In December 2024 fans in the Stadio Artemio Franchi and watching worldwide feared the worst for Edoardo Bove. Giancarlo Rinaldi looks at his incredible journey back to the field of play.

On a weekend of Italian football dominated by the usual controversy, gamesmanship and conspiracy theories, there was some sunshine that broke through from the unlikely location of Preston’s Deepdale stadium. Late in the game, Watford made a substitution which will have made supporters of Fiorentina, Roma and Serie A in general smile. Edoardo Bove stepped back into a competitive game – something which seemed unthinkable to anyone who witnessed his dramatic collapse in the clash with Inter more than 14 months ago.

It was just a few minutes for his new club, Watford, but it still felt special. He was clearly delighted to be back doing what he loved after so long away and itching to make up for lost time. The fact that it all seemed so unlikely only makes it more welcome.

Anyone watching that Fiorentina-Inter game would have worried for his life, never mind his playing career. The distressing scenes after he fell to the ground off the ball were the kind nobody expects or wants to see at a football game. It seemed to take an eternity for emergency services to get to him and rush him from the stadium for treatment. In truth, it only took 13 minutes for doctors to take Bove to the Careggi hospital, on the opposite side of the city. Only gradually did more encouraging news filter through.

Still, there were question marks about his recovery – how long it would take and how complete it might be. The fitting of a defibrillator meant that his playing days in Italy were over due to strict regulations on such things. While it was delightful to see him back on the bench with Fiorentina, he cut a bit of a forlorn figure. Glad to be alive, of course, but struggling to come to terms with watching the sport he had dedicated his life to and being unable to take part. Like seeing something you had always longed for dangling tantalisingly out of reach.

Let us not forget that Bove was in fine form – as was his club – at the moment he was forced to take his unwanted break. He was a driving force in the Viola midfield, and there were certainly some who were suggesting the Italian national team could do with a player of his intensity and energy. Then, suddenly, it was all taken away. Fiorentina’s form stuttered as the young player began his lengthy rehabilitation process.

He appeared on the sidelines, he popped up at Wimbledon to support his good friend tennis ace Fabio Cobolli, but always with a slight hint of melancholy about him. Having lived and breathed football for most of his life, it must have been frustrating to be forced to put his boots away. Many players talk about how difficult retirement can be, even after a lengthy career – that must have been multiplied when it was being forced on him so early.

That’s why Saturday afternoon at about 4.44pm in Lancashire was a moment watched with interest and delight in Florence, Rome and much of Italy. At just 23 years of age, Bove can still have a lengthy career ahead of him – even if it cannot be in Serie A. It might not be a perfect solution, but it is a whole lot better than everyone feared on that fateful winter evening in Tuscany more than 400 days ago.

Just to watch him back playing the game felt like arriving home after a very long journey. There will be tough times to come, no doubt, but simply seeing the young Roman kick a ball again will more than suffice for now. We can sometimes get carried away about football and forget what really matters in life and how precious every moment should be. That’s why his return to action is about so much more than simply what position he plays or what contribution he can make in terms of tackles, goals or assists. Just being out there on the pitch is a victory in itself. Bentornato Edo.

@ginkers

As Fiorentina struggle at the bottom end of Serie A, they have turned to a tried and tested sporting director to help them. Giancarlo Rinaldi examines the task in store for the Spurs man.

• Read more – Paratici reveals when he decided to leave Tottenham for Fiorentina

It looks a little bit like leaping from a frying pan in London to a Florentine fire. Both Tottenham Hotspur and Fiorentina have become bywords for frustrating underachievement down the years. Nonetheless, Fabio Paratici seems happy to have answered the distress signals coming out of the Stadio Artemio Franchi as the Viola teeter on the brink of relegation in the run-up to their centenary celebrations.

The deal is, in some ways, a marriage of convenience. The sporting director was keen on a return to Italy after about four-and-a-half years in England, while the Tuscan club was in desperate need of an experienced hand as it tried to navigate the choppy waters of the Serie A drop zone. Having ditched Daniele Pradè following a pretty disastrous summer transfer window, they must have jumped at the chance of getting their hands on a man who knows Italy’s top division back to front and inside out.

That is not to say the ex-Juventus man has an easy task ahead of him – quite the opposite. This is the most desperate position the club has found itself in in recent years, and there is almost no margin for error. The passing of President Rocco Commisso has also been a major blow that it will take some time to recover from – time that they do not really have. If Paratici does not hit the ground running, he could well find himself operating in Serie B next season.

Fiorentina have been trying to patch up the damage done in the summer with some acquisitions in the January window – not for nothing known as the mercato di riparazione (the repairs market) in Italy. In has come a player that Paratici knows well, Manor Solomon, on loan from Spurs, along with another acquisition from England, Jack Harrison. The aim, quite clearly, has been to give some width to a side which had so little that it was being forced to use a left-back, Fabiano Parisi, on the right flank. It is to his credit that he has performed very well in a role which is far from one he is accustomed to. Other arrivals have included the versatile Marco Brescianini and Giovanni Fabbian in a bid to keep the team afloat, with Daniele Rugani a late signing to bolster the defence. None of them, in truth, look like transformational acquisitions.

There have been exits too, with Pablo Mari gone and Hans Nicolussi Caviglia, Edin Dzeko and Simon Sohm all shown the door in moves which underline just how disastrously wrong the club got things previously. The new sporting director might well find himself stuck with a few players that the club is unable to move on in January. It will be up to him to work out a way to either find a role for them or pave the way for a summertime exit.

Indeed, that might be the most thorny issue facing Paratici – almost all of the Viola’s summer signings have failed to work out. It is perhaps an under-appreciated quality among fans, but being able to sell well is just as important as flexing your purchasing muscle. There will, after all, be no deals like the one he brokered for Cristiano Ronaldo while at Juventus now that he is back in Serie A.

Another tricky aspect to his job, of course, is the uncertainty of what division the team will even be playing in next season. There have been signs of life of late; nonetheless, Fiorentina remain embroiled in a battle for survival which was totally unexpected. The calibre of player they can hope to attract in Italy’s second tier would be significantly different to those for a top-flight campaign. It would also be a tough ask to retain all of their biggest names should they ultimately be destined for the drop.

The flipside to that is that many of the deals done over January appear to be ones which would see players remain if survival is secured. That might give them commitment to the cause, but it could also see you stuck with a few footballers you might have preferred to move on. Such are the headaches of a sporting director.

Few would envy Paratici the task in store, but he looks like a man more than qualified for the role. If anyone has the expertise and confidence to steer the Viola away from relegatio,n then it is probably him. If he can deliver that, it would be a first step towards winning the hearts and minds of a support which is in a state of turmoil right now. Bringing them a long-awaited trophy – at some later date – could make him a legend.

 @ginkers

It has been on the cards for a while, but Ademola Lookman’s departure from Bergamo is a major blow. Giancarlo Rinaldi looks back on how he wrote his way into the club’s history.

There may have been more typical stories of how a player has had their career transformed at Atalanta, but surely not many. The Bergamaschi – especially during Gian Piero Gasperini’s reign – developed a happy knack of taking footballers that had failed to truly ignite elsewhere and turning them into pyrotechnic success stories. Few have burned brighter than Ademola Lookman.

The London-born Nigerian international first emerged with Charlton nearly a decade ago and went through a string of moves that never really worked out. At Everton, RB Leipzig, Fulham and Leicester, there were always sparks of brilliance but never with the consistency that any of those clubs had hoped for. It was not until 2022 – with his 25th birthday just a few months away – that he would finally find the perfect place to let his talents shine.

Lookman’s Atalanta move

La Dea, we know, has a habit of performing this magic – particularly under their silver-haired coach now departed for Roma. Gasperini’s brilliance is both in the overall teamplay that his sides produce but also in elevating players who have perhaps been underachievers elsewhere. Nowhere was this more in evidence than with Lookman.

He quickly became a mainstay in the Atalanta attack and also a goal threat with much greater regularity than he ever found elsewhere. If the club became something of a cult hit in Europe, it owed much to his breathtaking displays. Defenders across Italy and the rest of the continent were left dizzy by his close control and thumping finishes. This was a devastating player at the peak of his powers.

His crowning glory, surely, was the Europa League final against a Bayer Leverkusen side which had previously looked invincible. Yes, it was a masterpiece of tactics from Gasperini and an epic team performance too, but at the heart of everything good was Lookman. Everything he touched turned into a goalscoring chance, and the hat-trick he eventually completed cemented his place in the club’s hall of fame. It is unlikely to be a more impressive display for the Bergamo club in Europe ever again.

Of course, that turned heads – perhaps even the player himself got a little distracted. Certainly, things did not run quite as smoothly after that, and there were constant rumours that he was on the way out. Still, when he was on song, he remained a key part of the Atalanta attack. That he finished with more than 50 goals in less than 140 games without being an out-and-out striker tells you all you need to know. Add to that nearly 30 assists, and you get some idea of how significant a contributor he was to the club. The fact that these totals eclipse the entirety of the rest of his career also underlines how important the Lombardy side was to him.

All good things, of course, must come to an end and the conclusion of the Gasperini era in the summer was always likely to be followed by a few departures. It is also in the nature of things at the New Balance Arena – or whatever their ground is called now – that their best talents will move on. Lookman will now test his talents in La Liga with Atletico Madrid.

That looks like a mouthwatering prospect, but he should be warned that moving away from the city, famously divided into its higher and lower sections, can also have its ups and downs. Although they have always been about the team more than any individual, he was undoubtedly a star of their European and Serie A exploits. He is just one star among many at the Spanish club.

Still, he has all the skills in the world to thrive in his new surroundings. After a more lengthy apprenticeship than most, he emerged as a huge talent in Italy and more than earned his African Player of the Year honour in 2024. There is every chance that more honours will come his way with the Colchoneros.

Back in Bergamo, they will be entitled to feel the odd pang of nostalgia whenever they see him play. Raffaele Palladino is building a new era at the club, but he will find it hard to match up to the house that Gasperini built. And, in its later stages, Ademola Lookman was an integral part of that project. Their talented scouts will undoubtedly be scouring the planet in the hopes of unearthing another footballer who can contribute even half as much to their cause.

@ginkers

Every winter, Italian clubs scramble to try to find the players who can make a mid-season difference. Giancarlo Rinaldi gives out the grades for their efforts this year.

Only a fool would try to assess the potential impact of acquisitions that have barely had a chance to play for their new employer,s but here we go again. It is worth remembering that it can sometimes be the players that you move on or keep who can be as important as the ones you bring in. With that in mind, here are the marks out of 10 for all 20 Serie A sides this winter window.

Atalanta 6/10 – In the end it probably boils down to whether you think Giacomo Raspadori plus a handsome profit is worth losing Ademola Lookman for. The ex-Napoli man looks sharp already while the departures of Daniel Maldini and Marco Brescianini may reduce the depth of the squad but should not cause major damage.

Bologna 5.5/10 – A bit of a bland market that looks unlikely to see an upturn in their midtable form. The effective swap of Emil Holm for Joao Mario with Juventus looks a balanced enough trade, while Simon Sohm will need to show an improvement on his Fiorentina form to convince that he was worth losing Giovanni Fabbian for.

Cagliari 6.5/10 – Sometimes it is not about who you buy or sell but who you keep and hanging on to a hot property like young Marco Palestra could be key to the Sardinians’ survival, which is looking more and more likely. The actual incomings and outgoings probably fall under the category of “time will tell” when it comes to their effectiveness.

Como 5/10 – On paper, at least, a little bit underwhelming for a side with such financial backing, but their eye for talent could well mean Swedish teenager Adrian Ladho is one to watch. Keeping hold of their best players – with Martin Baturina in particular attracting attention – was an achievement, but the club has sufficient wealth to say no to all but the biggest deals.

Cremonese 6/10 – None of their arrivals look like setting Serie A alight but they are all proven performers. Milan Djuric will give them a different option in attack while Youseff Maleh, Morten Thorsby and Sebastiano Luperto are well-known quantities who can surely ensure the work already done towards survival continues.

Fiorentina 5.5/10 – The best part of the Viola transfer market was probably getting rid of a number of the summer signings that did not work out including Simon Sohm, Edin Dzeko and Hans Nicolussi Caviglia. They have added width with Manor Solomon and Jack Harrison but there was no real big name to fire hopes of rocketing back up the table.

Genoa 7/10 – As a fully signed-up member of the Tommaso Baldanzi fan club, this mark is probably more in hope than expectation. Daniele De Rossi has already put the fight into the Grifone, but the talented Roma man could add that dash of quality which will make their survival fight a more stylish one than it has been so far.

Inter 5/10 – We have what we hold is an understandable approach from the Nerazzurri but not the kind of thing to get fans delighted. The purchase of Yanis Massolin is an exciting one but clearly one for the future as the young French midfielder will remain on loan at Modena, where he has shone in Serie B.

Juventus 5/10 – There was plenty of smoke but not much substance to the Bianconeri’s transfer window work with the arrivals of Emil Holm and Jeremie Boga hardly the stuff to get pulses racing. Maybe it could be argued that a recent upturn in form shows they did not need to force the issue but it will still disappoint the fans.

Lazio 5.5/10 – The Biancocelesti have been busy after having their transfer ban lifted with Kenneth Taylor already looking like a smart signing. The losses of Matteo Guendouzi and Taty Castellanos leave gaps to be filled but the biggest story was probably Alessio Romagnoli’s switch to Al-Sadd falling through due to a document mix-up, which is a bit embarrassing.

Lecce 5.5/10 – They will have to hope that they have found a couple of gems in a signing basket, including Omri Gandelman, Oumar Ngom and Sadik Fofana. The good news is that they have managed that in the past, so a repeat is not out of the question. Walid Cheddira is more of a known quantity and gives them options up front.

Milan 5/10 – Another one of Italy’s bigs to be linked with plenty of players but, in the end, they only managed a couple of arrivals. Niclas Fullkrug gives a focal point to their attack while teenager Alphadjo Cissè is definitely interesting. But the collapse of a deal for Jean-Philippe Mateta felt pretty much typical of their efforts.

Napoli 5/10 – Add their name to the list of top teams who will have left their fans feeling cheated this January. Lorenzo Lucca goes to England for a nice bundle of cash – at least potentially – while the problematic Noa Lang finds a new home. Young Verona forward Giovane and Alisson Santos from Sporting CP will at least enjoy a move up the table thanks to their transfers.

Parma 6.5/10 – It will be a battle to stay afloat but they have added some quality to their fight with Hans Nicolussi Caviglia likely to enjoy a better time than he did in Florence. Gabriel Strefezza adds a dash of unpredictability and excitement while the loss of Hernani and Mathias Lovik will hardly be felt much at all.

Pisa 4.5/10 – They had to roll the dice and they definitely have but what number will come up remains to be seen. Having got rid of Alberto Gilardino as coach, they have at least got a goal already from new man Rafiu Durosinmi. Samuel Iling-Junior knows Serie A well enough but seems unlikely to produce enough to drag them to safety.

Roma 7.5/10 – Donyell Malen may be the signing who has made the most immediate impact this winter with some eye-catching moments already. Robinio Vaz is one of the biggest investments of the window and certainly does not seem to lack character. Tommaso Baldanzi leaves having found little space while Leon Bailey was dogged by injury in his short spell in the capital.

Sassuolo 5.5/10 – Whatever the question was, can the answer possibly have been M’Bala Nzola? The Angolan was far from thrilling at Pisa but maybe he can thrive in surroundings where the pressure of potential relegation is a little bit less intense. Their other new faces are intriguing but not necessarily of immediate use.

Torino 6/10 – A decent window that will surely help the Granata to enjoy another season of survival – if not a lot more. Kristjan Asllani and Cyril Ngonge made little impression between them so it will be up to Matteo Prati and Luca Marianucci to surpass them which, in truth, should really not be too hard.

Udinese 6/10 – The revolving door at the Stadio Friuli is rarely still and there were more heading out than in this winter. Branimir Mlacic and Juan Arizala definitely fall into the players with potential category and will look to make their mark while Iker Bravo and Sandi Lovric leave due to a lack of playing time. Saba Goglichidze ensures another window sees a move between the club and Watford.

Verona 5/10 – Their coach is gone but for a club with a need of a jolt, was this transfer session sufficient? It will be exciting to see another Scot give Serie A a go in the shape of Hibs’ record sale Kieron Bowie but he will surely have his work cut out to turn things around. Sandi Lovric should do a job while Pol Lirola at least knows Italy even if he has never exactly impressed.

@ginkers

Fiorentina and the wider world of Italian football has been shocked by the death of Rocco Commisso. Giancarlo Rinaldi pays tribute to the Tuscan club’s late president and looks back at his time in charge.

Fiorentina and Serie A bids farewell to Rocco Commisso

He blew in like a hurricane from across the Atlantic with his motto “fast, fast, fast” and a desire to get things done. It felt like your Italian-American uncle who had done well in business breezing in with gifts for the family and a grin from ear to ear at being back in his homeland.

Fiorentina – and Serie A in general – is going to miss Rocco B Commisso.

When he arrived in June 2019, he was welcomed with open arms. Although the nearly two decades under the ownership of Diego and Andrea Della Valle had brought the club back from the brink of going out of existence, the gratitude of some sections of the support was wearing thin.

It felt like the time was ripe for a change and so in stepped a bundle of energy buzzing with
enthusiasm to take the club in a new direction.

Suddenly, the famous purple colours of the Renaissance city side became better known outside of Italy. He took the team on a tour round the Bronx where he grew up and gave them a feel for the emigrant experience in the United States. Although he was born in Calabria, this was definitely a takeover with a New York twang.

The classic self-made man, he amassed his fortune at the head of his Mediacom empire but that did not mean he was going to throw his money away. Over time he would grow increasingly frustrated at the snail-like pace of Italian bureaucracy and his dreams of delivering a new stadium for the club would ultimately be thwarted. Instead he provided a state of the art training facility – the Viola Park which carries his name – which will stand as testimony to all he did for
the Tuscan team.

Those first days were full of the typical optimism of a honeymoon period but, of course, in the fickle world of football that never lasts. Under his stewardship, Fiorentina continued their tradition of being the world of Calcio’s nearly-men with a string of almost triumphs in cup competitions. Those memories of Conference League and Coppa Italia are only the more bittersweet now. How special it would have been to deliver a trophy to crown his reign.

There was tragedy, too, with the premature death of general manager Joe Barone in 2024. That rocked the club and left a void which it has struggled to fill. It also deprived Commisso of his right hand man and an important arm on the tiller to guide the Viola. He is still sorely missed.

There must be some Fiorentina fans feeling a little bit embarrassed too about the jibes they aimed at their president recently. There was criticism about the lack of his presence at the club and calls for him to leave. That all has a bit of a hollow ring now that it has emerged just how seriously ill he had been.

Over the past six-and-a-half years or so, Commisso fought his club’s corner with determination and pride. He didn’t always get everything right – nobody does – but the direction he tried to set the Viola on was an ambitious one. He hoped to create a side which stood on firm financial foundations but could also challenge the top teams for titles. The fact that regulations tied his hands on how he could do that was a constant source of annoyance.

With his beloved Fiorentina struggling at the bottom end of the table it would be easy to dismiss his efforts as a failure but that would be truly unfair. The club had finished a disappointing 16th in the season before his arrival and, although the first couple of campaigns – disrupted by the Covid pandemic – saw only small improvements on that performance there was a clear upward trend.

It would be the appointment of Vincenzo Italiano as coach that would really push the team onwards and upwards on the pitch as well as off it.

It would be the three seasons under the current Bologna boss that would really be the pinnacle of the Commisso era in terms of player performance. The Florentines became regulars at the top end of the Serie A table and missed out in finals not once, not twice but three times.

Their most hard luck story was probably a Conference League final against West Ham which they dominated for long spells but got hit with a sucker punch late in the game. It earned their manager a nearly-man tag which he has quickly shaken off with his new employers.

Things never seemed quite as harmonious with Raffaele Palladino in charge although he did steer the club back into Europe. Things, however, seemed to fall apart a bit after that as the coach left and the return of former boss Stefano Pioli turned into something of a disaster.

It resulted in a period of upheaval which ultimately saw long-time sporting director Daniele Pradè shown the door – soon to be replaced by Fabio Paratici – and Paolo Vanoli take over as coach to try to haul the team off bottom spot.

The club has announced that it will play all its fixtures this weekend in honour of Commisso as it is what he would have wanted. There will be an emotional charge to seeing the team take to the field after the loss of their president and they will surely do everything in their power to honour him over the weeks ahead.

Although he had been unable to be as close to the team as he would have wished in his final days it will be hard not to picture him up in the stands beaming down with pride at watching his players take to the pitch. In time, Fiorentina will have to consider how they move forward but for now it will mourn and remember a man who gave everything he
could to making them the force every Viola fan feels they should be.

Rest in peace, Presidente.

It has been a tough old year for the Azzurri and an even more testing one lies in store. Giancarlo Rinaldi examines what could help the national team return to its former glory.

You certainly can’t fault him for effort. Every time you turn on the television to watch a Serie A game, it seems, you will get a close-up of him in the crowd. If nothing else, Rino Gattuso is hoovering up as much information as he can ahead of one of the most important years in the history of the famous blue colours of his country, which he donned with such distinction.

Italy were put through the wringer in 2025 with two one-sided defeats by Norway, the unwanted highlights of a pretty grim 12 months. There was the rumbustious Nations League elimination by Germany as well, and a madcap match with Israel alongside some more routine victories. In the middle of it all, the Azzurri parted company with Luciano Spalletti and turned to the snappy, snarling former midfielder instead. The results were initially strong enough, but a reality check with Erling Haaland and company suggested that there is much work to be done if they hope to even get to the World Cup in 2026.

For La Nazionale to miss out on the extended party in Mexico, Canada and the USA would be a huge setback and one which would, undoubtedly, provoke more calls for an overhaul in the Italian Football Federation. If they want to get there they will have to first get past Northern Ireland at home and then face a trip to either Wales or Bosnia – neither of which, on current form, look as straightforward as they should be for a country which has, lest we forget, won the World Cup four times in the past.

Part one of Gattuso’s Christmas wish list will undoubtedly be to keep all his key players fit for the vital matches on the horizon. The loss of a midfield stalwart like Sandro Tonali or Nicolò Barella would be a hammer blow ahead of such important fixtures. No wonder he always looks a little edgy whenever he is at a game – he is probably hoping nobody administers one of his own trademark tackles on one of the Azzurri’s more important contributors.

Another thing to get sorted is his defence. There is something that has not functioned for a while with the Italian back line, which seems incredible to think of in a nation where the art form of stopping the opposition from scoring has been revered for generations. Despite having a crop of decent players, something is missing from the rearguard, which he will have to try to solve sooner rather than later. A gentle revolution is needed to allow that unit to evolve into one which strikes fear into the heart of any attacker brave enough to take it on. From that solid base, he could hope to build a team which would not only get to the World Cup but might also progress past the group stages.

The emergence of a few new faces to challenge his old guard would also be welcome. This squad has a solid enough core, but it is definitely in need of rejuvenation and seeing the likes of Francesco Pio Esposito get more game time with Inter would surely be a boost. Italy have done well enough at youth levels of late to suggest that the talent is there but it seems to stall due to lack of playing opportunities in Serie A. Boys who have gone to seek their fortune abroad might well have a part to play.

Up front, all he wants for Christmas is for Moise Kean and Mateo Retegui to thrive. If there has been a positive from Gattuso’s arrival, it has been the commitment to play the two together which has brought goalscoring rewards. He will hope they both keep fit and that Fiorentina start to see a revival in their fortunes in order for their talisman to approach the big matches in March with a degree more confidence than he would right now.

And, finally, there is the Federico Chiesa conundrum. It is now more than four years since his breakout tournament at the delayed Euro 2020 and how Italy could do with that player in that form back in the fold. None of the current wide options offer the drive and attacking threat that he did in his prime, but it is a question of whether he will get many opportunities to show it with Liverpool and how much he feels he can give his country. The phone line between player and manager might well remain open, but the clock is definitely ticking on getting the situation sorted one way or another.

This, and much more, will be racing through Rino’s mind over the festive season, no doubt. He will be itching to get to the play-off games but, at the same time, hope that Serie A – and elsewhere – can throw him up a few solutions. Italy will not go into these games, which will define an era, with any great confidence, but they can use them as a building block to reconstruct their reputation as one of football’s superpowers. Is Gattuso the man to get them there? Two vital tests in springtime will give us an answer to that question one way or another.

@ginkers

For a side which has been regular in Europe recently, Fiorentina’s fall to the bottom of the league has been dramatic. Giancarlo Rinaldi looks at the causes of their disastrous decline.

There are storm clouds gathering over the Fiesole hills. The skies above Florence have been growing more and more ominously dark with each passing week as its team still searches for a first Serie A win. The streets of the Renaissance city have been thundering with just one word – Retrocessione – relegation.

That has only happened a couple of times since the war to these famous purple colours – and one of those had much to do with financial disaster rather than inability on the field of play. Make no mistake, the Tuscan side are among Italian football’s historical elite. But that will do them no good whatsoever if they continue to play as badly as they have been. How have the recent Conference League specialists fallen so far, so fast?

One element in the mix has been managerial instability. Those who grumbled about the lack of trophies under Vincenzo Italiano must now be casting envious glances over the Apennines after he won the Coppa Italia with Bologna and now jousts in European competitions that his old team can only dream about. His football could be frustrating at times, for sure, but there was a clear template of how he wanted his sides to play.

His successor, Raffaele Palladino, seemed to struggle in that regard, but he did – one way or another – take the Viola back into Europe, but then something went wrong. Under circumstances which remain less than clear, he left the Stadio Artemio Franchi almost immediately after that qualification was secured. The jungle drums suggested he did not see eye to eye with sporting director Daniele Pradè who, of course, would soon be packing his cases as well.

In came Stefano Pioli, a supposedly safe pair of hands, but after a sluggish start, his team failed to pick up momentum. It was an unimaginative choice, perhaps, but not one anybody expected to be quite so abysmal. Performances remained so woeful that there was little choice but to shake things up with the voluble and very animated Paolo Vanoli. The trouble is, there has been no new manager bounce at all. The displays remain largely the same as they were – drab, dismal and with confidence as easy to snap as Tuscan schiacciata bread.

That, in turn, brings us to another part of this Florentine crisis – the tactical straitjacket the team finds itself stuck in. While Italiano liked a selection of infuriating wide men in his side – think Jonathan Ikoné or Ricky Sottil – such players were systematically eliminated under Palladino. It has left their latest coach playing a kind of midfielder lottery with a string of under-performing players – only Rolando Mandragora has performed passably – and no options to really change things. The situation has become so chronic that the previously unwanted Christian Kouamé has been considered an option. The January window cannot come soon enough if they wish to try something different.

That brings us to another element of this disaster, the players. Hindsight is easy, but perhaps the players retained were not the ones needed. For a variety of reasons Yacine Adli, Danilo Cataldi and Edoardo Bove are no longer in Florence and it is hard not to feel nostalgic for their contribution. Nicolò Fagioli has largely proved his doubters at Juventus right, Hans Nicolussi Caviglia has been too slow and predictable and Simon Sohm – after a good start – has faded badly. Other new arrivals like Edin Dzeko and Roberto Piccoli have failed to deliver, too, and Moise Kean has struggled to produce much with very little service. The defence, meanwhile, has become one of the most leaky in Italy. Too many players have gone backwards and there is too much uncertainty about who the first choice back line are.

Off the pitch, too, things are not great. President Rocco Commisso has had some health issues, prompting rumours that he might want to sell, and the project to reconstruct the Stadio Artemio Franchi is dragging on much longer than anticipated. The departure of Pradè might have given the fans the sacrificial lamb they wanted, but it has failed to make much of a difference to the team. Everything needs to get sorted soon if they hope to steady the ship and, eventually, point it back up the table.

And the fans, of course, are in uproar. Florence is a beautiful place, and its team has great support, but it is also something of a goldfish bowl as a one-team city. That can lead to all sorts of rumours and pressure on players to perform that not everyone can deal with. The number of points lost from winning positions suggests that this is a nervous squad which knows it is writing new unwanted chapters in the club’s history every week.

The upcoming match with Verona has taken on huge significance that few could have ever imagined. Anything other than a victory would surely make the Viola’s task all but forlorn even before the midway point in the season has been reached. A win would just about put them back within touching distance of getting out of the drop zone but a draw or defeat would cut them adrift. Even Steve McQueen would throw in the towel on the prospects of any kind of Great Escape at that point.

A few smart acquisitions in January might make all the difference, but that still seems a long time away. This squad got itself into this tight spot, but with every passing week, it looks less and less capable of digging itself back out. The play is predictable, the transitions too slow, and the pressure too great for many to cope with. The storm clouds might yet clear away and strike somewhere else but, for Fiorentina fans everywhere, it might be worth investing in an umbrella and some good rainproof gear for the weeks and months ahead.

Every supporter of the Azzurri will hope their third consecutive shot at a World Cup play-off does not go as badly as the previous two. Giancarlo Rinaldi fears the omens from history could be bad.

Ask any self-respecting Italian grandfather the team he would have liked to avoid in the World Cup play-off draw and the answer would undoubtedly have been Northern Ireland. They might have been the lowest-ranked side in pot four, but their name is still enough to send a shiver down the spine of those who have been following La Nazionale for seven decades or more. Any Nonno worth his salt can recall the heartache of their youth when Belfast was the burial ground for dreams of making it to Sweden in 1958.

Memories of play-off defeats to North Macedonia and Sweden might be fresher in the mind but, for generations, that disaster at Windsor Park was the only time Italy had failed to make it to a World Cup. It was, at the time, seen as an unimaginable low point for the Azzurri and an embarrassment not to be repeated. Heaven knows what they would have made of the prospect of missing out on three global competitions in a row.

While not a direct play-off game, Alfredo Foni’s side only needed a draw in Northern Ireland to qualify but, instead, went down to defeat, which sent their opponents through. Critics at the time lambasted the usually cautious coach for picking a surprisingly attacking side when he was under no obligation to win. There were also questions raised about the use of Oriundi – Italians born overseas – which appeared to backfire. More than anything though, they really should have known what to expect, as they had already met each other not long before.

The previous fixture – dubbed the Battle of Belfast – was played as a friendly due to the referee being stuck in fog. An ill-tempered affair, it should have prepared Foni and his troops for the physical encounter which lay in store. Instead, they were caught cold and slipped two goals behind and – although they would pull one back – ended the match with 10 men and an unwanted place in history as the first Italian national team to fail to make it to a World Cup.

Many years have passed, of course, but there are still echoes of history in what awaits the Azzurri this time around. Northern Ireland will, just as they did 67 years ago, throw everything they have at Rino Gattuso’s side. If he gets his approach and team selection as badly wrong as his predecessor did when travelling to Belfast then his reign as Italy boss could prove a very short one indeed.

If there is comfort in history, however, it is in the fact that this remains the only time that Club Italia has suffered defeat against this particular opponent. With home advantage, they should be confident of progress to at least the final play-off game. However, their form has been so fragile of late that very little can be taken for granted.

And what about what awaits them if they do make it to a second knockout tie? We know this will be an away game and one option would be a trip to Cardiff. Wales have a slightly better record against Italy than Northern Ireland do but it still only amounts to a couple of victories in 10 attempts. Nonetheless, they would represent a considerable challenge for the boys in blue with morale at its current levels. Gattuso himself would have loved to go into the dragon’s lair to try to secure a victory as a player – he will have to hope, if it ends up that way, that his team is similarly combative.

The other possibility would be a journey to face Bosnia and Herzegovina – another team to only have beaten Italy once in their history. They would be a slightly more familiar challenge with a number of their players – most notably Edin Dzeko – currently plying their trade in the Bel Paese. Still, they would relish the prospect of dumping the Azzurri out of the competition to make it to a World Cup for the second time in their history after making it there in 2014.

The truth, of course, is that despite the Italian national team’s impressive record against all these sides in the past they are currently a shadow of the outfit they once were. Slip-ups against unfancied opponents have become the order of the day as they struggle to live up to the reputation of a nation which has lifted the planet’s most famous international crown on no fewer than four occasions. Another summer in the sporting wilderness feels unthinkable.

That is the battle facing Gattuso between now and March. Can he bring back the confidence and composure to the Italy set-up that it needs to brush aside the obstacles in his path? Has he got the players capable of standing up to such high-pressure circumstances? Or will this generation be another one telling its grandchildren about what went wrong on the way to the USA, Canada and Mexico in 2026?

For so long a legend in Bergamo, could Gian Piero Gasperini become the oldest coach to win Serie A with the Giallorossi? Giancarlo Rinaldi looks at his long journey to get to this point.

The dust had hardly settled on Inter’s historic defeat by Novara – the first in more than half a century in Italy’s top division – than the cruel and soulless press statement was released. After barely 10 weeks – and one draw and four defeats in five matches – Gian Piero Gasperini’s time with the Nerazzurri was over. The sage sports scribes had seen their misgivings confirmed – a good coach, perhaps, but not one worthy of one of the nation’s biggest names. A man to battle for honours in the provinces, maybe, but not for a league title.

That fateful day, almost exactly 14 years ago, could have been the defining moment of the tactician’s career. He had been a rising star but, Icarus-like, had perhaps flown too close to the sun. He went off to lick his wounds and start the slow journey of rebuilding his reputation.

In all honesty, those who remember his appointment with Inter in the summer of 2011 will recall the scale of the task in front of him. This was the squad that Jose Mourinho had done wonders with to win the treble in 2010, but was now in the process of a generational change. A period of what could at best be most kindly described as transition had started under Rafa Benitez and Leonardo before the man from Grugliasco took the reins. It looked like a daunting task for anyone – it would prove to be an almost unmitigated disaster for the 70-odd days it lasted.

After working in the Juventus youth set-up, Gasp first started carving out his coaching career with Crotone and then Genoa. Across nearly 200 games with the Grifone, he started to get a reputation for playing attractive, expansive football that brought them out of Serie B and made them a force to be reckoned with in the top division. With his trademark three-man defence and an aggressive attitude, they qualified for Europe too and made him one of the up-and-coming names on the benches of the Italian game.

The Inter interlude, however, risked ruining his name forever. Now he was marked as a failure at one of Serie A’s big three, and question marks were raised about his ability to challenge for major honours. There are plenty of players, as well as managers, who find they give their best outside of the glare of the regular expectation of silverware. It was time for him to start building something special outwith the traditional powerhouses of the game.

That would not happen overnight, however, and his journey to find the club where his ideas could flourish was not a straightforward one. He was one of Maurizio Zamparini’s many hire-’em and fire-’em victims in Palermo – no shame in that – and a return to Genoa failed to truly recapture the heights he had scaled. In the summer of 2016, though, he would start the story that would ultimately make him something of a household name across Europe.

Given time and the resources he required, he made Atalanta synonymous with himself. For a club so often seen as an elevator one – bobbing up and down between Serie A and Serie B – he gave stability and strength and a true identity to their play. Although the personnel would change over the years, the attitude did not. It delivered the Europa League but also countless other great results and performances down the best part of a decade in charge. They had the odd dalliance with dreams of the Scudetto over that time, but the closest they ever got was a third-place finish on a number of occasions. This summer, he decided it was time to move on and have another crack at a bigger club.

It is a switch which, so far, has been Roma’s gain and Atalanta’s loss. The capital club is off to a flyer, which bodes well since the accepted wisdom about Gasperini sides is that they take time to fully implement his teachings. If that is the case, there could be some real fun in store at the Stadio Olimpico. On the flip side, the poor Bergamaschi have become draw specialists under Ivan Juric, and the question marks raised over his appointment have grown bigger with every passing week. In truth, their old coach was always going to be a hard act to follow, but their plunge in fortunes must be a sore contrast with the rise of his current club.

In truth, it is not such a miracle that the Giallorossi are up challenging at the top end of the table. After a sluggish start last season under Daniele De Rossi and that man Juric again – they were down near the drop zone after 14 weeks – they hit their stride under Claudio Ranieri, though, and went on a run of outstanding form. It hinted that the squad was there to perhaps enter the Scudetto reckoning if they could avoid such poor form in the opening stages of this campaign.

It is probably too early to say if this squad is strong enough to bring a fourth league title their way, and injuries to some key players are already starting to hit. However, it is a fact that Serie A is one of the most wide-open championships in Europe, and that could pave the way for another surprise winner. At 67 – he would be 68 by the summer – it would make Gasperini the oldest coach to win the title, with the current holder of that honour none other than Luciano Spalletti.

It would also finally silence those ghosts of November 2011, which some people thought he might never recover from. It has been a long, hard slog, but the new Roma boss has rarely got tired of proving people wrong. A triumph in Rome would show he is not just pretty in the provinces but could be crowned in the capital as well. He already deserves his place among Italian coaching’s elite – but it would be nice to have that little green, white and red shield to prove it.

@Ginkers

Bottom of the league without a win, and their sporting director and coach both out the door. Giancarlo Rinaldi wonders if Fiorentina can recover from an abysmal start to their season.

It has been a collapse which few people saw coming. Conference League regulars Fiorentina were meant to challenge for a better European spot this season. Instead, they have got off to the worst-ever league start in their nearly 100-year history.

And yet the summer started swimmingly. The return of Stefano Pioli – a seasoned coach with an emotional attachment to the city – seemed a logical if unspectacular appointment. Across the pitch, a clear strategy of adding depth to the squad in every position also appeared to have given the Viola the ability to cope with the demands of continental and domestic competition. Unfortunately, though, the pitch has provided a pretty damning verdict on what this team is actually worth.

Those who have dined at the Calcio table for a while will remember another Fiorentina side which was dubbed “too good to go down”. That side in 1992/93 included Pioli himself but also Gabriel Batistuta, Brian Laudrup, Stefan Effenberg and Francesco Baiano. The bad news for present-day fans is that that team was actually challenging at the top end of the table before Christmas until it spiralled, incredibly, into Serie B. There is no such good form to collapse from for this particular crop of players in purple.

The warning signs started pretty early with an opening few weeks in Serie A, which were more sluggish than someone sleeping off a grappa-induced hangover. Draws with Cagliari, Torino and Pisa bookended defeats by Napoli and Como. The losses piled up against Roma, Milan and Inter, with only a last-gasp miracle grabbing a point against Bologna. Ten weeks in, and they sit at the bottom of the division with only another good start to the Conference League as consolation.

The sacrifice of sporting director Daniele Pradè appeared too little too late and failed to jolt the side out of the doldrums. Instead, they recorded a woeful home defeat to Lecce which ultimately, after some humming and hawing, led to their coach being shown the door. Pioli was never on fire in Florence this time, he barely managed to produce a puff of smoke.

There are those who feel that people – including the man himself – got carried away after his Scudetto triumph with Milan. They argue that he was an average manager who had one good season before reverting to type. That seems a little harsh, but perhaps his time in Saudi Arabia – where he was reputedly one of the highest paid bosses in the world – meant he had forgotten just how unforgiving the Italian game can be. His colleagues in Serie A are nothing if not tactically prepared and astute – certainly sharp enough to puncture any lofty ambitions being harboured in Tuscany.

Last season’s team was kept largely intact, but perhaps that was part of the problem. Pioli seemed to feel obliged to try out or include some of the new signings from the summer, and they have almost without exception failed to impress. Edin Dzeko has not had the impact hoped for, Roberto Piccoli is currently no replacement for Moise Kean, Jacopo Fazzini has not looked anything like the player he was at Empoli and Hans Nicolussi Caviglia has looked like the slowest member of a very slow midfield alongside Nicolò Fagioli and Cher Ndour.

And last season’s heroes have also been misfiring. Pietro Comuzzo is having a difficult second season trying to confirm his previously outstanding performances. Dodô has been unable to deliver the match-winning displays of the past. Robin Gosens has been struggling with injury, while Rolando Mandragora has often been left on the bench. Even Kean’s goalscoring touch appears to have deserted him. Only David de Gea, probably, and young full-back Niccolò Fortini have been beyond reproach. A defence which is the worst in the division tells its own story.

Even off the pitch, things have not been going well. Delays to restructuring work on the Stadio Artemio Franchi mean it will not be ready for the club’s centenary year in 2026 as had been hoped for, but will drag on until at least 12 months later. It all adds to the impression of an operation which is in more than a little crisis.

The pressure will only mount on these players as the sides all around them were, by and large, set up to fight against relegation, while the Viola were not. They need to roll their sleeves up pretty quickly – starting with a real six-pointer against Genoa – if they hope to fight their way out of this particular hole. President Rocco Commisso needs to get the choice of replacement for Pioli correct if he hopes to turn the tide.

That job falls, in the short-term, to youth team coach Daniele Galloppa while the club weighs up its options. Maybe if they had acted sooner, Luciano Spalletti might have been tempted, but he, of course, has been lured elsewhere. The other names being mentioned include Roberto D’Aversa – perhaps best remembered for headbutting an opposition player in his last act as Lecce boss – who hardly seems an inspired selection. Paolo Vanoli, Alessandro Nesta, Roberto Mancini, Thiago Motta or Daniele De Rossi are others who have been touted.

In truth, though, whoever it is will have his work cut out to put the confidence back into this squad and dig them out of the hole they find themselves in. This group of players is clearly capable of much better than it has currently shown but, with more than a quarter of the season already gone, they need to prove their quality sooner rather than later, or the worst nightmares of the Curva Fiesole could yet be realised.

@ginkers

Dreams of direct qualification may have all but gone, but Italy secured the next best thing with the World Cup play-offs in the bag. Giancarlo Rinaldi weighs up the successes and failures of Rino Gattuso’s latest games in charge. 

• Read more – Player Ratings: Italy 3-0 Israel – Retegui and Donnarumma shine bright

Hands up who wanted to suffer a little more? Not happy with putting Azzurri fans through the torment of the group stages, it looks like another phase awaits to decide whether they can book their ticket for next summer’s party. Catching Norway always looked a long-shot, but what did clashes with Estonia and Israel teach us about this Italy squad and its prospects?

Rip-roaring Retegui

Rino Gattuso can be thankful for the work of one of his predecessors, Roberto Mancini, in plucking out Mateo Retegui to boost his goalscoring threat. Despite having one penalty saved, he bounced back with a goal from open play against Estonia and then followed it up with a converted penalty and an absolute beauty against Israel. A record of nearly a goal every other game in his appearances for La Nazionale confirms that he might not have been needed by Argentina, but he has become a vital cog in this Azzurri machine.

Attacking options

It was not just the Retegui show over the two games, as there was a lovely strike from Moise Kean as well before he had to limp off and then a first strike – hopefully of many – for Francesco Pio Esposito. With Jack Raspadori providing another option and – whisper it – Francesco Camarda starting to score regularly already with the Under 21s, it looks like the national team could have a few regular sources of goals in the years to come.

Distracted defending

Although things might be going well at the opposite end of the park, the same could not be said for the rearguard. Although it was definitely less leaky than in the previous international break, there were still some worrying moments across both matches. The cherry on that particularly unpalatable cake was a blunder by Gigio Donnarumma that made the win over Estonia just a little less comfortable than it should have been. There were signs of improvement, but all the same, plenty of work to be done. Better teams would definitely convert the chances which were spurned over the two October games.

Happy returns

They had finished on the outside of the previous regime, but both Gianluca Mancini and Manuel Locatelli showed they still had something to offer to their country. The Roma defender managed to keep composed and a little less hot-headed than we are used to and showed he could be a useful addition at the back with some well-timed interventions and pinched a goal up front as well. The Juve man might not be to everyone’s taste, but he has a range of passing which not that many can provide at the heart of this Italy side. A mention, too, for the often previously ignored Riccardo Orsolini, who put in an eye-catching display against Estonia.

Reflective Rino?

For those who thought this might just be about guts and determination, the new Italy boss has shown a more measured approach, which has brought him four wins out of four. That is a pretty unusual start to any national team manager’s career and he was pleased to have come up with a tactical solution which avoided the crazy goal feast the last time his country met Israel. It will always be about heart first and foremost but he is clearly keen to show a more thoughtful side, which might surprise some of his critics. He will need to ally both passion and precision if he hopes to steer his troops to where they all want to be – the World Cup.

@ginkers

New Italy boss Gennaro Gattuso got the six points he needed from clashes with Estonia and Israel. Giancarlo Rinaldi examines two victories which could hardly have been more different.

Ten goals in two games should have made things easy. Instead, Rino Gattuso’s men risked leaving two points in Hungary against an enterprising Israel side in one of the most madcap games the Azzurri have ever played. What did we learn about Italy’s new era across their latest World Cup qualification matches?

Relentless Rino

It will surprise nobody that the new man was an intense figure throughout his first games in charge as he howled instructions from the bench. He never ceased encouraging his troops to go forward even when they were well clear of Estonia. And he looked like he might pass out at any moment during his second match. After the sometimes forlorn and resigned figure of Luciano Spalletti, his whole staff was as animated as a team of Italian caterers watching someone try to put pineapple on their pizza.

Deadly double act

For years we wondered if the Azzurri could play two strikers together and the answer was a resounding yes – when they are in the form of Mateo Retegui and Moise Kean. Not only did they look good individually but their interplay and understanding looked as if they had been playing together for years. Now Gattuso has the tricky task of finding a way to get the best out of both of them while retaining a tactical balance to the rest of the side outside of the attacking third of the pitch.

Desperate defending

Having taken their time to break down Estonia, Italy were back to their old shaky ways at the back against more capable opponents. Gigio Donnarumma looked uncertain at playing it out from the back, there were sloppy backpasses and every time their opponents attacked they looked like they could concede. Two own goals told their own story of a side still struggling to provide a solid base for the midfield and attack to perform. The best forwards around the world will be licking their lips at getting a chance to take them on. World Cup qualification would seem almost pointless unless they can find a way to stop playing themselves into trouble.

Weary warriors

Having gone to the World Club Cup there was little doubt that some of Italy’s key performers from Inter looked to be a little out of sorts. Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolò Barella and Federico Di Marco are usually important presences but none of them really looked like their old selves across the two games. An own goal from Basto, some stray passes and frustration from the midfielder and inaccurate crosses from the full-back were signals that they were not in tip-top form. The Azzurri will hope they can recuperate in time for another round of games in October where nothing but wins will do once more.

Raspa’s ready

A World Cup campaign is about more than finding a good starting XI and the Atletico Madrid man showed – twice – that he can make a great impact from the bench. Some players seem to slip more easily than others into the blue of their country and Jack Raspadori is definitely one such star. A versatile and valuable option to bring on against stuffy opponents or to give other forwards a rest, he confirmed that this squad has plenty of quality going forward but needs to sort out its defensive solidity. For a nation once famed for its rock-solid rearguard, these are scary times at present.

From the reigning champions to the most humble newly-promoted team, everyone has been busy wheeling and dealing this summer. Giancarlo Rinaldi tries to assess this year’s Calciomercato winners and losers.

It is a great Italian summer pastime of pure conjecture and very little substance. Fans of every team pore over their sports paper to look at a little grid which shows the players they have bought, sold and are interested in. It is impossible to say with any certainty who has done the best business until the action actually begins, but that never stops people from trying. Last season, for example, many people reckoned Juventus had “won” the transfer market – and look how that ended. Still, here, for what they are worth, are some thoughts on the arrivals and departures at all 20 of Italy’s top-tier outfits.

Atalanta – 4.5/10 – It is hard to escape the feeling of the end of an era with Gian Piero Gasperini gone. Add to that the departures of Mateo Retegui and Matteo Ruggeri and the long wrangle over Ademola Lookman’s fate and things don’t look great. Nikola Krstovic from Lecce is a decent acquisition along with Nicola Zalewski from Inter but overall they look weaker on paper.

Bologna – 6/10 – They have got used to sacrificing some big names and this summer was no different. Dan Ndoye left behind one of the world’s culinary capitals for Nottingham while Sam Beukema was snapped up by Napoli. It will be intriguing, though, to see Ciro Immobile and Federico Bernardeschi return and the Rossoblu have a habit of integrating players well.

Cagliari – 5.5/10 – The loss of Roberto Piccoli is a big one but this has always been a team more about the collective than any individual. Napoli loanee Michael Folorunsho lends strength to the midfield, while Sebastiano Esposito, also on loan from Inter, is an exciting talent. Late in the day they also became the latest club to hope they can revive Andrea Belotti’s career.

Como – 6.5/10 – There have not really been the fireworks of the January campaign but still this has the look of a strong group with more added. Alvaro Morata from Milan and Nicolas Kuhn from Celtic are the biggest names to land on the lake while Gabriel Strefezza makes his way to Olympiacos. They can always spend big again in the winter if it doesn’t work out.

Cremonese – 7/10 – Newly-promoted sides with a bit of money to spend are becoming more commonplace and the signing of Jamie Vardy – despite his years – was a statement of intent. Alessio Zerbin from Napoli and Lecce’s Federico Baschirotto have also made an immediate impact that they will hope to continue as the campaign progresses.

Fiorentina – 7.5/10 – A high mark not so much for their acquisitions as for who they kept. The Viola have traditionally sold their best players – usually to Juventus – but this time Moise Kean stayed put and signed a new contract. Add to that familiar face Edin Dzeko, hitman Roberto Piccoli, Simon Sohm and a gamble on Tariq Lamptey and you have cover in most positions.

Genoa – 5/10 – Having steered the Grifone to safety, Patrick Vieira might have expected a bit more in the way of reinforcements. Deals with either side of Milan – the Nerazzurri’s Valentin Carboni and Rossoneri’s Lorenzo Colombo look the best of their acquisitions but Koni De Winter, who joins Max Allegri’s men in the San Siro, is quite a loss.

• Read more – Club-by-club: Full list of Serie A deal completed in 2025 summer transfer window

Inter – 6.5/10 – A late move for Manuel Akanji upped their grade a little as they made few major changes to their squad. Petar Sucic has made a positive impact and they will hope to see Ange Bonny shine. Plenty of departures too as the generally disappointing Zalewski, Tajon Buchanan and Joaquin Correa all found new homes.

Juventus – 7/10 – A tricky grading this one as they bring in some performers untried in Serie A. Jonathan David was tied up a while ago from Lille and looks set to be joined by former teammate Edon Zhegrova. A last-gasp deal for Lois Openda is intriguing while the likes of Nicolò Savona, Douglas Luiz, Timothy Weah and Nico Gonzalez all move on.

Lazio – No vote – A transfer ban means Maurizio Sarri will largely have to work with the players he has got until next year. There is no doubt they can produce better than they did last term but whether he has the individuals he needs to play his brand of football remains to be seen.

Lecce – 6/10 – This is really more in hope than expectation as they will give a chance to one of Serie A’s great young talents – Milan’s Francesco Camarda – to shine. He is joined by Riccardo Sottil hoping to get back to the heights he once showed with Fiorentina. Losing Krstovic and Baschirotto will undoubtedly hurt and a relegation battle almost certainly looms.

Milan – 8/10 – The Theo Hernandez era has ended and losing Tijjani Reijnders severely dents the midfield. However, Luka Modric adds a touch of albeit ageing class and Samuele Ricci can learn a lot from him. They were busy throughout the window – perhaps because they needed to be – and also added Christopher Nkunku and the experienced Adrien Rabiot.

Napoli – 9/10 – If Antonio Conte only agreed to stay if he got a strengthened squad then it appears his wish has been granted. Kevin De Bruyne is the headline-grabber but Lorenzo Lucca, Rasmus Hojland, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and Noa Lang add the kind of depth needed to help fight in Europe and at home. Jack Raspadori will hope for more football at Atletico Madrid.

Parma – 5/10 – The departures board looks a lot stronger than the arrivals at the Ennio Tardini with Giovanni Leoni the latest rising star to depart to England and Liverpool. Ange Bonny and Simon Sohm are also gone and it will need the steady Patrick Cutrone and more inconsistent but talented Gaetano Oristanio to deliver if they hope to get about the bottom few places.

Pisa – 5.5/10 – They really could be anything as they swapped a lot of players but the overall impression is of a team that will have its work cut out to stay afloat. Juan Cuadrado brings some experience in a wide role while they will need to hope M’Bala Nzola can find where the net is more often than he did while at Fiorentina.

Roma – 8/10 – A good start has helped to cement the feeling that they have done well in the market this year. Evan Ferguson has already begun his Serie A career better than Artem Dovbyk did and Brazilian Wesley has also shown promise. Leon Bailey is a bit of a gamble and Konstantinos Tsimikas a late buy. They will miss Leandro Paredes, if only for his yellow cards.

• Read more – Deadline day: Full list of completed Serie A transfers

Sassuolo – 5.5/10 – There was never really much suggestion he would go anywhere this year but keeping their talisman Mimmo Berardi is always a boost. Nemanja Matic is another at the veteran stage of his career to arrive while they will hope that Fali Candé and Jay Idzes can avoid the fate they suffered at Venezia last season.

Torino – 6/10 – Seeing Ricci go undoubtedly diminishes their quality but they have tried their best to give Marco Baroni a competitive squad. Kristjan Asllani will look to revive his fortunes after his time at Inter while Giovanni Simeone and Cyril Ngonge give options up front. It still doesn’t look like they will trouble the European places, however.

Udinese – 5.5/10 – Moves away for Jaka Bijol to Leeds, Lorenzo Lucca to Napoli and Florian Thauvin to Lens should really be a crippling blow but this has always been the way at the Stadio Friuli. They have a habit of turning the likes of Adam Duksa into transfer market gold while the purchase of young Scot Lennon Miller is an exciting one if he gets a bit of game time.

Verona – 4/10 – Can they defy all logic once more and avoid the drop? Losing Diego Coppola to Brighton and Daniele Ghilardi to Roma punches a hole in their defence that it will be hard to fill. New names like Unai Nunez are hardly thrilling but they have shown before that they can grind out results in the face of adversity. But it still looks like a real mountain to climb this year.

Last season Italy proved one of the most competitive divisions in Europe with epic battles up and down the table. Giancarlo Rinaldi runs the rule over who might fight their way into the top four this time around.

Serie A has gained a reputation of late for being one of the most wide-open leagues around. While others watch the same names battle it out at the top each season, it has thrown up more than its share of surprises and neck-and-neck tussles. And there is every indication that the fight to secure a Champions League spot this term could be a matter of interest to at least half the teams in the top flight once again.

• Read more – Serie A Preview: Napoli are clear title favourites despite Lukaku issue

Serie A 2025-26 favourites for Champions League spots

On pedigree, of course, there are some outstanding names on that list. Reigning champions Napoli – despite needing to compete on two fronts – must be fancied to be in the upper reaches again this term. The addition of Kevin De Bruyne is a mouthwatering one, and although they will have their resources more stretched, it would be a surprise if they don’t end up in Europe’s most prestigious competition once again. There will, however, be no shortage of sides looking to trip them up and steal their spot.

Number one contender in that regard have to be Inter who pushed them so close last time around. The departure of Simone Inzaghi is a big question mark, but they still have a squad more than strong enough to take the Scudetto or, at the very least, finish top four. Of last season’s other Champions League qualifiers, surely Juventus will be an improved prospect this year. They have spent too long in the comparative doldrums to get it wrong once again, although the credentials of Igor Tudor – like those of Christian Chivu – are something of an unknown. As for Atalanta, who knows what they will be without Gian Piero Gasperini at the helm? The will-he, won’t-he tale of Ademola Lookman has been an unsettling one and it looks a serious test for the Bergamaschi to retain their spot at the highest level this campaign.

That, of course, could leave the door open for others and there is no shortage of potential candidates. Milan were a shadow of themselves last season but will be looking to bounce back as Italy’s most successful European team of all time. The experience of Luka Modric could be precious in steadying that particular ship but they face a string of credible challenges. Roma finished the last campaign so strongly that it is hard not to see them pushing hard this time if they can apply their new coach’s teachings quickly. And on the other side of the city, Lazio will be just as confident that they can recover from disappointing times under Marco Baroni to make a better fist of this campaign.

Serie A 2025-26 Champions League race underdogs

• Serie A Preview – Serie A Preview: How every club could line up in 2025-26

Bologna, too, have recent Champions League experience to their credit and would love to get back up there for another go. With a trophy delivered at last and having shown they can cope with big-name departures, they are surely a dark horse for a top-four finish, along with, potentially, Fiorentina. The Viola look set to keep Moise Kean, which was perhaps the biggest question mark of their summer, and if they do so, then they are eminently capable of finally escaping the clutches of the Conference League and sampling Europe of a finer vintage.

And the real long shots? Is it too outrageous to consider ambitious Como as potential challengers at such heady heights? Probably – but there is a school of thought that their form in the second half of last season was just about as good as anyone else’s. If they could get off to a decent start, then they might yet surprise even more than they did last year. If not Champions League, then Europe does not seem so impossible.

It feels more of a stretch to suggest any of the rest could make a bid for glory. Torino have been stuck in mid-table for a long time and Genoa don’t look like they have geared up sufficiently to make much more than survival their goal. Udinese had their moments last season, too, but not enough to suggest they are ready for the great leap forward. It feels like a league of two halves again with one section looking up the way and the other glancing nervously over its shoulder at Serie B. That might not be a great situation for some of the clubs involved, but it is likely to make for another gripping season’s viewing for spectators – whether they are at the ground or watching from the comfort of home.

More than half of Italy’s top division teams appointed new managers in the summer. Giancarlo Rinaldi looks at the familiar faces – and fresher ones – on the benches across the country.

When Antonio Conte looks to defend the Scudetto he won last season with Napoli, he could be forgiven for thinking he had moved to a new division. Of the coaching adversaries he faced at the start of the last campaign, just four will lock horns with him again with the same team this time around. Considering that the Partenopei boss himself also looked set to move on for a time, it has been a summer of almost unprecedented upheaval.

It is easier to list the men with over one year’s service for their clubs than the ones without. Fabio Grosso has stayed put at Sassuolo after strolling through Serie B with a side too good for Italy’s second tier. It will be intriguing to see if he can maintain the upward momentum of his coaching stock in more testing surroundings. The only others with more than 12 months at their current club are Bologna’s Vincenzo Italiano, Udinese’s Kosta Runjaic, Verona’s Paolo Zanetti and Cesc Fabregas at Como. It is remarkable that getting another season in charge is such an unusual vote of confidence.

You could argue, of course, that there is at least a hint of continuity at Genoa, where Patrick Vieira is rewarded for keeping his team afloat and Igor Tudor carries on at Juventus. The former will be expected to avoid the drop a little more comfortably this time around, but the pressure on his Bianconero counterpart is a lot more intense. There was plenty of speculation that the Croatian would be shown the door for a bigger name but in the end La Vecchia Signora decided to remain loyal. However, nobody would be surprised if they pulled the trigger once more if early results are disappointing.

Although Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina have made changes they have all gone for familiar faces who they hope will confound the footballing wisdom that return deals are often less successful than they were the first time around. Max Allegri will be charged with making the Rossoneri more competitive than they have been for a while, which seems like a mission he can surely accomplish – even if the football may not be spectacular. Another former occupant of the bench at San Siro, Stefano Pioli, is back in Florence on what feels like a sentimental journey. He was the man in charge when Davide Astori died and would love nothing more than to deliver a trophy with the Viola. Then, finally, we have Maurizio Sarri at the Biancocelesti, which seems unlikely to be anything other than entertaining.

The challenge facing Gian Piero Gasperini at Roma is a fascinating one, having left behind the club he served brilliantly for so long in Bergamo. Can he take the template he used so successfully at Atalanta with the Giallorossi and do it quickly enough to satisfy a club with more lofty expectations? If he can harness the resources at his disposal in the right way they could truly be a revelation.

The Christian Chivu era at Inter is also one that will be worth a watch. There is no doubt the Nerazzurri retain a strong squad but their coach is low on experience. What that will translate to in terms of results remains to be seen but this is a club that has got used to being in the upper reaches of the table. Anything else would not be acceptable.

The most intriguing appointment of the rest might well be Carlos Cuesta at Parma. Aged just 30, they are clearly hoping that the experience he has gathered alongside Mikel Arteta at Arsenal can stand him in good stead. The rewards are potentially great if that translates to insight into Serie A pretty quickly.

Elsewhere, there are a mix of old stagers or coaches trying to revive their reputations. Ivan Juric remains a curious fit for Atalanta while Marco Baroni moves along to Torino having been judged as not up to the Lazio job – it might well suit him better. Alberto Gilardino gets another crack at the big time with Pisa, while Eusebio Di Francesco dodged the drop with Venezia by moving across to Lecce. New boys Cremonese put their faith in Mr Miracles, Davide Nicola, while Cagliari have promoted from within with former youth team boss Fabio Pisacane taking the reins. There is likely to be some long, hard graft ahead of all of them to remain in a job until the end of the season. The trend to seek change – even when successful – looks here to stay for quite some time to come.

The Azzurri got off to about the worst possible start in their qualification campaign. Giancarlo Rinaldi examines whether a change of coach can really address all the issues they face.

Maybe Francesco Acerbi knew better than the rest of us. His decision not to join his countrymen cast a cloud over the start of their efforts to make it to the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada next year. Their performances in Oslo suggested a lot of those who did answer Luciano Spalletti’s call might have wished they had stayed at home also.

It was a display so desperate that the Italian Federation felt the only option was to dispense with the former Roma and Napoli boss. In the process, they plunged the national team into chaos and raised major questions about its ability to get to that expanded competition in 2026.

How Spalletti failed as Italy coach

The first issue that springs to mind has been dealt with – at least in some regards. If the coach from Certaldo was the problem, then he was no longer a concern after the final whistle blew on Monday night’s pretty grim clash with Moldova. There were some moments of good football during his reign, and decent results, but overall, his team failed to scale the heights that many of his club sides had managed. If this was the man charged with carrying on the progress enjoyed under Roberto Mancini, then it was definitely mission unaccomplished.

Many felt he should have been shown the door after a disappointing defence of their European crown, when they rolled over to the Swiss in the last 16, and they will certainly feel vindicated now. That team looked jaded and in need of reinvention but, to be fair to the departing tactician, he did seem to make some effort in that regard. The highest his stock would rise was surely with the two Nations League away wins over France and Belgium. It looked like he might have rediscovered the Azzurri’s mojo, but that unravelled pretty quickly with back-to-back home defeats by France and Germany ahead of the capitulation to Norway in their opening World Cup group game. A 2-0 win over Moldova was too little, too late and another disjointed affair.

The alarm bells, in truth, were sounding before a ball was kicked in the qualifiers. Although Italy had scrambled back to a 3-3 draw in their away clash with Germany, that masked a horrendous first-half performance in which they could have been much further behind. The concern about their ability to withstand any kind of attacking force had already been laid bare and was confirmed against a Norwegian side which had an array of options with which to unlock an undeniably makeshift defence.

Spalletti has to carry the can for his selections, the tactical set-up and how long it took him to make any significant changes when it was clear the game was going against him. He cut a forlorn figure on the sidelines and his body language was not the kind to inspire any of his players to believe they could turn things around. His call-ups, too, seemed to lack any real consistent, clear vision of how he wanted to play and the way he wanted to see his team progress. The Acerbi fiasco now seems like a last grasp for a lifebelt from a man who could see disaster coming.

• Read more – Report Spalletti is Al-Nassr main option to replace Pioli

The way his departure was handled, however, has been truly shambolic. To leave him in charge against Moldova when he had already been dismissed was farcical. What followed was even more comical as the scramble for a replacement began. Initially, it looked like Claudio Ranieri was the man, but the Tinkerman appears to have decided that he had no more managerial miracles up his sleeve. The names of Stefano Pioli, Roberto Mancini, Rino Gattuso, Daniele De Rossi and Fabio Cannavaro have swirled around since then. It is hard to escape the feeling that the powers that be decided to axe Spalletti without having a clue what they wanted to do next. That is not a good look for a nation that aspires to be one of the major forces in the global game.

Closer analysis of Spalletti’s demise suggests that he was not the only issue facing La Nazionale. Looking at the starting line-up for the clash at the Ullevaal Stadion, it was difficult to escape the feeling that anyone would struggle to make up a team of world beaters out of the elements at his disposal. Hit by a string of call-offs and injuries, the cast list was hardly the kind to strike fear into Scandinavian hearts. They surrendered so meekly it was hard to believe that they represented a nation with four World Cup stars on their chests.

Issues in Italy’s squad selection

It feels like the other top teams in international football all have a sprinkling of superstars that the Azzurri no longer enjoy. Gigio Donnarumma, perhaps, could lay claim to a place in the very upper reaches of the game but who else could truly rub shoulders with the best? There are plenty of good players but the days of Paolo Maldini, Francesco Totti or Roberto Baggio seem long gone. Even the more fringe players from yesteryear might shine in the current climes.

Look deeper, though, and you will see that at youth level the Italian teams still manage to hold their own. That prompts bigger questions about why these players rarely make the transition to regular starting spots in Serie A. There needs to be a wider look at what can be done to ensure they get enough game time to flourish, otherwise we will be reflecting on whatever happened to the likes of Simone Pafundi or Francesco Camarda in the years to come. Spalletti surely could have been braver in his use of younger players but it was undeniable that there often wasn’t a lot of choice at his disposal.

Gravina’s responsibility

Which brings us, of course, to the final element of the jigsaw – the Italian football federation. Plenty of fingers have been pointed at its president Gabriele Gravina as just as responsible for this debacle as any player or coach. Yes, he was in charge of the Euro 2020 triumph but how long can he cling on to that glory? Since then Italy have failed to qualify for a World Cup from a group that included Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania and missed out in a play-off with North Macedonia. They then delivered a drab set of matches at Euro 2024 before seriously compromising their chances of another World Cup before it started. If that doesn’t call for radical reform of the system then what does?

The trouble, of course, is getting anyone to look at the bigger picture and find innovative ways to develop young talent and put Italy back at the top of the global game. Those of us a bit longer in the tooth can remember when La Nazionale was a mainstay of the later stages of almost every competition it entered. That tradition is in serious danger of being lost for a whole generation of Azzurri fans.

If that means a shake-up of the federation and its structures, that would surely be no bad thing. Regardless of who takes over in the end, planning for longer-term success must start immediately. Italy used to be good at nurturing its talent, both on the field and in coaching, and working towards being ready for major competitions. It sometimes meant sacrificing a Euros in order to be prepared for a World Cup but it felt like there was a method in the way they were working. Nowadays, it can often feel like they lurch from one crisis to another with very little in the way of considered thought along the way.

The losers, of course, are the supporters. There are millions of people in Italy and many more overseas who like nothing more than daubing their faces in green, white and red and putting on the Azzurri shirt with pride to watch their national team in action. Lately, it has been more of an embarrassment than any pleasure for them to tune in from across the planet – and that has to change soon.

• Read more – Mancini wants to be Italy coach again: ‘I made a wrong choice’

This is a country that still lives and breathes football and deserves better than it has had to endure of late. Everyone – the coaches, the players and the officials – has a part to play in ensuring that they get a World Cup to enjoy next summer. Things have got off to a bad start but they are not entirely compromised. The pressure is on, though, to somehow win their group or clamber through the play-off system to make sure that Il Canto degli Italiani is heard at international football’s biggest tournament for the first time in 12 years next summer.

There was a time when they were a rarity but United States players are starting to be much more common in Italy. Giancarlo Rinaldi casts an eye over how they performed for their respective clubs.

When Alexi Lalas signed for Padova more than 30 years ago, it was something of a novelty. It has taken the best part of three decades for a real American revolution to happen in Serie A. This season there have been no fewer than five United States players in Italy’s top division – and they have enjoyed very differing fortunes up and down the table. With many clubs in American ownership – and more in the pipeline – it is perhaps something we will be getting used to in the years to come.

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Christian Pulisic (Milan) – 8/10 In a season which left Rossoneri fans venting their frustration in no uncertain fashion, the former Chelsea man was surely exempt from their wrath. A scorer in their Supercoppa triumph, he enjoyed what was arguably the best campaign of his career with more than 20 goal involvements in the league. It was all the more remarkable because other big names around him notably failed to shine. If anyone deserves to be part of the latest overhaul at the Milanese giants going forward it is surely him.

Yunus Musah (Milan) – 5.5/10 It was a troublesome second season in red and black for the young midfielder as he flitted in and out of the side with alarming inconsistency. Some of that might have been down to the club’s chopping and changing of coaches but just the same he failed to really kick on after a good first term in Italy. He provided energy and drive but overall there was the impression that neither he nor his club would be too unhappy if he moved on in the summer.

Weston McKennie (Juventus) – 7/10 Considering that he looked surplus to requirements for the Thiago Motta era, his comeback to stalwart status was pretty remarkable. His adaptability and application were admirable and, in a Bianconeri side which underwhelmed again this season, he was a decent performer. Not the most spectacular, perhaps, but he chipped in a few goals – notably in the Champions League – which showed there was maybe more to his game than many had suspected.

Timothy Weah (Juventus) – 6/10 Sometimes, versatility can be a drawback for a player in terms of consistency, and that certainly felt like the case for the son of Serie A legend George Weah. He made most of his appearances at right back but played pretty much everywhere across the front line and midfield as he plugged gaps in a Juve side which struggled for a real identity. Nobody could fault his professionalism in playing wherever he was asked but it was probably counter-productive in terms of his impact across the campaign.

• Read more – Serie A 2024-25 Winners and losers: All clubs rated

Gianluca Busio (Venezia) 6.5/10 It felt like a bit of a setback season for the bustling midfielder who has been a star on the lagoons since he moved from Sporting Kansas City in 2021. Having been at the heart of their promotion push last term, it seemed like coach Eusebio Di Francesco lost a bit of faith in him as his team fought to avoid relegation. Nonetheless, he remained a decent performer for the Arancioneroverdi and there is more than a sneaking suspicion that he could have a future in the top division – even if his team does not.

If one country can lay claim to having the most surprisingly significant impact in Italy this season it is surely Scotland. Giancarlo Rinaldi grades the famous five who flourished around the peninsula.

• Football Italia Season Review – Winners and losers: All clubs rated

Somewhere up in footballing heaven, Johnny Moscardini must surely be looking down with a smile. More than a century has passed since the Scottish-born striker plied his trade with Pisa and Lucchese, but suddenly it feels like all things Caledonian are all the rage in Italy. Long gone are the days when Denis Law found Serie A too tactically suffocating and his countrymen seem to be loving life in Naples, Turin, Bologna and beyond.

Not even the most optimistic, whisky-fuelled dream could have forecast what a year this would be for this Tartan Army. League titles, a Coppa Italia and an impressive number of goals were the order of the day as they took their surroundings by storm. With good food, fine weather and an excellent lifestyle – none of them seem likely to be suffering from homesickness any time soon. They seem to love Italy, and Italy loves them.

Scott McTominay (Napoli) – 10/10 Even his own most ardent fans would have struggled to predict the impact the former Manchester United man would have in Naples. Almost from day one he started to deliver match winning performances and goals as he thrived in the role carved out for him by Antonio Conte. Any sadness he might have felt at being shown the door at Old Trafford was surely more than made up for by celebrating a title in the Stadio Maradona. He is already a legend for the Partenopei even if he never scored another goal. He will surely find that his Italian tomatoes – which he famously professed his love for – are tasting even sweeter now.

Billy Gilmour (Napoli) – 7.5/10 It was a slow burn start for the midfield schemer, but when he was asked to step up in a more regular role, he more than delivered. Many thought he might be no more than an understudy for Stan Lobotka but he emerged as a key contributor in his own right and another vital cog in the Scudetto march. If any player looked ideally suited to the more tactical climes of Serie A it is surely him. Not the eye-grabbing performances of McTominay, perhaps, but the more astute observers understood that his contribution was a significant one too.

Lewis Ferguson (Bologna) – 7/10 Undoubtedly, the mark would be even higher if he hadn’t been so long on the sidelines with injury. Still, when he came back the former Aberdeen man was able to confirm the qualities he showed last term. Leading the Rossoblu to their first trophy in a lifetime in the Coppa Italia was the icing on the cake and secured another European campaign. His vision, organisation and drive were at the heart of his team’s efforts in the closing stages of the season and the club will hope they have him available full-time next term.

Che Adams (Torino) – 7.5/10 It was not a thrilling Torino season but the Scottish striker confounded his critics by delivering a double-figure goal haul between league and cup. There were also a few assists which was no mean feat as part of a team which only averaged just over a goal a game in Serie A this term. He might have hoped that his new employers might have finished a bit higher up the table but overall he made a pretty positive impact and will surely have sharpened his skills for when his country comes calling once more.

Liam Henderson (Empoli) – 6.5/10 Perhaps the forgotten man of the Scots in Italy but he is now a familiar face and accomplished performer. He will be frustrated that his team ultimately got relegated but few could point much blame in his direction after another solid season. A regular in the referee’s notebook, he was the kind of player nobody would relish coming up against with a determination and commitment that made him a stern opponent. It might be Serie B next term but there will be plenty of sides in the top division who would not be averse to having such a seasoned performer in their ranks.

It proved to be an epic year for Italian football with drama, controversy and excitement at every turn. Giancarlo Rinaldi gives out the grades for all 20 teams in the top division this term.

Say what you like about Serie A, it was not to be outdone for dramatic finishes this season. The Scudetto, European places and relegation matters all went down to the last day. We can sit here and argue about the overall strength of the league forever but what is not in doubt is its ability to deliver some gripping entertainment.

Where there are winners, though, there have to be losers. It is alway hard to assess how successful a team’s efforts have been – especially as it has to be seen in the context of expectation at a particular club. But what follows is an attempt to grade each outfit’s campaign while taking into consideration what they might realistically have hoped to achieve.

Napoli – 9/10 Everyone knew they underperformed last season, but few expected them to bounce back in such style. The Antonio Conte effect and inspired performances from Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku meant they emerged as Inter’s only credible contender in the title fight. No European football helped, but they kept up their intensity impressively nonetheless, and ultimately delivered a fourth league crown which was celebrated in style and thoroughly deserved.

Inter – 7.5/10 The vote could go higher if they manage to clinch the Champions League but overall, it was still a good campaign from the strongest squad in Italy. There were a few slip-ups – notably in the Coppa Italia – but they maintained a high level of performance which surely earns Simone Inzaghi a right to be mentioned in European coaching’s elite. They will be annoyed to have missed out on another title but their continental exploits have provided plenty of compensation.

Atalanta – 8/10 If it is the end of the road for Gian Piero Gasperini, what a way to sign off. Another Champions League qualification comfortably achieved and outstanding campaigns from Mateo Retegui and Ademola Lookman among others. Yes, there were a few stumbles and grumbles along the way but, for a team which once hovered between Serie A and Serie B this is a golden age.

Juventus – 6/10 It was meant to be the start of a new era under Thiago Motta with both entertaining and winning football but he struggled to deliver either. In the end, he was shown the door and the rebuilding project started once again. Whoever gets the job needs to be given long-term security to start putting La Vecchia Signora back where she belongs. Their transfer strategy of regularly selling off quality young players needs some serious re-examination.

Roma – 7/10 If it was on the second half of the season alone then the mark would be just about a perfect 10. However, the period before Claudio Ranieri’s arrival was abysmal for a side with the quality of players the Giallorossi possessed. He steadied the ship and then set them flying high on a truly outstanding run of results. Whoever comes in will have a hard act to follow and there was not a dry eye in the house as he said goodbye to the Olimpico crowd.

Fiorentina – 6.5/10 It was another year of what might have been for the Viola as they strung together a great winning run and then a very drab streak of results. They missed out on a third Conference League final but somehow or another managed to seal a return to that competition on the final day. Moise Kean and David de Gea were highlights of an often frustrating side which may well be dismantled again in the summer.

Lazio – 6/10 A bit of mixed bag with some great results but there will be regrets that such promise failed to deliver Europe of any flavour. Marco Baroni looked happy at the helm of a bigger side for the first time but it remains to be seen how happy they are with him. If nothing else, they played a part in deciding where the title ended up with their draw with Inter late in the season.

Milan – 5/10 Yes, there was the Supercoppa but this was not a season at the levels the Rossoneri are used to competing at. There was the odd sign of life but overall it never hit the heights that the club would have hoped either under the puzzling Paulo Fonseca or his countryman Sergio Conceicao. Their big players did not deliver consistently either and the fans were understandably disgruntled at the overall outcome of this campaign.

Bologna – 8/10 They might have been bumped out of the Champions League and fallen down the league table but a Coppa Italia win showed that Vincenzo Italiano was on the right track. Despite losing their coach and players like Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori they still fought at the top end of the table and delivered a trophy after a lengthy drought. The trick will be to build on that success.

Como – 7/10 Another team like Roma who would be even higher if judged on the second half of the season alone. A spending splurge in January delivered an impressive upturn in form that saw them soar up the table. Cesc Fabregas has a lot of suitors and it is hardly surprising considering what he has delivered here. The club looks like it could become a Serie A reality for some time to come.

Torino – 6/10 A very vanilla season that fans of the Granata will have got used to by now. Paolo Vanoli showed signs of getting his team to produce a little more entertaining football but they never really kicked on. Che Adams proved a surprising source of goals, though, as the Scotsmen in Serie A continued to thrive. Still, a great club struggling for a real identity and the ability to trouble the top half of the table.

Udinese – 6.5/10 Another year of comfortable survival with some good performances along the way. Kosta Runjaic proved a pretty capable performer and his team did a decent job without ever truly setting the heather alight. Maybe rumours of new American owners can help them to take another step forward and try to challenge for Europe once again.

Genoa – 6/10 It wasn’t spectacular but they secured their continued presence in Serie A with some comfort which did not look a certainty early on. A switch from Alberto Gilardino to Patrick Vieira at the helm was enough to ensure survival although a gamble on Mario Balotelli certainly proved to be pretty ineffective.

Verona – 6.5/10 In the 40th anniversary of their famous Scudetto win, it was enough just to keep their heads above water. They were never in serious danger of going down and that in itself is impressive. Dreams of another league title do seem an awful long way off but they did well enough after losing their influential coach Baroni in the summer.

Cagliari – 6.5/10 Did just enough to survive without ever really producing anything spectacular. In the end, they managed to find a way to win some key clashes but they will hope to do a little bit better in the seasons ahead. Still, Davide Nicola underlined his reputation as the man to turn to if you want to stay afloat.

Parma – 6/10 They started off decently but it proved to be a bit of a slog to avoid dropping back into Serie B. Capable of some exciting football but they were unable to produce the kind of consistency that might have seen them finish a bit higher up the table. Pass marks, probably, but not much more.

Lecce 6.5/10 It looked like a forlorn task at times but a heroic performance on the final day saw them home. To grab a win in Rome over Lazio in order to survive was something very much out of the ordinary and no more than some of the most passionate fans in the top division deserved.

Empoli 5.5/10 There was a time when they looked like they could really be a surprise package but their slump was pretty brutal and their descent was rapid. Their efforts to give young Italian talents were to be admired but it was not enough to keep them above water. Still, they found some more interesting prospects for us all to admire.

Venezia 6/10 It was a bit of a miracle that they actually managed to get to the final day of the season with a shot at staying up. Selling off your star striker and talisman in January was a curious way to do business but it almost worked and Eusebio Di Francesco deserves some credit for giving most of their opponents a pretty tough test.

Monza – 3/10 Having been a bit of a revelation in the past two years, reality bit after losing some key players and their manager in the summer. Nothing seemed to spark a revival and a miserable season ended in relegation with a few rounds of the season left to play. It will be a slog to bounce back after one of the most miserable Serie A campaigns on record.

Serie A started out with eight teams in Europe – but one by one they have fallen by the wayside. Giancarlo Rinaldi examines whether the Nerazzurri and Viola can fly the Italian flag any further this year.

Last summer began with a high tide of optimism in the world of Calcio. The UEFA coefficient was flying so high after seeing many sides go deep in continental competition and a fifth spot in the elite Champions League was secured. This campaign, however, has not been so kind to the teams representing the green, white and red of their country.

It was almost inevitable there would be a dip in form after the impressive performances of the last couple of seasons. Milan and Juventus – two historic giants – have been disappointing their fans for much of this term while Bologna and Atalanta have been at times distracted by good Serie A form. Roma have picked up as Lazio have faded a little, leaving only two teams to defend Italian honour – Inter in the Champions League and Fiorentina in their favourite competition, the Conference League.

Both teams face Spanish opposition and the bookmakers do not fancy their chances. Barcelona are short odds to qualify against Simone Inzaghi’s men while the Tuscan outfit are also outsiders to see off Real Betis and get a third final in a row. But could either or both of them raise their game to pull off a shock?

The omens do not look great at the San Siro as the signs rack up that a long and draining season is starting to take its toll. Defeat in a Coppa Italia semi-final to one of the weakest Milan teams in the past decade might have been acceptable if Inter had been able to keep their Serie A challenge on course. Instead, they have been knocked off their pedestal with defeats against in-form Bologna and Roma which have left Napoli in pole position. It now looks like they might have to go all-in on Europe in order not to finish the season empty-handed. How quickly talk of another treble has evaporated.

The form lines do not make pleasant reading either. The Nerazzurri’s last win was against lowly Cagliari although they did show buckets of character to get the draw they needed to see off Bayern Munich. The return of Denzel Dumfries is a tonic but an injury to Marcus Thuram has shown up the shortcomings of their potential replacement partners for Lautaro Martinez up front. Even the undisputed best squad in Italy is starting to look a little thin.

And yet, there has to be room for a dash of optimism – even though Barcelona’s four wins in their last five outings makes for a worrying warning. They are a team which definitely allows the opposition chances to score and Inter have made something of a habit of unpicking opponents tactically in the Champions League. It will take another managerial masterpiece from Inzaghi to emerge triumphant over the two ties.

In the third-tier tournament which Fiorentina have made their own, the boys from the Artemio Franchi have not had their own troubles to seek. Throughout the competition they have made seemingly inferior opposition look good but they will be allowed no such luxuries against a side which has surged into sixth in La Liga and is one of the division’s form outfits. It is far and away the sternest test Raffaele Palladino’s men have faced this campaign.

What will cheer the Florentine faithful is that they are on a decent unbeaten run which has been achieved in trying circumstances. Without their standout striker Moise Kean for personal reasons and then flying full-back Dodo due to surgery, they have ground out wins that keep them in the hunt for a European place in Serie A. The icing on the cake would be another crack at silverware.

Rolando Mandragora is in the form of his life and Luca Ranieri is clearly relishing marshalling a defence in front of a world-class shotstopper like David de Gea who is back to his very best. The goalkeeper has history with Betis having seen them off comfortably in the Europa League in his days with Manchester United. He will likely have to make some key saves if his current employers are to make it to Wroclaw in May.

It will be a tall order for either Serie A team to win their Spanish challenge but neither of them goes into their clashes without hope. Inter have shown themselves capable of giving Europe’s best a tough game for a few years now while Fiorentina are stalwarts of the Conference League. They might not be fancied much in the betting shops – but don’t rule them out ruining a few punters’ wagers by the end of their two ties.