Who Can Win the CL This Year? Italian Clubs, That’s Who!

First off, Juve tied the second leg of their CL qualifier 1-1, putting them through on a 5-1 aggregate. Both goals were pretty amazing stuff, especially Artmedia’s goal (Which was their only goal of both legs). This result means that Juve are officially back in the Champions League. Along with Inter and Roma, they’ll be in the draw for the group stages come September. Now hopefully Fiorentina can hold onto their 2 goal lead and follow suit tomorrow.

Thumbs up Juve for getting back into Europe. Now make Italy proud.

And I gotta say, I’m really pumped for Italian teams in the CL this year. Every team has at least one aspect about them which should drive them to success. Realistically, it might be tough (more on that in a sec) but if there’s a couple magical soccer nights of good luck… we could easily see an Italian team in the Stadio Olympico next May, bringing the trophy home to Italia.

Team by team, here’s my preview of Italian clubs in the CL.

Inter. Inter finally have a manager who’s tactically astute. They’ve had players capable enough of bringing the CL to them for years (C’mon-Figo, Ibra, Crespo… they have a strong squad and great depth). And if you ask me, the single most important player in big competitions is the goalie. In Julio Cesar, Inter have not only one of the best goalies in Italy but probably one of the best in the world. And as far as coaches go, JM is one of the most winning in the world, considering his age. Mourinho has been to the semifinals twice with Chelsea, and there’s no reason why Inter shouldn’t get that far this year. As I said, they have both the players and coach to do it.

But on the negative side… everyone’s expecting Inter to go far. They don’t have the luxury of being an underdog now that they have Mourinho. There’s a huge amount of pressure and if they get knocked out early, who knows what crazy shit Moratti’s gonna pull.

Roma. I’m a Roma fan so this might sound a bit biased, but Roma play some of the nicest footy around. They’re slowly starting to be able to grind out results too (something every team needs to know how to do, cause you just can’t win every game by a ton of goals). They brought in Baptista and Riise, two players who are familiar with big teams and big games. But the single most important reason why they could go far- they play knowing that the final is in their home stadium. It’s an extra incentive that could push them to go farther than they’d normally be able to. Plus, Spalletti’s their coach and he’s a genius.

Negatives: They’ve been fairly consistent in recent years in the CL, getting into the quarterfinals but not past it. The drubbing at the hands of Man U might still linger on their minds, and if it does the fear could prevent them from reaching their potential. And they don’t have the pedigree and have never really been that far in Europe in recent years, but hey. Try telling that to 2004’s Porto.

Juve. I think Juve are the most suited to go far in the CL. They still have the players that were great in Europe prior to Calciopoli- guys like Buffon, Trez, Del P. They’ve strengthened considerably over the summer, bringing in Amauri and recalling guys like Giovinco. They also have the single best goalie in the world in Buffon. Finally, they’re Juve. They never give up and they think they can win everything, which is the right mentality for huge games.

And while that’s all great, they still have a few weaknesses. One, their real world class guys are much older than they were last time they were in the CL. Par exemplum, Del P still has it, but he’s also 33. Plus, they’ve done a great job since 2006, going from Serie B to the CL in one season, but was it too much too fast? We’ll find out this year.

I won’t do Fiorentina until tomorrow, when we’ll know for sure whether or not they’re in. (I don’t wanna jinx it by doing a preview and them having them lose. Not only would it suck but it’d be a waste of time.) But what do you guys think?