Last year they ambled to a 27th Scudetto with a comfort considerably grander than their seven-point margin over Inter suggested
Last year they ambled to a 27th Scudetto with a comfort considerably grander than their seven-point margin over Inter suggested.The 2002 title, after a monumental tug of war, again with Inter, also ended up in Turin. On the back of another summer of canny tinkering from manager Marcello Lippi, they look a yet more resounding certainty to bat away the challenges of any pretenders to their throne. Nicola Legrottaglie, the nation’s outstanding young centre-back, has been summoned to bolster the one area of the side which seems even remotely vulnerable: Ciro Ferrara, the Old Lady’s old man, has hinted that a season which will see him turn 37 may well be his last.Coupled with the craft of Alessandro Del Piero and the goals of David Trezeguet, it is hard to see them being prevented from moving a step closer to the 30 championships promised as the epitaph for Giovanni Agnelli, their charismatic president who died in January. The problem is the growing level of predictability which threatens to paralyse the upper reaches of the table. Internazionale’s rip-roaring comeback to turn a 3-0 half-time deficit into a worthy point away at Lazio last December was but one instance of the extravagance which Italian natural instincts unleash sparingly but fabulously. After years of disdainfully rebuking jibes that its product is a dour backdrop to its Premiership and La Liga cohorts, Serie A is in danger of complying with its stereotype.Not that there’s much wrong with the quality of the football.
Twelve months ago, the Italian game was busying itself in the hunt for an antidote to five years of underachievement on the continental stage. Three Champions’ League semi-finalists, including Milan who went on to lift the trophy for the sixth time, did much to restore an exacting and proud reputation.
However, if Italy’s top flight is to remain upwardly mobile in Europe, the recent downward turn in domestic matters needs arresting. Last year was about making a point to others, this time around Serie A has something to prove to itself. One of the players they have subsequently lost is Modeste M’Bami, a 20-year-old Cameroon international, who resisted an approach from Wolves and chose instead to join Paris St-Germain.
A forceful midfielder in the Vieira mould, he should make a big impression in the French capital.. It proved to be an excellent move for the talented winger, whose displays last season attracted the attention of many of Europe’s leading clubs, as well as the French national manager, Jacques Santini. A creative player who is always looking to open up defences, Rothen was a key factor in Monaco’s sustained challenge for the French title last season.MODESTE M’BAMI (PARIS ST-GERMAIN)Sedan’s relegation to the Second Division at the end of last season was a bitter blow for a club which has been particularly adept at uncovering African talent. The average attendance last season fell below 20,000 – the first fall since the apotheosis of Les Bleus in the 1998 World Cup created a boom in football-going in France. The economic difficulties of the main French cable TV channel, Canal Plus, have already reduced the budget of PSG (majority owned by the television company) and are likely to squeeze revenue for all clubs in the years ahead.Only Marseille – with a large fan base – and Lyon with a crafty, far-seeing president in Jean-Michel Aulas, seem to have the long-term economic strength to aspire to match the Spanish, English and Italian clubs.
