Torino will be in Sweden tomorrow to play IF Brommapojkarna in the Europa League third qualifying round, first leg. This match marks Torino’s return to Euro club competitions after several years in limbo.
Bar for a brief participation in the 2002 Intertoto Cup – a low-key summer competition that was eventually shelved – the last time Torino made a showing on the continent was on March 15, 1994.
On that day, a Tony Adams goal knocked Torino out of the Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals at Highbury as Arsenal eventually went on to claim the title.
After that, the Maroons lost their stride on and off the field of play.
The club changed ownership several times and the team were relegated on four occasions, spending 10 years in all outside the top flight.
Due to serious financial difficulties, Torino went through bankruptcy proceedings in the summer of 2005 just after their promotion to the Serie A.
The seven-times Italy champions had to start all over again with the formation of a new board led by current supremo Urbano Cairo who finally brought some stability into the club.
This time in 2013, few had fancied Torino’s chances of winning a berth in the Europa League, particularly at the expense of more quoted sides like Milan. After all, the year before Giampiero Ventura’s side had only avoided relegation by a whisker.
But, it was a different story in 2013/14 as Torino were off to a great start only to drop valuable points in games they should have won.
Eventually, they did manage to stem the tide as the campaign progressed.
Then, on the final day of the season, Torino needed to beat Fio-rentina to make sure of finishing sixth and claim the last-available Europa League spot. However, Ventura’s side could only draw 2-2 as Alessio Cerci missed a penalty deep into stoppage time.
Parma leapfrogged Torino into sixth place but they were not granted a UEFA licence due to financial irregularities. The Euro slot thus went to Ventura’s team.
Torino have not won a major trophy since the Coppa Italia of 1993 but they have shown steady progress over the last three years when Ventura took over.
With him in charge, Torino immediately won promotion to the Serie A after three consecutive seasons in the doldrums of the lower league.
Euro debut
Tomorrow, Ventura, 66, will be making his debut in Euro club competitions.
He has a knack for developing talented players and under his wings, Cerci, Ciro Immobile and Matteo Darmian all blossomed to become top quality players.
Cerci started at Roma, Immobile came through the Juventus ranks whereas Darmian kicked his first ball at Milan’s youth system.
None of the three, however, were allowed enough space to prosper and it was only at Torino that they were finally given the opportunity to prove themselves.
Last season, the trio took the Serie A by storm and they were rewarded for their efforts by being included in Italy’s squad for the World Cup finals.
This summer, Immobile, the 2013-14 Serie A top scorer, joined Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth over €19m.
Winger Cerci is also thought to be on the verge of leaving with Milan and Monaco being among the front-runners to acquire his services. If Cerci goes, Duvan Zapata (Napoli), Haris Sferovic (Real Sociedad) and Facundo Ferreyra (Shakhtar Donetsk) have already been pencilled as suitable replacements.
Wing-back Darmian is set to stay unless a club comes forward with a financial offer which Torino cannot refuse.
So far, Torino have kept their squad largely unchanged.
But they did well to add a group of upcoming players, including Vlada Avramov (Cagliari), Pontus Jansson (Malmo), Gaston Silva (Defensor Sporting), Marco Benassi (Inter), Juan Sanchez Mino (Boca Juniors) and Ruben Perez (Atletico Madrid), among others.
The onus to plug the huge gap left by Immobile will fall on veteran striker Fabio Quagliarella – himself a Torino academy product.
Antonio Nocerino, formerly of Milan, will add much needed steel in midfield whereas ex-Juventus left-back Christian Molinaro is a valuable addition to Ventura’s preferred 3-5-2 playing module.