Maldini: Money is tight in Italian football

Date: 17th April 2013 at 6:42pm
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According to Paolo Maldini, Italian clubs need more funding in order to return to former glory and be on par with big European clubs.

In an interview with Reuters, the former Milan defender stressed the importance of having new funds injected into Serie A clubs in order to compete in Champions League.

“There is no other way to reach that kind of level,” he said. “You have to invest money to compete with the great teams in Europe.”

The 44-year-old highlighted the recent Champions League match between Juventus and Bayern Munich where Juventus suffered a 4-0 aggregate loss to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the competition as an example of the wealth difference between Italy’s best team and one of Europe’s best teams.

“Juventus are a great team, especially in Italy, but when you compete with a team like Bayern, you can see the difference,” he added.

“They need at least two or three more great players.”

With money being an issue for Serie A outfits, Maldini believes that clubs need to be put into a position to increase their revenue.

“In Italy we still have laws that don’t work,” he added. “Everyone is losing money in Italian football, it’s crazy.

“If you go outside the San Siro you can see people selling fake merchandising. You can’t allow this.

“Then you have old stadiums, very old stadiums.

“Above all we need to learn from Leagues that make money from sports rather than lose money.”

 

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