You have to leaf through the almanacs for a long time and go back to the last century to enjoy the joyful image of an Italian team lifting the UEFA Cup
Of Luca Masotto,
May 23, 2024
When Europe becomes a province. You have to leaf through the almanacs for a long time and go back to the last century to enjoy the joyful image of an Italian team lifting the UEFA Cup, now the Europa League. Then it was Alberto Malesani’s Parma to triumph on the Moscow night, 12 May 1999, when at the ‘Luzniki’ stadium they overwhelmed captain Laurent Blanc’s Olympique Marseille 3-0 with goals from Vanoli, Crespo and Enrico Chiesa. Since that ‘historic’ edition (the following season the Cup Winners’ Cup was abolished, incorporating all the teams classified immediately behind those entitled to the Champions League in a single tournament before the new format of the current EL since 2009) many have tried to recover the scepter without great results.
For at least two decades the big Italian companies have snubbed the competition (also producing several bad impressions) but in the last five years the interest (and consequently the competitiveness) has increased. There are two triggering factors: financial reasons because beyond the TYV rights a little extra revenue never hurts, but also the possibility of keeping a dream alive. Antonio Conte’s Inter came very close, ending up defeated in Cologne by Sevilla in August 2002 (3-2), in the post-Covid final, and last season it was Josè Mourinho’s Roma that cherished the dream, always against Spanish club in Budapest on penalties. A provincial team like Atalanta has therefore once again thought about bringing the national colors back to the top. The analogies that arouse more than one reflection are many: a solid and organized company and a team with a game built on the talent of its performers that aims to achieve results through spectacle. In that Parma, which also won the Italian Cup and the Italian Super Cup in that magical season, there were future world champions like Buffon and Cannavaro and champions like Crespo, Balbo, Asprilla and Veron.
This Goddess gave the same joy, in the same way. Parma eliminated Atletico by winning in front of 60,000 at the ‘Calderon’ (without forgetting the six goals against Bordeaux), Atalanta beat Liverpool twice at Anfield Road. They are historical courses and recurrences. It was therefore destined that the former UEFA Cup would return to the hands of a provincial team (in that edition the protagonist was also Carletto Mazzone’s Bologna, fresh winner of the Intertoto, who stopped in the quarterfinals). In that summer of 1998, Parma were not hiding, they were aiming for the Scudetto and the management had included Malesani in the contract, the creator of an offensive game that had few references to the Italian tactical school, instead taking inspiration from van Gaal’s 3-4-3 , a bonus of 1.5 billion if he finished in the first two positions. Now it’s time for Gasperini, after eight years of Atalanta, to reap what he has sown and take his first European trophy. For Malesani the one against Parma was the only one he won. Gasp, now that he has dispelled a taboo, hopes to do it again soon.
