Italy teams stutter in Europe

Italian football has lost most of its allure on the continental scene and the country’s coefficient in the UEFA rankings also suffered a slump lately following a dismal run by Serie A teams in international competitions.

Last season, Inter helped the country regain some lost pride by beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in Madrid. But, apart from that, there was little to shout about as Spain, England and Germany are averaging better results overall.

Last week, the seven Serie A teams in UEFA competitions had a dismal showing. Indeed, it was a tough week for the tifosi as Inter were the only victorious side whereas Europa League hopefuls, Juventus and Napoli, bagged the other two ‘positive’ results in drawn stalemates.

Inter hosted Tottenham at the San Siro and started like a house on fire, opening a 4-0 lead after barely 35 minutes with the Londoners reduced to ten men following the early dismissal of goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.

But Inter let complacency creep inside their game after the break and Tottenham started coming more and more into the picture. Gareth Bale scored three times past a startled Inter team and it’s anybody’s guess what would have happened had the visitors had more time available following the Welshman’s third goal in stoppage time.

Now, Inter should not encounter any particular difficulties to qualify from Group A. As things stand, the cup holders lead with seven points – three ahead of Tottenham and five above Twente and Werder Bremen.

Inter require three points from their remaining three fixtures – away to Tottenham, home to Twente and away to Werder Bremen.

Roma and Milan were also in action in the Champions League but their position is not as healthy as that of Inter.

Roma misfired badly so far in Group E. The three points collected from their first three outings – of which two played at home – epitomise their disappointing start to the Euro campaign.

Bayern Munich are on a perfect score whereas Roma, Basel and Cluj each have three points. To reach the knock-out stages, Claudio Ranieri’s men have no option other than to beat Bayern at home and win at least one of their remaining two away fixtures.

In Group G, Milan stand a fairly better chance than Roma because they still have to cross swords with Ajax at home on the final day.

In this group, Real Madrid are the leaders with maximum points. Milan and Ajax have four each whereas Auxerre are still pointless.

Juventus and Napoli still have to record their first win in the Europa League group stages.

In Group A, Juve have drawn against Lech Poznan, Man. City and Salzburg. In Group K, Napoli shared the spoils with Utrecht, Steaua Bucharest and Liverpool.

City are favourites to top Group A. The remaining qualifying spot is up for grabs though with Juventus (three points) and Lech Poznan (four) being the main contenders. In this regard, the Lech Poznan-Juventus fixture, on December 1, should be decisive.

If Juve have the luxury of playing two of their remaining three fixtures at home, the same cannot be said of Napoli, who still have to travel to Liverpool and Utrecht.

Group K is very balanced with Liverpool currently leading with five points, whereas Napoli and Utrecht have three each and Steaua two.

Palermo need to up their game if they are to qualify from Group F.

The Sicilians have been rather erratic so far and their only moment of triumph has been the narrow home win over Lausanne.

Palermo currently trail CSKA Moscow by six points and Sparta Prague by one.

Delio Rossi’s men simply cannot afford to lose again against CSKA next week. To stand a chance of qualifying, the Sicilians also need to beat Sparta at home in December.

In Group I, Sampdoria have a similar daunting task to qualify.

Up to now, Mimmo Di Carlo’s side have drawn against PSV away and beaten Debrecen at the Marassi.

Last week, Samp suffered their first upset as they were beaten by Metalist Kharkiv 1-2 in Ukraine.

Samp need to win their upcoming back-to-back home fixtures against Metalist and PSV to really stand a chance of qualifying.

Serie A statistics

0 wins for Parma since beating Brescia 2-0 on the opening day as on Sunday they held on to a 0-0 home draw with Roma. All Parma have to show from their last seven outings are four draws. Udinese continued to improve as they registered their third straight win – vs Cesena 1-0, Brescia 1-0 and Palermo 2-1. Genoa recorded their second successive home win thanks to a narrow success over Catania.

2 of the three penalties awarded by referees last weekend were missed. Juve’s Vincenzo Iaquinta saw his 36th-minute effort blocked by Bologna keeper Emiliano Viviano. Lecce’s David Di Michele hit the bar against Brescia. Elsewhere, Antonio Di Natale doubled Udinese’s lead from the penalty spot against Palermo. Meanwhile, three players – Andrea Coda (Udinese), Steve von Bergen (Cesena) and Michele Pazienza (Napoli) – were sent off.

7 points separate Juventus from leaders Lazio. In their last outing, Juve could only manage a 0-0 draw at Bologna to continue to drop points away from home. Cesena’s freefall knows no ends as they were beaten by Chievo. The Serie A newcomers have only collected one point from the last available 15. Fiorentina bounced back from successive upsets to Palermo and Sampdoria with a 2-1 home success over Bari.

12 years had to pass for Milan to conquer Napoli’s San Paolo again as the Rossoneri remained within sights of leaders Lazio with a 2-1 win. Inter dropped two crucial points as they were held by Sampdoria at home for the second year running. Samp have last left the San Siro with the three points in December 1996 (4-3).

21 goals were scored on the eighth day: 13 coming from the hosts and the remaining eight from the visitors. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 189. Chievo’s Roberto Guana committed the only own goal of the day. Samuel Eto’o (Inter) tops the scorers’ list with seven goals.