Italia '90 showcased the world's greatest players in numerous famous stadiums amid the most glamorous of surroundings, hooking many football followers to Calcio and the Italian way.
Not long after the tournament's end, British television station Channel 4 bought the rights to screen Serie A across the land. At that time, it was THE destination for the best players to go once huge clubs such as Milan, Juventus, Inter, Roma or Lazio came calling for their services.
Any given Sunday you could be watching a match involving Roberto Baggio, George Weah, Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten and Paolo Maldini to name but a few of the stellar names performing in Italian football.
An English Premier League to replace the old first division was just beginning to find its feet in 1992 and, along with all other European leagues, they simply couldn't compete financially with the might of Berlusconi at Milan or the Agnelli family of Juve. The Italian Lira ruled and it was guaranteed that the wages they could offer were vastly superior to that of any other team on the continent.
Illustrating the dominance of Serie A during that era, the Mediterranean nation provided Champions League finalists for nine out of ten finals between 1989-1998. Milan featured in five of those, winning three. Juventus reached the final on three occasions, emerging victorious only once. The other side to make it were 1992 runners-up Sampdoria.
Compare that to the next ten European showpieces, just three featuring Italian clubs. Milan and Juve both got to the 2003 final, while Milan lost to Liverpool by throwing away a seemingly unassailable three-goal lead to eventually lose by way of a penalty shoot-out on a crazy night in 2005. The Rossoneri got their revenge two years later when they beat the Anfield-based giants 2-1 in Athens.
Moving on to the five most recent Champions League final ties, amazingly only one featured an Italian club. It occurred in 2010 when Inter strode confidently through Europe with a steely defiance that frustrated opponents and averted danger; a tactical master-plan devised by José Mourinho that allowed Inter to claim their first European Cup since 1965.
To further enforce the notion of a decline in the standard of Italian football, we need look no further than three other European domestic leagues jostling for position as the biggest football league on the planet. It's debatable as to which currently resides at the head of European club football, but England, Spain and Germany all appear to have stolen a march on Serie A in terms of the sheer quality they can attract to their respective countries.
Once upon a time, a footballer of Cristiano Ronaldo's ilk would've left Manchester United for one of the great Italian sides; even a giant of Real Madrid's standing wouldn't have possessed the capabilities to compete for his services in the 90's. Perhaps he wouldn't even have made it to United from Sporting Lisbon in the first instance, with his likely course diverted to Italian shores instead.
Another clear example that heralds the (worrying for Italy) arrival of French football at the top table and in turn the slide of the Italian game, is the imminent transfer of Edinson Cavani from Napoli to Paris Saint-Germain. The nouveau riche Parisian club hadn't won Ligue 1 for nineteen years until last season and only have the European Cup Winners' Cup of 1996 to show for their exploits in Euro competition. All of a sudden, Nasser Al-Khelaifi swept in with a bagful of his billions and now there's not one player on this Earth that could be deemed untouchable.
The money has all but gone from the Italian top-flight; crowd numbers are down, incidents of violence and racism on the terraces are frequent, the television deals aren't up to scratch, while many star names have been lured away to abundantly richer leagues operating without the financial constraints that engulfed Italy a long time ago.
A flicker of hope was offered by Juventus this summer in the form of double signings Carlos Tévez and Fernando Llorente. They're both current international strikers who've made a splash in supposed bigger leagues over recent seasons; Tévez in England with West Ham, Manchester United and neighbours City and Llorente in Spain with Bilbao. According to reports, both were afforded opportunities elsewhere but opted to try their luck in Turin.
Could this finally be the turning point in the fortunes of the proud footballing nation? It is only a small step, but lovers of the Italian game will pray it's the start of an exciting new period for the former, undisputed, greatest league in the world.
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