ROME (AP) — First it was champions league. Next came the national team. Now it is Europa League and Conference League.
Italian football crisis The situation is worsening with Bologna and Fiorentina on the brink of leaving Europe.
Bologna lost 3-1 to Aston Villa in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals, and Fiorentina lost 3-0 to Crystal Palace at the same stage in the Conference League, making it likely that Italy will not feature any club in the European semi-finals for the first time in seven years.
The latest defeat comes after Atalanta, the only Italian club to reach the round of 16 of the Champions League, were defeated by Bayern Munich by an astonishing 10-2 aggregate margin last month.
Inter Milan and Juventus, who suffered a humiliating 5-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in last season’s final, were eliminated in the Champions League play-offs by Bodault/Glimt and Galatasaray respectively.
Defending Serie A champions Napoli finished 30th in the 36-team league and did not even advance to the play-offs.
The only goal scored by the Italian club on Thursday came from Bologna’s English winger Jonathan Rowe.
Bologna winger Federico Bernardeschi said: “Experience is important at this level and Aston Villa probably had more because they made fewer mistakes and made the most of our mistakes.”
Ollie Watkins scored Villa’s second goal in stoppage time.
“The third goal changed everything for the return match,” Bernardeschi said. “We can’t afford to concede in the last minute of stoppage time. That should teach us a lot. We need to improve.”
Despite their similar positions in the Premier League (14th) and Serie A (15th), the gap between Palace and Fiorentina was even greater.
no world cup
The defeat came 10 days after Italy lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties, meaning four-time champions missed out on their third consecutive World Cup appearance.
Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina and coach Gennaro Gattuso resigned following Italy’s defeat.
The only Italian managers participating in the North American World Cup will be in charge of Brazil (Carlo Ancelotti), Turkey (Vincenzo Montella) and Uzbekistan (Fabio Cannavaro).
Serie A is old and slow
Gravina, who will continue in his role as caretaker manager until elections in June, published a detailed report this week into the failings of Italian football as a whole.
Among Gravina’s findings: Serie A has more players who are older than leagues in England, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway and Belgium, with an average age of 27.
Serie A’s average ball speed of 7.6 m/s is significantly lower than Europe’s most important league’s average of 9.2 m/s, and even farther than the Champions League’s average of 10.4 m/s.
Italy’s problems also include the lower divisions, with nearly 200 clubs excluded from the league in 1986-1987 due to financial difficulties, and a total of 519 penalty points imposed over the past 13 years.
Italy is also not among the top 10 European countries in terms of stadium construction and modernization over the past 20 years.
“It is clear that the only way to intervene in the interests of Italian football is to intervene in a radical way, with fundamental support from the government,” Gravina said. “No one person can achieve complete reconstruction.”
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