World champions they may be, but Italy is feeling a chill in its domestic game as the country’s glamour clubs suffer a potentially devastating slump.
Last week’s European action brought home a very uncomfortable truth that the Italians, considered the continental driving force in the 1990s, are no longer sitting at the head of the table.
In three clashes against English opposition, Italy’s three Champions League representatives failed to score a goal, suffered two defeats and only some profligate Manchester United finishing, coupled with heroic goalkeeping from Julio Cesar, allowed Inter Milan to buck the losing trend.
To make matters even worse, three of Italy’s four UEFA Cup sides went crashing out with AC Milan, Fiorentina and Sampdoria eliminated, leaving only northern side Udinese to progress to the last 16.
If Udinese fail to get past holders Zenit St Petersburg in the next round, Italy could well find itself without a single team in the quarter-finals of either European competition.
It’s a far cry from the glory days of the 1990s.
First, the Spanish and now the dominant English, thanks to the mega-rich Premier League, have streaked past.
For the second year in a row, every Italian team that made it through to the Champions League knockout stages faces elimination by an English foe.
And once again, it has been the failure to score goals that has cost them dearly.
Last year AC Milan lost 2-0 on aggregate and Inter Milan 3-0 to Arsenal and Liverpool respectively at this stage.
Roma made it into the last eight but they lost home and away to Manchester United for a 3-0 aggregate defeat.
Taking those clashes between English and Italian teams from the knockout stages last year and the first-leg ties this year, that makes nine matches played, two drawn, seven lost, no goals scored and 10 conceded for the Italians.
It makes for sorry reading.
But it used to be so different in the 1990s, particularly when there were three European competitions.
From 1989, when Italy had a team in all three finals - winning the European and UEFA Cups but not the European Cup Winners’ Cup - they embarked on a decade of domination.
A year later four of the six European finallists were Italian and they carried home all three trophies.
In the European Cup/Champions League, Italy had a finalist in nine of 10 finals from 1989 to 1998, winning four and losing five.
In the UEFA Cup, which was occasionally deemed a tougher competition because up to four clubs from the same country could compete in it, Italy’s domination was even more apparent.
In the 11 seasons from 1989 to 1999, Italian teams won the competition eight times, providing four all-Italian finals and failing to make the final only once.
However, since 1999, when the Cup Winners’ Cup was ditched with Lazio as the final winners and Parma beat Marseille in the UEFA Cup final, it has been a steady decline for Italian teams.
Having dominated the UEFA Cup from 1989 to 1999, they have failed to qualify a single team for the final ever since, and with only Udinese left in it this season, that run looks likely to continue for another 12 months.
In the Champions League, their decline has been less profound, although only thanks to AC Milan.
They have reached three finals in the last decade, winning two of them while Juventus lost the 2003 final to Milan on penalties.
But in the same period four different English teams, and three Spanish, have reached finals.
And perhaps more significantly, English teams have been in the finals in each of the last four seasons, including last year’s all-English affair between Manchester United and beaten finalists Chelsea.
