As 2021 ticks over into the New Year, it’s time to take a look back at what happened in Italian football over the past 12 months.

There have been some unbelievable highs to celebrate, as Oli Coates remembers some of the other talking points to go along with the Azzurri’s stunning European Championship success.

Kings of Europe

There’s only one place to start. Italy entered the summer’s rescheduled UEFA Euro 2020 as one of the rank outsiders to lift the trophy. The Azzurri had been on a good run, but most of their games were against lesser countries and with the likes of World champions France and top-ranked nation Belgium around, few expected Roberto Mancini’s side to go all the way.

However, the extra year to prepare played into Italy’s hands, as their promising youngsters gained more experience to complement the veterans among the squad. The Azzurri showed their capacity to play both attacking and tactical football en route to the final, where they beat hosts England at Wembley to win their first international tournament since lifting their fourth World Cup in 2006.

Dethroned at last

Juventus ruled Serie A with an iron first for the best part of a decade, winning the Scudetto nine times in a row as all their rivals floundered in the face of complete domination. Antonio Conte, Max Allegri and even the much-maligned Maurizio Sarri all conquered Serie A with the Old Lady, before a resurgent Inter ended their unprecedented reign.

Conte returned to haunt the club he served with distinction as both player and coach, transforming the Nerazzurri during his two-year stint at San Siro. Inter cantered to their first Scudetto since Jose Mourinho led them to a historic treble in 2010, denying Juve ten in a row and establishing themselves as the new top dogs in the process.

Maybe it wasn’t Ronaldo’s fault after all

Despite banging in goal after goal during his three-year spell at Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo was never far away from criticism from Bianconeri fans. A remarkable return of 81 goals in just 98 Serie A appearances, and 101 from 134 in all competitions, wasn’t enough to convince a significant number of supporters that he was worthy of being pandered to like most superstars usually are.

Accusations that the mercurial Portuguese’s presence was a detriment to team performances have been made a mockery of by Juve’s showing so far this season. Indeed, Ronaldo was the Old Lady’s top scorer in 2021, despite returning to Manchester United in August. Meanwhile, at the midway point of the campaign, no team in the top half of the Serie A table have scored fewer goals than the Bianconeri. As former Juve star Zlatan Ibrahimovic once famously said of his time at Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, you don’t buy a Ferrari and drive it like a Fiat.

Failing finances

Football finances have been a hot topic across Europe for much of the year. Empty stadiums hit many clubs across the continent hard, while in Italy, it looked as though the pandemic would cause the most damage to newly-crowned champions Inter. The Nerazzurri’s parent company, the Suning Holdings Group, were so pessimistic about the future that they lost disillusioned coach Antonio Conte and sold key men Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi.

More recently, Juventus have been accused of serious financial breaches stretching back a number of years, with an investigation set to uncover exactly what happened. Inter are also under the microscope for discrepancies in their financial accounts that are related to capital gains, with nine Serie A clubs in total being targeted by the Guardia di Finanza. After private equity firm CVC Capital Partners moved their attention to La Liga, and with the Premier League the perennial financial superpower, it remains to be seen how Italian football copes with its economic disadvantage in 2022.

GOOOOOOOLAZO

At the end of the 2020-21 season, Serie A was confirmed as the highest-scoring of Europe’s big five leagues. Italy’s top-flight saw a total of 1,163 goals hit the back of the net across 380 fixtures, at an average of 3.1 per game. This was higher than the Bundesliga with 3.0, while Ligue 1 averaged 2.8, the Premier League 2.7 and La Liga 2.5.

The goalscoring prowess of Italian clubs was further backed up at UEFA Euro 2020, where players from teams in Serie A scored 37 of the tournament’s 142 goals. Representing more than a quarter of the entire competition’s haul, Serie A left the Premier League in its wake, which had the second-highest contribution at 30. It all fed into the narrative of the Azzurri producing some vibrant attacking displays to bust the tired old myths surrounded their tactical style of play, as Mancini’s men covered themselves in continental glory.

Why not let us know in the comments some of your most memorable moments from 2021 and what you hope to see in Italian football in the New Year.

3 thought on “Five things to remember about Italian football in 2021”
  1. Innit great ^^^ that the new year brings another title. I bet the old geriatric will fold on the 12th and bow to our Inter. 👍

  2. Hey fake Innit, remember the time you got drunk and sang “It’s Coming Home”

    Why don’t you just post under Solo Inter? Not like the rest of these posters don’t already know it’s you?

    Regards from mild Athens, GA. LMAO. Mutt.

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