Fabio Capello wasted no time in bashing the quality of Italian football after Lazio’s elimination meant that no Serie A teams remain in the Champions League.
The quarter-final draw takes place on Friday with none of Italy’s teams in the hat and the well-respected coach gave Italian football a bit of a hammering.
“The quality and intensity of Italian football is extremely low,” Capello said in the Sky Sport Italia studio after Wednesday night’s round of fixtures.
“We have seen four matches in two days and the sides that won all played with quality and intensity…we don’t play with courage [in Italy] and we can’t cope against teams that offer something more.”
Capello went on to praise German coaches and teams and the way in which they play, bringing into question the tactics deployed by Serie A clubs.
“Like with Thomas Tuchel [Chelsea coach] and Bayern [Munich],” he continued. “It’s amazing what we saw with Bayern, the way that all the players track back. Chelsea did this in a spectacular manner too.
“You can see that there’s something different [compared to Italian teams] and I don’t know if it’s the German coaches who offer a little more. Maybe they transmit a different mentality.
“I don’t know if they do something extra in training but we can see that the players give everything for their teams, but with a superior quality.”
However, Capello wasn’t done yet and in drawing comparison to Serie A, he singled out Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo in particular.
“Take Cristiano Ronaldo for example,” Capello said. “He’s brilliant but he doesn’t want to track back and help his team. The other teams all do it they all work for one another.”
