After Inter booked their place in the Champions League final at the expense of Milan on Tuesday night, and with Juventus, Roma and Fiorentina all in action across the Europa and Conference League semi-finals on Thursday, there is a possibility that three Italian teams could feature in European finals in the same season for the first time since 1989-90.
The good omen for fans of Italian sides is that the Italian representatives in the three European Cups 33 years ago, Milan, Juventus and Sampdoria all went on to lift their respective trophies at the end of the season.
Coincidentally, Napoli were the Serie A champions that year and the Partenopei had to wait until this season for their next league title to arrive under Luciano Spalletti, Victor Osimhen, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and co.
In May 1990, Arrigo Sacchi guided Milan to the club’s fourth European Cup title, defeating Sven-Goran Eriksen’s Benfica 1-0 in the final at the Praterstadion in Vienna, courtesy of Frank Rijkaard’s 68th minute winner.
It was also an all-Italian UEFA Cup final that year, as Dino Zoff’s Juventus went on to defeat Francesco Graziani’s Fiorentina 3-1 over two legs of the final, with all four goals coming in the first game of the tie. Roberto Galia, Pierluigi Casiraghi and Luigi De Agostini were on the scoresheet for the Old Lady, whilst Renato Buso grabbed La Viola’s only goal of the final.
With Juventus taking on Sevilla in one Europa League semi-final this Thursday, and Roma lining up against Bayer Leverkusen in the other, there is still a chance of another all-Italian final in Europe’s secondary competition once again.
In 1990, Sampdoria were also crowned Cup Winners’ Cup champions after beating Anderlecht in Gothenburg thanks to a rapid-fire injury time brace from Gianluca Vialli.
On Thursday evening, Fiorentina will look to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Basel to qualify for the Conference League final, which would make them the second Italian team after Roma to feature in the final in just the second year of the competition’s existence.