Premier class in 1996: Gianluca Vialli (Juve, right) curves around Rome goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who stretches mightily, in the final, Winston Bogarde (both Ajax) looks on.
Foto: imago images/Colorsport
Ah, Italy… The country that the world has known since Goethe, that lemons bloom there. It was similar with football, which was kicked on the boot more gracefully and successfully than anywhere else. Winning the European Championship last summer has reconciled the Tifosi a little with the fact that Italy has long since left the big circus of club football satisfies the demands that correspond to the successes of a not so long ago past.
Blessed are the memories of the eighties, nineties and early noughties, when nothing was possible without the combined expertise of Turin and Milan. Anyone who was self-respecting back then played for Milan, Inter or Juve, but who remembers that?
The last time an Italian club won the Champions League was in 2010, when Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the Madrid final. This spring, two Italian teams made it into the last 16 of the Champions League. Inter promised a lot and then delivered little in the first leg a week ago at home in San Siro against Liverpool. It ended 2-0 and the Gazzettas and Corrieres were rather amused when Inter coach Simone Inzaghi raved about his team’s fantastic performance.
Italy’s hopes now rest on Juventus, the one and only Vecchia Signora, although a Berlin-based football company is fond of claiming the Old Lady’s label. If there is one thing in common with Hertha BSC, it is that both clubs have seen better days. Juve are nine points behind leaders AC Milan in Serie A. On Friday there was a 1-1 draw against FC in Turin, which is also not an encouraging signal before the round of 16 in the Champions League. On Tuesday they go to the Spanish provinces to FC Villarreal, who can certainly consider themselves favorites because last year they achieved what Juve have been craving for years, namely a win in the European Cup, albeit in the smaller of the two competitions. After a dramatic final victory over Manchester United, the vase that an Italian (!) designer created for the champion of the Europa League sits enthroned in Villareal’s trophy room.
Juve’s European splendor struggles with the patina that lays over the last big success. A quarter of a century ago, the poshest of all Italian clubs was basking on the summit. There was a 4-2 penalty shoot-out against cup holders Ajax Amsterdam at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. After 1985, after the Heysel tragedy, it was the second and last time that Juve ascended the European throne. Since then, five final appearances have been recorded, all of which ended in Turin defeats, most recently with a 1: 4 against Real Madrid almost five years ago.
On that night in May 1996, the Vecchia Signora benefited from having an angel in the gate. Angelo Peruzzi parried two attempts from Amsterdam in the decider. Peruzzi’s heavenly first name has been used for many a pun. “It was a 120-minute race against death,” said Juve’s defender Moreno Torricelli. “But Angelo saved us from hell.” And at home the lemons were blooming, the football flew more gracefully than anywhere else.
Long ago. A quarter of a century later, Juve travel to the Spanish provinces as outsiders.