We don’t have a Leicester or a Bayer Leverkusen, at least not yet. The last Italian team capable of winning the championship A league without ever having conquered it before, it even remains there Sampdoria, 1990/1991 season. The Bologna that goes in Champions League, in any case, remains a company with a capital I. The province – in terms of football and recent history – which goes to heaven, even if it is working class, the quality of Zirkzee and his companions has very little. With some illustrious precedents in recent years.
The other large companies: none like the Goddess. The most recent, also signed by Giovanni Sartori as director, is the tale ofAtalanta. Today the Nerazzurri are permanently a team at the top of the table. In 2017, when Gasperini achieved fourth place in his first year, which at the time was “only” worth the Europa League, the story was very different. The Orobic team had not participated in European competitions since 1990, when they reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, losing against Inter. Of the eleven continental holdings of the Goddess, seven have arrived in the last seven seasons. A unique case, because none of the others exploit of Italian football has managed to stabilize in this way. And a model for Joey Saputo’s company.
The example to avoid it is that of Sampdoria, which in 2009/2010 was literally dragged by Cassano and Pazzini to win the Champions League. The great joy before the great collapse: the following season was inaugurated by the farewells of Marotta, Paratici and Delneri, continued with the transfers of the two attackers in January, and culminated with the relegation to Serie B.Udinese the Europe that counts did not bring so bad: the Bianconeri, at the time coached by Spalletti, achieved fourth place and Champions League in the 2004/2005 season. In the following championship, the group stage was not exciting, but the championship ended with a disappointing eleventh place but not a defeat. It was instead, just after that year, that they went to the Champions League Chievo, fourth in the previous ranking, “corrected” post Calciopoli. And that of the Veronese is also an example that Bologna will not want to follow: having said goodbye to the cup in the third qualifying round, Chievo also said goodbye to Serie A, relegating themselves to the league.
