The Farcical Juventus Points Debacle Proves Calcio Is Not Back

When Serie A produced six European quarter finalists at the end of last month, the league rather smugly produced a video package proclaiming ‘calcio is back’.

The video, lasted all of a minute and included Italian legends Fabio Capello, Luca Toni and Fabio Cannavaro inside a theatre with the familiar tones of Nessuna Dorma gently playing in the background. Cannavaro, Toni and Capello were then shown sitting in their seats gazing at Juventus, Roma, Milan, Inter, Napoli and Fiorentina in action.

Even with the narrator comically stating that Italy had ‘six teams in Europe’s last eight’ (it was six from 24, in case your math is a little shaky these days), it was still an impressive feat for a country and a league which had barely any teams remaining in Europe come the spring over the last few years.

The releasing of the video, no doubt meant with good intentions, was faced with scorn by anyone even remotely familiar of Italian football’s recent history. One good season in Europe doesn’t magically equate a return to the glory days, when Serie A dominated Europe to an extent never seen before by a single league. Coefficient wise, it has admittedly been Italy’s best ever season in European competition, and their best effort since 2014/15. Italy will overtake Germany and reclaim third spot ahead of next season, with La Liga also in sight.

Yet this season has shown that calcio is indeed ‘not back’. In fact, it’s as chaotic and farcical as ever. A month after Juventus had their 15-point deduction overturned for over inflating transfer fees, the club has now been hit with a fresh 10-point deduction, which was handed down less than an hour before Juve’s match away to Empoli.

The fact that any sentence was metered out during the season, let alone subsequently having it overturned and a new one given out, all within the space of six months in a 10-month season, makes a mockery of the league and causes significant damage to an already damaged brand.

Napoli were always going to win the league this season, that much was obvious as early as mid-September. Luciano Spalletti’s side were superior tactically and technically to the rest of the division and had a settled side wherein every knew their role, but it can hardly be denied that Juve’s initial 15 point deduction influenced their season. There’s little doubt that Juve had no chance of winning the Scudetto. Not this iteration of The Old Lady, with Max Allegri’s side playing some of the most turgid football seen in in the club’s recent history.

However, Juve could’ve at least been in a better position to give Napoli more of a challenge than what ultimately transpired. Napoli won the league at a canter, and where a ludicrous 22 points clear of second-placed Inter at one stage. In the end, they won the title with five games to spare. Five.

Allegri was, understandably furious at the timing of the latest penalty, saying: “We accept everything, but I really hope this just gets resolved once and for all. It’s a steady drip, drip, drip, let them just decide where they want Juventus to be, tell us and resolve the issue.

“Its a lack of respect towards people who are working, players & coaches. I am not telling them what to decide, I’m asking them to decide once and for all. It’s incredible. Just incredible. Enough is enough.” Juventus were then demolished 4-1 by Empoli, with the verdict influencing their performance.

Jose Mourinho believes Roma’s final games of the season have also been influenced by Juve’s situation. Asked on the issue in the wake of Roma’s 2-2 draw against Salernitana, Mourinho sided with Allegri and his players.

“It’s a joke to know this with two games remaining,” he told DAZN. “For us and everyone, even for Juventus. Our approach would have been different if we had known before the games with Monza and Bologna. I am sorry for Allegri and his players, but at the league level, I have to say that it changes things a little.”

Asked if the season was distorted, Mourinho had no doubts: “To me, yes, but I no longer want to talk about this. I am sorry for professionals who work like me because they pay for errors that directors and maybe the club did.”

Mourinho rotated Roma for the games with Bologna and Monza in order to preserve his best XI for the Europa League games with Bayer Leverkusen – which up until yesterday was Roma’s best shot of qualifying for the Champions League. Now with Juventus out of the picture, Roma are only four points off Milan with two games remaining. Mourinho also rotated for the Salernitana draw, and had the Juve verdict been delivered prior to the Roma game, it’s likely the Portuguese coach would’ve selected a very different side.

There is a feeling in Italy of the season being ‘falsified’, with the constant subtracting and adding of points to Juve’s total, and therefore the club yo-yo-ing up and down the table, lending a touch of surrealism to the whole thing. On top of the myriad of issues the Italian game is facing, from a systemic failure to tackle racism and league reform to crumbling stadia and inadequately marketing itself abroad, the sheer lack of wherewithal to wait until season’s end to hand out any punishment not only lacks basic intelligence and foresight, but it also further damages the appeal of the league.

Moreover, with the league attempting to sell its next cycle of domestic TV rights, with the stated target of €1.2bn ($1.2bn) per-season for the next half-decade, this current debacle is hardly going to have the likes of Sky Italia, DAZN, Amazon
AMZN
and other potentially interested parties racing to offer Lega Serie A substantial amounts of money to meet that figure.

So while three Italian teams in the three European competitions is great for the league, Serie A’s self esteem and a reminder of the way it used to be, the league’s unrivalled ability to constantly shoot itself in the foot renders any progress futile.

If Juventus are guilty then punishment is deserved, but it should all wait until after the last ball of the season is kicked on June 4. As always with Serie A, it’s one step forward, five steps back.

Calcio is unquestionably not back.