For the first time in four years, no Serie A team made it past the Round of 16 of the Champions League. It had not happened since the 2015/2016 season. Inter were eliminated in the group stage, Juventus, Atalanta and Lazio in the first step of the elimination phase at the hands of Porto, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. The Bianconeri were the only group winners to be knocked out so right away.
Coach Arrigo Sacchi weighed in on the struggles of the Italian teams in Europe on Gazzetta dello Sport: “Internationally, everybody participates to both phases, they do not have defenders on the pitch that simply guard their opponents. There is more strategy and less tactics. It is the opposite in Italy, where football is defensive-minded and static. Serie A sides defend with several men and attack with little. Atalanta are the only one to play a European style, with rhythm, pace and coordination, they try to dominate the pitch and the run of play, they pressure aggressively. The Italian way of intending the sport is generated by a cultural refusal to change. We are closer to the past than to the future.”
Corriere della Sera’s pundit Mario Sconcerti also commented: “For years, Juventus took out the competition in Serie A, the other clubs no longer played to win. Finishing in the top four was became the real goal, a success. It is a different kind of league, with a lot of viewers but way behind the competition from the quality standpoint because nobody is capable of improving it. Given all the debts, the objective is not to win the Champions League, but just to participate for economic reasons.”