Can Italian Teams Cut It in the CL This Year?

February 16th, 2011 | by: Julian | Comments Off

As of the time I’m writing this, Milan have lost the first leg of their CL tie against Tottenham 1-0 at home. Roma are playing Shakhtar later today, with Inter due to play Bayern very soon. Can an Italian team repeat what Inter did last year, or even make it past the round of 16?

For Milan, it’s looking like an uphill battle. Losing at home is quite a feat to overcome, and Tottenham will be buoyed by the fact that they merely have to not lose to progress. Allegri’s side have to travel away to England and get a result, which in recent years has been quite impossible for most Italian sides, but especially Milan. They haven’t beaten an English team since Liverpool and their last trophy win in 2007.

Roma are in a dreadful run of form and go into the game against the Ukraine side low on confidence. Julio Sergio is also out for the game, and the capital side look to be in quite a bad position in the league. That could affect both form and morale, but possibly in either direction. Are the team extra motivated, knowing that this may be a chance for silverware this year (a slim chance, but still…)? Or do they merely want to reach 4th in the league even at the cost of this year in the CL?

Inter are in the best position, perhaps. They’ve defeated Bayern in recent times and definitely have the deepest squad of the three Italian sides left. On the other hand, they have the toughest draw as well, as the German team are never pushovers in the Champions’ League, despite a rather down year in the Bundesliga.

So which of the three sides will progress, if any?

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