Marcello Lippi insists Italian football is still better than English, because there is so little from either nation in their club teams.
This week Inter, Juventus and Roma were knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, but the World Cup winner is not impressed.
“What superiority of English football over Italian? Results can be deceptive and these ones were. Besides, there is precious little of English or Italian in these teams,” he told Il Messaggero.
“Juve were absolutely on a par with Chelsea and neither side was better than the other. If not for the number of injuries, the Bianconeri could’ve gone through. It’s not enough evidence to suggest the English clubs are stronger.”
Roma only went out on a penalty shoot-out after drawing 1-1 with Arsenal on aggregate, although they too were decimated.
“In all my years in this sport I have never seen such bad luck,” mused Lippi. “Half the team was missing, then Juan got injured too and forced [Luciano] Spalletti to change tactics during the first half.
“Seeing how [David] Pizarro and [Francesco] Totti were limping at the end gave me goosebumps. They played with heart and courage for a wonderful romantic game in which everyone gave their all.
“Roma tried everything. Do you really want to consider such a defeat as proof of one team’s superiority?”
Inter failed to score a single goal in two meetings with Manchester United, although they hit the woodwork twice in the 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
“Inter struggled more in the first leg than the second. Let’s just say they were eliminated at San Siro. In this case we also need to consider that they picked the best team in the world right now, so losing to the best is no reason to dub it a crisis.”
Above all, though, Italy boss Lippi considers the fact the four English clubs fielded only 12 homegrown players during this round, including substitutes.
“Do you know what I say? It would be fun to have right now a match between Italy and England at international level.”
The Azzurri won the 2006 World Cup and reached the Euro 2008 second round, whereas the Three Lions did not even qualify for the latter tournament.
“Only the national sides represent a country, not their clubs,” continued Lippi. “The senior squad, Under-21, Under-18 and so forth. Tell [Fabio] Capello and let me know.”
The fact England boss Capello is Italian has not escaped Lippi’s attention either.
“He’s not English, but neither are any of the men in charge of the four English Premier League clubs in the Champions League.”
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