The 87th minute was running at Juventus Stadium, the game had just taken a fatal turn for the hosts, the soul was gone when a television camera zoomed in on Andrea Agnelli. Juve’s president, descendant of the illustrious owner family, pulled on a thin cigar and grimaced: “I knew it,” she said, resigned with foreboding. Agnelli had recently plundered his sympathy account, which was not very rich anyway, with the idea of a European Super League, but remained in office because an Agnelli is left in office.
Now he stood in the stands and watched as his team, which he counts among the non-negotiable fixed starters of the dreamed Superliga for the very best on the continent, once again failed in the round of 16 of the Champions League, for the third time in a row – against FC Villarreal , seventh in the Spanish league, 98 million euros annual turnover.
In the end it was 0:3, and the Gazzetta dello Sport entrusts boxing as the supplier of the appropriate images for an “epochal defeat”. It also said: “Hit on the chin, Juve suddenly lay on the ground, falling like a boxer without any energy.” And anyone who likes to read the metaphor for Italian football in it is very welcome. “Madama”, as the Juventini call their old lady, was the last remaining Italian club in the competition. Among the top eight are three Spanish and three English teams, plus one German and one Portuguese. But again not Italian. It’s been twelve years since Calcio won the pot, back then it was Inter. Juve’s last triumph was more than 25 years ago.
The Serie A is slow and overly tactical – that takes revenge in Europe
So there’s a lot of murky debate material coming together, which is also ominously entangled with the questions that are being asked in Italy about the reigning European champions. The Azzurri also collapsed completely after a summer’s dizzying – so much so that they naturalized some South Americans in their distress to compensate for alleged weaknesses. The playoffs for participation in the World Championships in Qatar are coming up next week. The semi-finals are against North Macedonia, in Rome, and that should still be manageable. But what about Turkey or Portugal you would have to play against afterwards?
A heart for Villarreal: Pau Torres (centre) celebrates his goal.
(Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP)
Calcio, which in Italy is also often seen as an overall category, clubs and national team as a whole, is experiencing a thunderous phase of disenchantment. He was also more competitive internationally, to put it with a well-meaning understatement. The national league, Serie A, employs many veterans who are worshiped as if they were in the full juice of their careers. Add to that a horde of mediocre and nameless foreign players blocking the way for up-and-coming Italian youngsters. The relationship? 70 to 30 percent.
Serie A is slow, at least slower than most comparable championships in Europe. Less physical, there is often a lack of tension and intensity. And of course Italian football is over-tactical, usually: Roberto Mancini’s Azzurri were a refreshing exception, as now the great Arrigo Sacchi notes: “They played with courage, with a clear idea.” It was a miracle.
The game between Juves and Villarreal, on the other hand, was again a nice illustration of the old tradition of tactics. Although you have to say: The first half was one of the best that Turin has achieved this season. Access Dusan Vlahovic, something like the promise of the future in person, only 22 years old and fetched for more than 80 million euros, showed again how much he can do with the ball once he gets it – and that is far too rare. Juventus dominated for almost an hour, creating chances, Vlahovic once hammered the ball out of nowhere on the crossbar. But Unai Emery, the Villarreal coach, who has previously dominated the Europa League with his clubs, neutralized the opponent with an efficiency otherwise known from the Italians. As soon as Villarreal had the ball, it put the flow of the game to sleep. In the second half, both teams were trying hard not to lose the game.
Three shots on target, three goals – Italian efficiency. Unfortunately for the opponent
Until Emery brought on his best man, just-recovered striker Gerard Moreno. And this Moreno only needed fifteen minutes to rewrite the plot: almost alone, with deep passes, with verticalizations. For 78 minutes the Spaniards hadn’t even had a shot on target before penalties were awarded. 1:0 Seven minutes later: 2-0. Five minutes later, when Agnelli’s cigar had already been smoked, there was another penalty. 3-0 Three shots on target, three goals – Italian efficiency.
So Juve failed again very early on, although everyone thought they were extremely lucky to draw. Like a year ago, when Turin lost to FC Porto in the round of 16, or the year before, when they couldn’t get Olympique Lyon under control. Villarreal, Porto, Lyon – all honorable. But of course they are opponents who would have to wipe away the high-flown self-image of Juve and its president. Instead, they plunge Calcio into a crisis of meaning.