Inter were the last Italian team to win the Champions League, in 2010
Italian football is facing the potential for a Champions League “debacle,” with the possibility of no Serie A teams advancing to the competition’s round of 16 this season.
Since the introduction of the round of 16 in the 2003-04 season, there has consistently been at least one Italian club represented. In fact, on 12 occasions over the past 22 years, there have been three.
The presence of an Italian team in the Champions League’s knockout stage has been a constant since 1987-88, when Napoli were eliminated in the first round of the European Cup by Real Madrid.
However, Inter Milan’s unexpected elimination by Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt in the play-off round means that either Juventus or Atalanta must overturn first-leg deficits to maintain that streak.
Juventus trails Galatasaray 5-2 heading into their return match in Turin, while Atalanta is down 2-0 on aggregate before Wednesday’s home leg against Borussia Dortmund.
Inter, who were finalists last season, suffered a 2-1 defeat at San Siro against Bodo, following a 3-1 loss in the first leg.
This marks the first time that the Milan giants have been knocked out of the Champions League by a team from outside Europe’s top five leagues: England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France.
Italian football journalist Daniele Verri stated, “This is a significant wake-up call for Italian football.”
“Juventus will need to secure a 4-0 victory, and Atalanta must win 3-0. [For them all to be eliminated] would be a complete debacle, a disaster for our clubs.”
“The presence of Ronaldo and Christian Vieri at San Siro tonight symbolizes a clash between the past and the present.”
Former Inter strikers Ronaldo and Christian Vieri were special guests at San Siro on Tuesday
Inter’s acquisition of Ronaldo and Vieri for world-record fees in the late 1990s occurred during a period when Serie A was the envy of the football world, boasting some of the game’s most talented stars.
AC Milan then defeated Juventus to win the Champions League in 2003, later losing to Liverpool on penalties in the final two years later, before securing another European title against the Reds in 2007.
While there have been more recent successes in Europe’s other competitions, such as Atalanta’s Europa League victory in 2024 and Roma’s Conference League win in 2021, Jose Mourinho’s Inter remains the last Italian side to have won the Champions League, back in 2010.
Inter’s European exit occurs despite their strong position in Serie A, where they hold a 10-point lead over rivals AC Milan and are a further four points ahead of defending champions Napoli, who failed to advance from the Champions League’s league phase.
Journalist Vincenzo Credendino remarked, “It’s a historic moment, and for Italy and Inter, it’s one of the worst.”
“Inter may be the best in Italy, but it may be time to focus not just on the next one or two years, but on the next 10 or 15 – and it’s clear that Italian football, in general, is not on par with the top European leagues.”
The national team also faces a play-off in March to avoid missing out on a third consecutive World Cup this summer, having last lifted the trophy in 2006.
European football expert Julien Laurens commented on BBC Radio 5 Live, “It’s a difficult time for Italian football, and this demonstrates it.”
“Today, Inter Milan applied pressure, but it wasn’t enough. They have been the best team in Italy for the last few years. And Napoli, as well, they haven’t even come close.”
“It’s a terrible situation for Italian football at the moment.”
Inter won five of their opening eight league phase games in Europe to finish 10th, with Juventus 13th and Atalanta 15th.
Yet in the play-offs, all have come unstuck against sides who finished lower in the table but play a more intense brand of football.
Verri added, “What does this say about Italian football? That something needs to change.”
“The level of Italian football is poor. It’s a structural issue. We play very slow football. You can ask any manager in Italy, and they will all say the same thing.”
“I was speaking to Claudio Ranieri the other day, and he said, ‘Look, when I was in England at Leicester… people don’t train more than in Italy. They just do it with another intensity, and then they keep up that intensity during the games.'”
“We play slow, and in Europe, you suffer.”
‘We really messed up’ – does European football need more balance?
While Inter boasts a much more expensively assembled squad on far bigger wages than Bodo, who had nine Norwegians in their starting XI at San Siro, Verri says Italian clubs are seeing their best players move abroad.
Last season’s Serie A top goalscorer Mateo Retegui left for Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia, for example, while former team-mate Ademola Lookman joined Atletico Madrid and Tijjani Reijnders left AC Milan for Manchester City.
While the majority of Italy’s national squad still play in the country, stars such as Gianluigi Donnarumma, Riccardo Calafiori, Sandro Tonali and Retegui are elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Laurens believes Serie A clubs are no longer producing good enough youngsters.
“Sporting CP, Club Brugge and Bodo have similarities in their success this season. Their scouting is great and their academies perform well,” he explained.
“The academies in Italy are not producing enough players or players who are fit to play in their first team. The way they spend their money is not what we are used to from Italian clubs.”
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