QUOTE (Danny @ Oct 23 2014, 01:07 AM)
Juventus just don't have CL DNA inside them. However well they may play at CL level they just don't know how to win.
I've preached this for years, and as Han knows, I got abused elsewhere for saying it. By Milan fans! But, the results bear my view out.
They just don't know how to do CL.
And the fact they're actually not very good at at doesn't help - further evidence of the decline of Serie A in CL. Milan aside.
Serie A lost its fourth CL seating for a reason, that reason is evident for the past 15 years. Whereby Milan was the only notable 'constant' from Italy. Even at EL (uefa cup) level, Italian teams never really ventured past the early knockouts in that same period.
Fundamental Perspective: On the upside, let us look at how the German teams fared over the course of the same period. How competitive were they in collecting European coefficient points? How long did it take? How did the WC2006 play a role in advancing the Bundesliga to its status these days? Think the answer to all these queries is simple, the German government invested in this sector directly and indirectly over the course of the past 15 years lets say.
Macroeconomic Perspective: It is also important to note Italy as a country has regressed significantly, to the extent that it rivals Spain, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal in the deficit its respective governments is running on. To this very day, Germany and to an extent the UK(or London in particular) has done better coming out of the recession of 2007-9 in comparison.
Is it a coincidence Italian football is where it is? The government needs to allocate funds to invest in a European Cup or World Cup. In 1990 the Italian gov't funded the WC and promoted the Italian game. It is not a spontaneous spark of when you spend money, but how. Italians surely, as proven historically, have the know-how, they just do not have a gov't as healthy as that of England or Germany to help 'promote' the domestic league.
And that is in a nutshell of what I believe is going on. Will Milan surprise? Well, Athletico Madrid did and that is enough of a confirmation to what we can aspire to become given the right circumstances.