"A retirement league" is how at the start of the football season the English papers described the Serie A.

Just a few months later, the UEFA website was running an article titled Inter Victory Restores Italian Pride. It read, "Italy have joined Spain as the joint-most successful country in European Champion Clubs' Cup history after FC Internazionale triumphed 2-0 in Madrid - the 12th final won by a Serie A side. Before tonight's showdown at the Santiago Bernabéu, Spain had lifted the trophy 12 times, one more than both Italy and England, but Inter's defeat of FC Bayern München took Italy level with the Liga clubs at the top."

So, a team from the league dubbed "the retirement league" by English papers won the UEFA Champions League and did so by ousting Barcelona, the reigning European and world club champions, as well as Chelsea, the champions of what the English papers had dubbed, with some tongue in cheek, "the best league in the world".

With 12 Champions League titles, seven Intercontinental Cups and a FIFA Club World Cup to their credit - a score of major trophies - Serie A clubs make the league of the reigning World Champions possibly the best league in the world with something more than hype to show for it.

Looking at the recent history of the Champions League, when clubs from "the best league in the world" are supposed to have dominated European football; we see that two teams each from La Liga and Serie A made it to the finals in the past five years and they carried away two titles each - a 100 per cent success rate.

In the same period, no less than five Premiership teams made it to the finals with only one successful outcome - a disappointing performance if there ever was one.

It seems that the Premiership may be really the best league in the world... of also-rans.