On a day to day basis we see the landscape of the beautiful game change and shift, to the point where we sometimes don’t even know what we’re watching anymore. A lot of the time, for the folks reading this, that’ll be courtesy of an international tournament or a major European league – or, you know, our home nation’s domestic top flight. Tonight, however, it’s hard not to see back and simply admire the slow yet gradual rise of Italian football within that landscape (whether you’re from Italy or not).
Non-stop entertainment
It’s easy to stop and praise the likes of the Premier League, Bundesliga or La Liga, because we’ve been doing it for so many years now (less so for Bundesliga but you get what we mean). It’s much more difficult to stop and appreciate the Italian game, because there’s been so much to dislike as of late. We aren’t just saying that to be mean, either, because the proof is in the pudding. From the many scandals to the harsh fans to the rising disciplinary records, the only thing that makes things worse is the actions of the Italian national team – and by actions, we mean lack of success and progression after their tremendous World Cup win back in 2006.
The final day of any league campaign is full of drama as we well know, but few seem to do it as well as the Italians in recent years. This time around we had Atalanta, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Roma all vying for two spots in the Champions League next season, and what a battle it was.
The endless drama
Things chopped and changed so much to the point where we wouldn’t even know where to start running through it all, but what we will say it this: Atalanta and Inter got the job done, but they need to think long and hard about what they’re going to change heading into next season.
The bookmakers will have their early opinions on how they’re going to fare in European competition next season, but to be honest, it means nothing until we actually get to see what changes they make during the summer transfer window. All we can say for sure is that while Juventus may rule over Serie A with an iron first, that may not be the case for much longer. Even if it is, there’s enough entertainment to go around for the league’s faithful fans.
