From the Pinnacle of European football to One of the most undesirable: Serie A
From one of the most desirable destinations to one of the least, the fall in grace of Serie A.
Boasting of star like Platini, Maradona,
Real Madrid might be the club with most Champions league trophies but the amount of money which has been spent to achieve the success is not even comparable to the second placed AC Milan. Serie A collectively holds the record for the most appearances in European Cup Finals and AC Milan is touted as the most successful club in the history of the game.
The height and success of Serie A was undoubtedly spearheaded by Arrigo Sacchi's AC Milan who were a rampant force then in the 80's and 90's as the club dominated and almost won every competition they'd take part in. With Paolo Maldini, Billy Costacurta, and Franco Baresi in defense and Dutch superstars Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, and Marco Van Basten in the attack for them, the side won three Champions Leagues and put together the largest victory to date in a Champions League Final drubbing against Barcelona with a final scoreline of 4-0.
It was a decade where the Serie A teams seemed unconquerable for other European counterparts. In the 90's Milan, Sampdoria, and Juventus combined to appear in an impressive eight out of ten European Cup Finals in that decade. Since then Milan won their last Champions league trophy in 2007 and Inter Milan in 2010.
For all the good aspects of Serie A as a league there is a equally bad aspects. The bribery scandal and the fixing scandal where current Champions Juventus were relegated to Serie B. Milan never recovered from the loss of Carlo Ancelotti and the last ray of hope was Mourinho's
Inter side who went on to win the Treble since then no Italian side has managed to go past the Quarter final stage. Their Champions league quota has been reduced from four to three and might even be reduced to two next year as Napoli failed to beat Bilbao in the qualifiers in the group stage.
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