The opening three-day stretch of the Champions League closes with one win, one draw, and two losses. When the level rises, Italian teams struggle.
We were looking for early signs as the Champions League kicked off, with matches spread from Tuesday to Thursday providing the first real test for Italian clubs in Europe. Unfortunately, those signs weren’t exactly encouraging.
Atalanta were swept aside with ease by PSG (4-0). Napoli fought valiantly but lost away to Manchester City, playing almost the entire game with 10 men (2-0). Juventus narrowly avoided a home defeat against Dortmund, scoring at the very last moment after being down by two goals with just minutes to go.
The only full three points came courtesy of Inter, who beat Ajax 2-0 on the road thanks to yet another brace from Marcus Thuram, now the undisputed star of Simone Inzaghi’s side.
So, one victory from four games, and an even more worrying stat: two heavy losses and one near-defeat salvaged only at the very end. Admittedly, the level of competition was extremely high — especially for Atalanta and Napoli — with Inter facing the only theoretically manageable opponent. Ajax, after all, are far from the heights of their glory days, which explains why the lone Italian win came in Amsterdam.
That’s not to diminish Inter’s achievement — a Champions League win away from home always carries weight — but the first clear takeaway from this opening stretch is simple: when the level rises, Italian teams still struggle.
Napoli deserve an asterisk here. No team in Europe can afford to go a man down against Guardiola’s City and expect to escape unscathed. But the performances of Atalanta and Juventus were more telling, showing that there’s still a long road ahead for Italian football.
Inter will face a tougher test later, but for now, the schedule is extremely favorable for coach Cristian Chivu. The next opponents? Slavia Prague, Union SG, and Kairat — games they’re expected to win comfortably. In fact, until November 26, when Inter travel to face Atletico Madrid, the path looks more than manageable.
Atalanta also won’t face any European giants in their next three matches, taking on Club Brugge, Slavia Prague, and Marseille in their bid to collect crucial points in the single-league group format.
But beware — Brugge already shocked Atalanta last season by eliminating them from European competition and opened this year’s campaign with a stunning 4-1 win over Monaco. Meanwhile, Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille have ambitions of joining Europe’s elite and even pushed Real Madrid to the limit in their opening match at the Bernabéu.
Juventus will next play Villarreal, Real Madrid, and Sporting Lisbon. Aside from Madrid, the fixtures aren’t at the highest level, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be easy.
Napoli, meanwhile, have their next trio of games against Sporting, PSV, and Qarabag. In many ways, Napoli’s Champions League campaign truly begins on October 1, when they host Sporting at the Maradona.
If the promising signs from the 20 minutes of 11-vs-11 football at the Etihad are confirmed, Napoli could emerge as a genuine contender — perhaps the only Italian team capable of going toe-to-toe with Europe’s elite.
On our portal SMIT you can find match reports for all the Champions League games featuring Italian teams.
This weekend, full coverage of Serie A action.
Follow SMIT on our official Instagram page for more updates.
L’articolo One Out of Four proviene da Soccer Made In Italy.
