LIVERPOOL may have edged past Inter Milan by the narrowest of margins, but the hard work had already been done in the San Siro stadium two weeks earlier. Although over the two legs, Inter played well, even their best wasn’t enough to overcome a Liverpool side that is currently full of confidence and has its eyes on another Champions League title.
On paper – hard currency, that is – Liverpool should be better than Inter, but the Nerazzurri are the Italian champions and they have some outstanding performers in their squad. The harsh reality for the likes of Inter is that English clubs are now too strong for most of their European peers and it is not out of the question that the last eight could include four Premier Leaguers.
There was a time when Italian clubs were feared by English participants in the European Cup and latterly, the Champions League. England’s top sides just couldn’t remove Italy’s clubs from the competition. It wasn’t until 1998-99 that an English club overcome an Italian counterpart from the European Cup/Champions League in the knockout phase. Up until that season, Manchester United, Ipswich Town, Everton, Liverpool, Derby and Aston Villa had all fallen foul of Serie A’s representatives. Sometimes, the games involving teams from England and Italy would come with a dose of controversy, such as Liverpool’s semi-final exit at the hands of Helenio Herrera’s Inter in 1965 and the defeat of Derby, managed by Brian Clough in Turin. The ultra-professionalism of Italian clubs in the 1960s and 1970s often upset the English.
The days when Italian clubs were the last people you wanted to meet have, to a certain degree, gone, although Serie A still has plenty of talent and some well-drilled sides. But from a financial perspective, clubs are carrying a lot of debt and have been making huge losses during the pandemic. This makes them less competitive when it comes to attracting the very best players. In the 2021-22 Champions League, English and Italian teams have clashed eight times and the scorecard is 5-2 to the Premier with one draw.
There are certain similarities between the Premier and Serie A. Over the past five years, seven teams have filled the top six places in Italy (Juve, Inter, Milan, Napoli, Lazio, Atalanta and Roma), while in England, eight teams have made places one to six (City, United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, Leicester and West Ham). For Juve in Italy, there’s Manchester City in England, for Atalanta, read Leicester or West Ham. For Tottenham and Arsenal, you’ve got the Milans and Romans. Both leagues have another 20 clubs who have either flitted in and out of the top flight or spend their time avoiding relegation.
The financial differences are significant and are driven primarily by broadcasting revenues, with the Premier so far ahead of the rest of the world. While the current TV deal for the Premier is £ 4.8 billion over three years, Serie A’s most recent agreement is € 2.8 billion over the same timespan.
In addition, club ownership has become a competitive differentiator for the Premier, with wealthy business people attracted to the UK and the economic potential of its football. Italy has now ventured down this path after being largely owned by Italian business and families, but this has also come with problems, as witnessed at Inter Milan and their Chinese owner Suning. US investors have also become quite interested in Italy and seven current members of Serie A now have US shareholders. Parma, in Serie B, has 99% US ownership.
In the 21st century, Premier League clubs have performed better than Serie A in the Champions League. There have been five winners and eight finalists from England, while Italy has won the competition three times and provided four runners-up. The last winner of the Champions League from Serie A was Inter Milan in 2010, while two of the last three have come from the Premier, Liverpool in 2019 and Chelsea in 2021.
While the club scene seems set for a period of English dominance, the national teams, who met in the European Championship final last year, have very different records. Since 2000, Italy have won the World Cup (2006) and Euros (2020) and finished runners-up in the Euros in 2000 and 2012. England, by contrast, have won nothing since 1966. It would be easy to blame the lack of international success on the cosmopolitan Premier League – Liverpool’s team that won through against Inter included three English players – but Serie A has a higher rate of expatriates, 63.8% versus 59.6% (source: CIES). England and Italy are the two biggest importers of players by some distance.
Inter Milan went the same way as AC Milan and Atalanta, but Juventus are still involved and should make it through to the last eight. Meanwhile, Liverpool and Manchester City are in the quarter-finals and Chelsea and Manchester United have a good chance of joining them. There’s a good chance one of the four may come up against Juventus, which will reignite the rivalry between Italian and English clubs.
GAME OF THE PEOPLE 
This is the part I like :
“Since 2000, Italy have won the World Cup (2006) and Euros (2020) and finished runners-up in the Euros in 2000 and 2012. England, by contrast, have won nothing since 1966”.
So it’s not about being ENGLISH clubs, but clubs that are nominally English that have obscene amounts of money to buy players from everywhere else in the world OTHER THAN ENGLAND.
Comparing truly English vs Italian games through their national results gives you an accurate picture of the capabilities of both. Just think about your last effort… Lucky to make the final, one that was played on home turf and in front of a home crowd – and you were still embarrassed.
Italian football clubs have a long way to go in European tournaments, their performances are hitting below the belts and they need to up their games be it taking more steps in the transfer market moreover they always prefer Italian players