Paris Saint-Germain removed a big thorn in the side of French football last season by winning the Champions League. Often mocked, rightly so, for their performances in European Cups, with a last title in 1993 thanks to Olympique de Marseille, French clubs are no longer the ugly ducklings of the Old Continent. And Strasbourg’s qualification for the semi-finals of the Conference League also goes in this direction.
No, France is no longer mocked. And the torch was happily passed to Italy. After their non-qualification (the third in a row) for the 2026 World Cup, Italian football has cleaned up a bit with the departures of several executives from the Federation. But the hangover is still very present, with the transalpine clubs scoring 0 in European cups.
Fiorentina and Bologna swept away
In the three competitions (Champions League, Europa League and Conference League), no Italian club will be present in the semi-final. If the cause was heard for the C1, with the very early eliminations of Juventus, Inter and Atalanta, the last two competitions could have brought a little happiness to the other side of the Alps. In vain.
Already soundly beaten respectively by Aston Villa and Crystal Palace in England, Bologna and Fiorentina were unable to catch up at home on Thursday evening and were therefore eliminated at the gates of the last four. How far away it seems, this year 2023, where five Italian clubs were present in the semi-final (AC Milan, Inter, Juventus, AS Roma and Fiorentina).
The crisis continues
According to OptaPaolo, “Italy has no club qualified for the semi-finals of European competitions for the first time since the 2018-2019 season (when the Conference League did not exist). Considering only seasons with three major European competitions, this has not happened since 1986-1987. »
This did not escape the Italian press, which was keen to rub salt in the wound: “The masters of Europe have changed, ours is a precarious balance. On Thursday, Bologna and Fiorentina were the last to leave us. We are eliminated from everything. Like the national team, writes Fabio Licari in the Gazzetta dello Sport. None of our matches escaped this impression of inferiority. We have no club in the semi-finals of three cups. »
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