Three Italian teams move on in the Champions League, but none avoid the playoffs: Antonio Conte’s Napoli are out
In the end, three Italian teams go through, and the one left out is the most representative of Italian football itself: Napoli, the reigning champions with the Scudetto on their chest.
The final matchday of the Champions League, with its striking all-at-once format featuring 18 games played simultaneously, delivered the first definitive verdicts of this European season. Inter, Juventus, and Atalanta move on, but all of them will have to go through the playoff gauntlet.
Inter have put together a fairly standard European campaign so far, without real highs. They took care of business against the teams they were expected to beat, but lost the big clashes against Atlético Madrid, Liverpool, and Arsenal.
Up to now, Inter’s Champions League run has lacked standout moments, but it’s fair to hope for a step up in quality now that the season is entering its decisive phase.
Atalanta find themselves in the paradoxical position of having to thank the much-maligned Juric, sacked to make room for Palladino. The Bergamo side finished inside the top 24 largely thanks to the European points stockpiled under their former coach.
The schedule had handed Atalanta a huge opportunity to qualify directly for the round of 16, with home and away games against Athletic Bilbao and Union SG in their final two fixtures. Four points would have been enough to avoid the playoffs; instead, Palladino’s side suffered two poor defeats. A massive missed opportunity.
Juventus under Spalletti could do no better than a goalless draw away at Monaco on the final matchday. No real damage done, since even a win would not have been enough, on the numbers, to secure direct qualification to the round of 16. Like Inter’s, Juve’s Champions League campaign has yet to truly take off, with hopes that the knockout rounds can finally bring the big performances that were missing in the league phase.
With a tennis-style bracket already largely mapped out, the draw will now settle the final details regarding the Italians’ next opponents, but the range of possibilities is extremely limited.
Inter could be drawn against either Mourinho’s Benfica or surprise package Bodø/Glimt, with the prospect of facing either Manchester City or Sporting in the round of 16.
Atalanta could immediately run into either Borussia Dortmund or Olympiacos, with the certainty that, even if they advance, the round of 16 would be a Mission Impossible scenario against either Arsenal or Bayern Munich.
Juventus could be drawn against Club Brugge or Galatasaray, while keeping one eye on the round of 16 to see whether City or Sporting await on their side of the bracket.
The certainty is that, should all the Italian sides make it through the playoffs, two of the three possible round-of-16 matchups would be brutal. Atalanta are guaranteed a tough draw, while one between Juventus and Inter will be forced to cross paths with Guardiola’s Manchester City juggernaut.
Looking ahead with ambition and hope (and these days, a touch of recklessness is also required), the Champions League bracket tells us that Juventus and Inter could not meet before a potential all-Italian Final. For now, their duel will only be from a distance, as both are hoping the draw hands them the Sporting Lisbon joker to avoid the City nightmare.
As said, whoever doesn’t draw one will leave it to the other.
The major European disappointment of the season is Antonio Conte’s Napoli. The reigning Italian champions did far too little in the Champions League, and while injuries heavily affected the Neapolitans’ campaign—both domestically and in Europe—continental competitions once again confirm themselves as Conte’s Achilles’ heel.
Napoli’s coach has never found in European cups that definitive consecration among football’s elite that many expected him to achieve sooner or later. There is still time, but the European trophy cabinet of one of the greatest coaches of the last 15 years remains astonishingly empty, with far more failures than successes.
Speaking of managers, one who has always treated Europe like his own backyard is José Mourinho. The final matchday of the Champions League league phase produced the most extraordinary and unbelievable story in Lisbon, where his Benfica defeated Real Madrid, knocking them out of the top eight and forcing them into the playoffs, while securing a sensational place in the knockout phase at the very last gasp.
The ending of Benfica–Real Madrid was pure cinema. All the other matches had already finished, and all eyes were on the Estádio da Luz, where Benfica were leading Real 3–2. A prestige win that still wasn’t enough, as Benfica were 25th, behind Marseille, who were already back in the locker room licking their wounds after a loss to Brugge, ahead on goal difference.
In a frantic finale in Lisbon, Real pushed for the equalizer that would send them straight to the round of 16, while Benfica chased the 4–2 goal that would allow them to leapfrog Marseille and sneak into the playoffs in 24th place.
Real pressed, but Benfica held firm. Then came Benfica’s final assault, deep into stoppage time of stoppage time. A free kick from the attacking third. Mourinho waved his arms and ordered Trubin, his goalkeeper, to come up for the set piece. There was nothing left to defend, and the Special One knew it well. The ball was struck: a prayer that held all of Europe in suspense. Trubin rose highest in the box, beat everyone in the air, and glanced the ball toward goal. Courtois couldn’t reach it. The ball crossed the line.
It happened. Benfica made it 4–2 and clinched a place in the knockout phase. At the very last second. With a goal from their goalkeeper.
Mourinho never disappoints. The Special One truly is, still, the man who makes everything possible—even the impossible—and football is wonderful precisely because all of this can happen, live, in front of a global television audience.
epa12689462 Benfica’s goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin (L) celebrates scoring the 4-2 goal during the UEFA Champions League soccer match between SL Benfica and Real Madrid, in Lisbon, Portugal, 28 January 2026. EPA/JOSE SENA GOULAO
L’articolo Three out of Four proviene da Soccer Made In Italy.
