Remembering Football Italia and the Serie A of the 90s.

Memories of Gazzetta Football Italia and the great players of Serie A

When I first started this website, I had a few articles that I had written, one from an old friend ranting about F1 and a handful of interviews. It was only after I launched that I realised I needed a lot more than 15-20 articles if I were going to make anything of it.

It took me a while to find writers, and at that point, I had no idea of the direction of the site, only that I wanted to publish more content.

One of the first pieces that I paid for was, however, one of my favourites. About the potential resurrection of Serie A, after a period of ups and downs in the early and mid-2000s. It could be said that this piece started the whole thing off.

Bribery scandals, a dip from the National team, ageing superstars and not having the funds of their English or Spanish rivals had left the league feeling a bit lacklustre. It may or may not be back to near its best. Aside from Juventus and Napoli, the other big names in Italian Football are still struggling on the major European Stage, but that is for another day.

I wanted to write about the fond memories I have of Serie A. How much I loved tuning into Channel 4 and Gazzetta Football Italia, what a show.

The players then seemed like gods from another Football planet. We have the bustling industry and power of Alan Shearer, the grace and mercurial talents of Cantona, but they had Vialli, Baggio, Mancini and more.

Stand Out Players

There are so many to mention, but without doing a lot of searching, and simply pulling on memories that are still bright, vivid and real, these are the players I remember most.

Gianluca Vialli

Way before he came to Chelsea, Vialli was a player I admired in the Black and White of Juventus. He was pretty pacey, sharp and had a swagger to his finishing. More than his playing talent alone, he had an attitude that exuded confidence and simply looked like he was born to play football.

He also had the ever-present goatee, which at the time was pretty cool.

Alessandro Del Piero

He was pretty young when I first started watching Italian football, but again, the black and white shirt was made for him. He was also about the most Italian-looking person you could imagine and had a knack for scoring clutch, important goals.

This is something else I remember from that era, big goals, celebrated wildly, crowds going bonkers. Maybe it is because we criticise in such microscopic detail now, but the joy of scoring has been lost to sentiment such as ‘They should be leading with how much they’ve spent’ or ‘One shot on goal and one goal, totally against the run of play’. The joy of the goal, its value as sporting currency, is not as high to me as it was back then.

Gabriel Batistuta

Long hair, multi-skilled and full of expression, ‘Batigol’ was one of the best strikers in Europe throughout his whole career. At the time, Fiorentina was a team challenging the established order of things in Serie A, and he was the spearhead. He also scored some memorable European Goals, not least one at Wembley against Arsenal.

Batistuta 1 Arsenal 0

Paolo Maldini

The guy might be still playing somewhere I’m sure. He was an absolute machine and certainly one of the very best players in European History. 647 games for AC Milan and 126 Caps for Italy between across 3 decades tell you all you need to know. Now the technical director at Milan, and part-owner of Miami FC in the USL, must be a candidate for a big managerial role one day if he wants it.

What’s next for Serie A

Perhaps finally, Maldini’s old team AC Milan are ready to re-take the Italian throne. Sports betting websites make them favourites for Serie A 2021, but will the league ever be able to re-create the glamour and notoriety of the ’90s?

It is unlikely as things stand. The Premier League has done an extraordinary job of monetising its product around the World, in a far more effective way than any other league in world football. As such, the money flows towards England, and therefore so do the worlds best players. English clubs seem to pick off young talent now before it has time to flourish and prove itself, and agents are looking to get the best possible signing on fees they can for their clients.

With Amazon circling, the possibility of yet more money coming into the Premier League is highly possible, but is there a way that Serie A can also get in on the act? Perhaps AC Milan winning the league and stirring some old memories would be the way forward.