Champions, Europe and the Conference League: here are the keys to the six Italians

Tomorrow begins for Italian football one of the most intense weeks in recent years. Six teams will be involved in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the European cups. In the Champions League, Inter will play Benfica in Lisbon on Tuesday and will be at the San Siro on Wednesday the derby between Milan and Naples. Thursday space for other tournaments. In the Europa League Juve hosts Sporting and Roma challenge Feyenoord in Rotterdam. In the Conference, however, Fiorentina will take the field in Poznan against Lech. Let’s see what these six teams will have to do and not do to increase their chances of qualifying for the semi-final.

NAPLES

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Password: reset. For the first time, Spalletti’s team will play under pressure. Beyond the coach’s normal attempts to shift attention, it is clear that in that part of the draw Napoli are the big favorites to reach the final. Thanks to what he did during the season, his wonderful football. All so exciting that now it must be forgotten, to propose it again on the same levels of beauty and effectiveness against Milan. Napoli will not have to think, but only play. As Arrigo Sacchi always repeats, the game has no deterioration in form. True, even if there are some aspects to consider. For example, the presence of Osimhen: absolutely fundamental because the Nigerian gives depth and danger to the maneuver. If he doesn’t recover from the injury or if he isn’t at 100%, Napoli would lose a lot. In Lecce, and more generally in the last period, the leaders seemed less fluid: a little tiredness is understandable. But it is precisely in moments like these that the essence of great teams emerges. It’s not the results obtained so far that push Napoli, but tactical knowledge and technical qualities: the present counts, not the past. And Spalletti will rightly insist on this.

MILAN

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Password: lightness. If we stay in Italy, Milan’s season was profoundly negative: never in the running for confirmation of the Italian flag, out in the Italian Cup against Turin, destroyed in the Super Cup by Inter. However, Europe has always been the club’s favorite territory and therefore the Champions League can change the color of this year. The club’s DNA has nothing to do with it: it’s true that Milan has a wonderful international tradition, but the technical level of this squad isn’t up to the level of the groups that lifted the Champions Cup so many times. The reason why the performance was better in the Champions League concerns the lightness with which Milan faced those commitments. By lightness we mean the desire to rediscover last season’s thread without other thoughts: the beauty of that vertical Milan has rarely been seen in the league and when it has happened (for example, in the 4-0 away win against Napoli) the results are arrived. More than DNA, therefore, it is a matter of spirit.

INTER

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Password: compactness. In a season full of contradictions, Inter have shown they can’t make mistakes in the important matches they prepare with extreme care. The double challenge with Barcelona, ​​the crossing with Porto and the Super Cup with Milan are the most obvious examples. The Nerazzurri have great potential that they struggle to express with the continuity that they will hardly acquire by now. And those potentials emerged when there was unity. A tactical compactness, obviously, with the departments helping each other, the players rediscovering the taste for team defense, an attack that hurts the opponents. And also a compactness of the environment, in which everyone rowing on the same side, in which the managers are close to the coach and the players. Benfica are a decidedly strong opponent: certainly Inter won’t underestimate them, but a strange euphoria is perceived outside Appiano Gentile. As if the Nerazzurri were favourites. It’s not like that, a great feat will be needed even though Benfica, after a splendid season, is feeling the first difficult moment. And the feat will only come if there is unity on and off the pitch.

JUVENTUS

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Password: play. Allegri should have the team review the last two matches, against Inter and Lazio, and be clear: if Juve play those performances again against Sporting Lisbon, they will surely be eliminated. It’s true that the Bianconeri were just a few seconds away from winning against Inter, but after having created little and often left the initiative to their opponents. And the first half against Lazio was very negative. Against another Lisbon team, Benfica, this season Juve took two wake-up calls much heavier than the result (1-2 at home, 3-4 away). And the risk of making a bad impression against Sporting, well coached by Ruben Amorin, is much higher than you think. It’s not an unbeatable team, of course, and they’re fourth in Portugal. To eliminate it, Juve must not think about speculating on the episodes. The Bianconeri only need to do one thing: play. Quality is not lacking, it must be brought out not only through individual initiatives, but also with ideas and courage. Waiting doesn’t pay.

ROME

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Password: calm. Feyenoord are strong, stronger than last year when they lost the Conference League final against the Giallorossi. But Rome is also stronger, especially in the head. Mourinho has completed the first part of the work that began in the summer of 2021: now beating his team is really difficult, especially if they take the lead. If he continues his adventure on the Giallorossi bench, the coach will have the obligation to try to propose a different and less speculative game. But for the moment Roma are enjoying the moment (they are third in the league) and are taking their solidity around Europe with understandable pride. In Rotterdam the match will be complicated and Roma will have to manage the various moments with patience, without discovering themselves in the event of a disadvantage. It will really be a challenge to play over 180 minutes and the second part will be staged in the very hot Olimpico. So, calm down. Because the semifinal is possible.

FLORENTINE

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Password: have fun. The tenth consecutive victory did not come against Spezia, but it’s not a big problem. Fiorentina are doing well, they are virtually in the final of the Italian Cup and are going to Poland with the lightheartedness of those who are pursuing a goal that they didn’t even imagine putting in their sights. Viola’s European campaign was initially the balm to put on the wounds of a disappointing championship at least until a few weeks ago, but then it became something more. And Fiorentina has the right and almost the duty to have fun against Lech Poznan and maybe even in the following rounds. Vincenzo Italiano has restored to the team, which seemed dull in the autumn, the taste for the game. Now confidence has returned and many players have raised their level precisely because they were involved by the coach in a convincing and exciting tactical project. If Fiorentina enjoys repeating the game plots seen in the last two months, they will go through.