But now Italy is closer than ever to this sad achievement.
Renaissance: For the first time in 28 years, Italy are represented in three European Cup finals at the same time. True, Roma and Fiorentina have already lost their decisive matches. Moreover, in their pairs they were not obvious underdogs – like Inter in the confrontation with Manchester City. A timid ray of hope for the Nerazzurri may lie in the magic of numbers: in the past, in similar situations, clubs from the Apennine Peninsula have always achieved at least one victory.
Hegemony of the nineties
The Golden Italian decade in European club football fell between 1989 and 1999. During this period, nine times at least two representatives of the Apennine country reached the decisive stage of European competition. And surprisingly, the end of this hegemony coincided with the abolition of the Cup Winners’ Cup. The next such breakthrough had to wait as much as 24 years.
The most successful Italian European year was 1990. Squadra Azzurra managed to achieve only third place at the home world championship. But the clubs ruled the ball on the continent. Four representatives of the country made it to three club finals at once! Juventus beat Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup (the first Italian European Cup final in history), Milan again confirmed the curse of Benfica in the CEC, Sampdoria (still without Mikhailichenko) won the Cup Winners’ Cup, defeating Anderlecht.
Three more times during the indicated period, the representatives of “Boot” went to all the finals of the year, but always one “false” and did not allow the establishment of a triumvirate.
In 1989, Milan and Napoli conquered the European and UEFA Cups, but Samp could not cope with Barcelona in KOC. In 1993, Juventus and Parma took the “second-class” European cups, but in the first Champions League final, Milan was unexpectedly beaten by Marseille. A year later, the Rossoneri took their toll, as did their “cousins” in the UEFA Cup. Parma let us down, losing to Arsenal in the Cup Winners’ Cup.
Three more teams from Serie A participated twice more in two European finals (except for KOC), in 1995 and 1998. The scenario was the same: a brawl in the UEFA Cup (Parma – Juventus, Inter – Lazio) and defeats in the main European Cup (Milan from Ajax, Juve – from Madrid).
But in the 99th there were two out of two. Lazio became the last winner of the Cup Winners’ Cup in history, and Parma defeated Marseille in the UEFA Cup. Twice more during the 90s, both Appennine plenipotentiaries lost their finals. In 1992, Sampdoria and Torino became losers, and five years later, Juventus and Inter (the latter two, being favorites, lost to rivals in the Ruhr Derby). Until now, the last examples do not hold out – after all, two finals out of three possible.
Total – 25 participation in the finals for 11 years! With 13 victories. Nothing so short, huh? Something similar was done only by the British in the early 80s and the Spaniards in the second half of the 2000s, but both of these eras were much shorter ..
Overall plan
To complete the picture, let’s go through the seasons when two Italian clubs reached the finals in the same year. This happened for the first time in 1961, and immediately with an optimal result: Fiorentina won the COC, and Roma the Fairs Cup. The last tournament was played from the second half of the 50s to the beginning of the 70s and was the direct predecessor of the UEFA Cup. The organization itself does not prefer to include it in the category of official ones, but who will prevent us from keeping records?
1965 – one victory out of two. Inter defeated Benfica in EC, Juve merged with Ferencváros in EC.
1973 – again in half. Milan are stronger than Leeds in the Cup Winners’ Cup, but again let Juventus down – in the most representative competition. Got under the rink of the still invincible Ajax.
1984 – Turintians improve by winning the Cup Winners’ Cup. Roma were close but lose the Champions Cup to Liverpool on penalties.
And … that’s it, friends! Then there was the already described surge of the 90s. And then a lull until 2023.
Can we call what is happening before our eyes an Italian European Cup renaissance? We take into account the victory of Roma in the last Conference League …
Let’s carefully wait with global conclusions. But there is definitely a positive for Serie A fans in what is happening. Even though the Apennines have already managed to plant two finals out of two … And they are extremely close to the third.
Bookmakers are quite unambiguous in their predictions: if the probability of a victory of the Citizens in Istanbul is estimated at about 1/2, then the odds for a similar result in favor of Inzaghi’s wards are as much as six to one.
Seventh English doublet?
If Italy still loses three out of three this year, then – as is easy to calculate, even without arming yourself with a calculator and a slide rule – England will take two out of two. Such a trick for the representatives of this country in European competition, as you might guess, is by no means unique. Let’s get specific numbers.
Two of the two possible European tournaments in one year, the British won six times: in 1968, 1970, 1971, 1981, 1984 … and in 2019! In the latter case, as you must remember, both European Cup finals consisted entirely of representatives of the country, a truly unique case. The triumph was on the side of Liverpool and Chelsea, two clubs from North London suffered setbacks.
Five more times, the representatives of England won one final of the two in which they participated. And only once – in 2006 – both lost. Arsenal – Barcelona, Middlesbrough – Seville.
So, the seventh “double English” triumph is close? Your bets, gentlemen!
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
