Bleak Beginnings for Italy in 2017-18 Champions League

Date: 14th September 2017 at 12:37pm
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The 2017-18 season of the Champions League commenced on Tuesday evening but the opening week of action was a time to forget for Italy’s representatives as none of the Serie A clubs had registered a victory and they were outclassed in terms of performance.

Juventus were defeated 3-0 by Barcelona in their Group D clash while Roma registered a 0-0 draw at home to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night and their Spanish rivals asserted their superiority in both matches.

Although the Bianconeri were competitive in the first half, Lionel Messi opened the scoring before half-time after playing a one-two with Luis Suarez and the Blaugrana dominated after that.

Juve midfielder Stefano Sturaro replaced an injured Mattia De Sciglio at right-back after just 41 minutes and his insipid clearance gifted Ivan Rakitic an easy opportunity to double Barca’s lead, then Messi completed his brace after a rapid counterattack.

Key players such as Mario Mandzukic, Sami Khedira, and Juan Cuadrado were not available to Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, but club stalwarts Gianluigi Buffon and Andrea Barzagli looked a shadow of their former selves, particularly due to their vulnerability on the goals.

While the Bianconeri were humiliated, Roma were fortunate to scrape a point against Atletico Madrid. Los Colchoneros coach Diego Simeone is known for his conservative approach but his team constantly bombarded the Giallorossi, forcing new Lupi tactician Eusebio Di Francesco to switch from his preferred 4-3-3 to the 5-3-2 formation in the second half.

For all the chances Atleti created, they found it impossible to beat Alisson Becker in the Roma goal, who was in phenomenal form and received a rating of 8.5/10 from La Gazzetta dello Sportand a strong 8 in our own – for his outstanding performance. Saul Niguez and Angel Correa probably would have scored multiple goals if it wasn’t for the heroics of the Brazilian shot-stopper.

It got worse for the Italian teams on Wednesday night when Napoli suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat to Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk. Arkadiusz Milik scored a consolation goal from the penalty spot but perhaps the exclusion of Dries Mertens at the start might have been the downfall of the Neapolitans.

Partenopei tactician Maurizio Sarri often starts the Belgian international in the “false nine” role but he was left on the bench and entered the field 15 minutes into the second half as a replacement for attacking midfielder Marek Hamsik.

Although the Ukrainian side played with greater confidence and fluidity, Napoli did create numerous opportunities of their own, and Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov pulled off many superb saves.

While Pyatov was excellent in goal, the same cannot be said about his Ciucciarelli counterpart Pepe Reina, who did not cover his near post properly for the opening goal by Taison and he ran off his line too soon, which allowed Facundo Ferreyra to header the ball into an empty net for the second.

As disappointing as these results are, they may serve as a wake-up call to the Italian teams and allow them to rectify any mistakes before the next round of Champions League matches in a fortnight.

Perhaps the failure to win in the opening fixtures will create a great drive to perform well in the competition, make the right tactical and personnel choices, and not take any opposition for granted.

 

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