bitting

The Italian teams have indeed lost in terms of finance, management and depth of the squad when compared to their competitors from the Premier League, LaLiga and Bundesliga.

However, Italian teams have at least implemented a transfer policy that is starting to reap results in today's European competitions. Most Italian clubs are now composing the depth of the team by combining experienced young players and players.

For example, AS Roma, which this season brought in experienced players such as Paulo Dybala, Nemanja Matic and Giorgino Wijnaldum combined with young players such as Nicola Zalewski and Edoardo Bove.

Also Inter Milan, which had already reaped the rewards of the transfer policy by winning Serie A for the 2021 season. Inter have the composition of experience players such as Milan Skriniar, Romelu Lukaku who are juxtaposed with Nicola Barella and Andrea Bastoni.

Unlike Premier League and LaLiga clubs who dare to pay trillions of Rupiah to redeem one player, the Italian club actually applies a player loan pattern that was attempted for a season or two and was given a permanent contract if at that time the player was able to match the team.

In terms of tactics on the pitch, the big European teams played more in a modern style by applying high-pressure play and possession of the ball, the Italian team became the "crysteria" of modern football.

Like the story of Superman who was helpless with hiskunya, the super clubs that have star players and a modern game system, seem to always die of ticks in front of the old style of clubs from the Italian League.

The Italian team still maintains their catenacio philosophy, the formulation survives and takes advantage of the players' transitional momentum to counterattack.

Not only that, but catenacio also has a varied and flexible approach pattern in every match, depending on the opponents they face. There is not a single strategy on paper that is the same in every match.

At least that philosophy proved not outdated. This was proven by the Italian national team that made the European Cup in 2020 and the Real Madrid club which incidentally was trained by Italian tactical Carlo Ancelotti who implemented the catenacio approach and successfully won the Champions League last season.

Although it looks boring, the Italian team is like giving a slap to modern football that in football it does not only hit the attacking and possession scheme.

With the playing of Inter Milan, AS Roma and Fiorentina in the final of three European competitions, it may be evidence that the Italian team with its tactics could appear to bite in Europe or simply give the impression that football in the Italian League still exists. The answer will come after the final in June, as reported by Antara.