![]() ![]() The roots of its downfall were always there, camouflaged by the spectacle, the sights and sounds of calcio culture so evocatively portrayed by a sockless, Ray-Banned James Richardson with his pastel cashmere and towering gelati.Įven more than the aural and visual hubbub of matchday, it was the smell that was so intoxicating on the walk from the Metro to San Siro. It is a tale of hubris, corruption, incontinent overspending and stagnation, clubs in fear of their most diehard fans and far too many financial and collusion scandals to detail. Perhaps only Edward Gibbon would do full justice to the story of the decline and fall of Serie A from its six-decade pre-eminence as Europe’s best league to its present inability to compete for top talent. Serie A’s global cachet has long been eclipsed, first by Real Madrid’s Galactico project and then by the Premier League in its ever evolving, goldrush boom.ĭerby fever has taken hold of Milan but this match, forever among the top five must-experience fixtures in world football, has rarely seemed more parochial. ![]() What it will not bring to audiences outside Italy is the glamour the Derby della Madonnina has historically commanded.Įxpatriates plus London Interisti and Milanisti, implacably loyal after being seduced in the heyday of Channel 4’s Football Italia, will throng to their affiliated cafes and bars in Soho, Clerkenwell and Fenchurch Street. Solely Milan has produced two champion clubs, seven to the red half, three to the blue, and when AC Milan host Inter on Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final they will bring all the history, needle and fraternal yearning for supremacy that stews over 114 years and 235 meetings. London, shamefully, has given us merely Chelsea, Glasgow just Celtic, Lisbon only Benfica, while Rome has yet to trouble Uefa’s engraver. Liverpool have six to Everton’s nil and up the road Manchester has three but, until June 10 at least, only United have earned the right to sport stars on their crest. Madrid may have won 14 European Cups but, much to Atletico’s frustration, they are all in the Bernabeu museum. Think of Europe’s great, divided football cities and their achievements on the grandest stage and it looks like monopoly. ![]()
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