There no doubting that the Italian league has seen some exceptional talent grace its pitches, Maradona, Platini, Zoff, Baresi, Van Basten, the list goes on. For me though, the peak of the Serie A era has to be those heady mid-nineties Sunday afternoons watching Football Italia on channel 4. Fronted by James Richardson and with the dulcet tones of Peter Brackley guiding you through the games, this was Sunday afternoon viewing before the Sky Sports revolution came to my house.
Even now, rolling off the names of the marquee players brings a smile and shouts of approval when discussing the classic era in the pub. Players like Gabriel Batistuta, Manuel Rui Costa, Luis Oliveira, Atillio Lombardo, Sinisa Mijajlovic (possibly the greatest left foot of the era), Marecelo Salas, Ivan Zamorano (the man with the 1+8 shirt when Ronaldo joined Inter), Ronaldo, Roberto Mancini, Angelo Peruzzi, Zinedine Zidane. Every Sunday afternoon the provided technique, flair and skill in what was, at the time, arguably the best league in the world. At the time, to draw an Italian team in the Champions League was something you'd try to avoid at all cost.
The show and its Saturday morning highlights package 'Gazzetta' began to falter in viewing figures, channel 4 first reacted by moving 'Gazetta' to the early hours before eventually dropping the show completely in the 02/03 season.
Along with dwindling viewing figures, the talent pool in the Italian league also began to take a hit. No longer where the top teams a force in the European games, and no longer where the biggest names in world football gracing the pitches up and down the boot shaped country. Fiorentina's bankruptcy and the match-fixing scandal which rocked the football world also took its toll as the balance of power shifted to the Premier League and La Liga.
There did remain a key core of players with obvious quality who steadied the ship during these dark years, Del Piero, Maldini, Nedved, Buffon, Zanetti and Totti to name but a few. These players are now presiding over something of a renaissance in the last couple of seasons. Not a transfer window goes by without the rumour mill linking the starlets of Seria A with the biggest teams around the world. Players like Alexis Sanchez, the subject of most of the speculation in recent weeks, and for my money one of the most exciting prospects in world football (if you get the time to youtube what this guy can do it is well worth it). There are many others, Javier Pastore, the Argentinian at Palermo is another who has the ability to change a game in the blink of an eye, Ezequiel Lavezzi who despite being crazy as the day is long is an exceptional talent, the youngster Davide Santon at Inter and Alexandre Pato at city rivals AC Milan to name but a few.
This wave of fresh air has coincided nicely with ESPN picking up the rights to Italian football in the UK and once again the youth of the UK can enjoy the fruits of Serie A. The future looks bright in Italy though, and if this kind of talent keeps on coming through...I may be having to spend extra money getting ESPN connected up to my flat...
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