Inter and Juventus both failed their test at Europe’s top tier during the week, with fairly comprehensive losses to Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.
That’s the view of today’s print edition of Milan’s Gazzetta dello Sport, which notes that Napoli are the only one of Italy’s four Champions League teams to score positive this week.
The Partenopei’s surprising 4-1 demolition of last season’s Champions League finalists Liverpool was certainly a bright spot for the fortunes of Serie A sides in Europe’s top competition.
However, Italian champions AC Milan only managed an unconvincing draw against Red Bull Salzburg, while it was even worse for Inter and Juventus.
In the Bianconeri’s case, the second-half improvements weren’t enough to avoid a 2-1 loss to PSG on Tuesday, and in truth the Parisians could have scored more goals in both halves.
Meanwhile, for the Nerazzurri it was perhaps worst of all, as they very clearly faced the quality chasm between them and one of Europe’s true elites in the form of Bayern Munich, and the 2 -0 does not flatter the Bavarians for their performance. .
Questions about the relative quality of Italy’s top flight compared to Europe’s other top leagues received little positive response from Inter and Juventus screens, while the impressive 4-2 win from Lazio on Feyenoord contrasted with the other team from the Italian capital falling bitterly. 0-1 defeat against Ludogorets.
Fiorentina’s disappointing draw at home to Latvian side FK Rigas Futbola Skola capped off what was, with few exceptions, a fairly uninspiring performance by Serie A sides in their first European outings this season.
