How the top 3 leagues in Europe looked 20 years ago

#3 Serie A | Lazio wins the treble

Before he was ridiculed by the unforgiving English press despite a decent performance as English manager in the first decade of the 2000s, Sven Goran-Eriksson had built a reputation as an astute manager, guiding IFK Goteburg to a UEFA Cup win, before winning titles with Benfica, Roma, and Sampdoria. But his coup de grace came in the 1999-2000 season when he delivered an unprecedented treble for Società Sportiva Lazio in the club's centenary year.

First was a victory over Champions League winners Manchester United to win the UEFA Super Cup. The Copa Italia came to Rome next with a 3-1 aggregate win over Internazionale, but the biggest triumph was the Scudetto.

That Lazio side consisted of superstars like Pavel Nedvěd, Alessandro Nesta, Diego Simeone, Juan Sebastian Veron, Marcelo Salas, and Siniša Mihajlović with the Rome based club engaged in a neck-to-neck battle with Juventus for the Serie A title. Juventus seemed to have wrapped the championship up with a five-point lead over Lazio with just three games to go. But the tables had turned by the final day of the season as Lazio beat Reggina whereas a stuttering Juve lost to Perugia 1-0 on a rain-soaked pitch to hand Lazio the title by two points.

20 YEARS LATER

Lazio would not win the Serie A again, but they would win eight more titles in the next 20 years, winning the Copa Italia and the Super Cup. The 2019-20 season seems to be going the way of the 99-00 season though, with Lazio trailing Juvetus by just a point with 12 games to go, until the league was suspended due to the coronavirus epidemic.

Juventus have consolidated their position as the top club in Italy, having won the Scudetto every season since the 2011-12 season. They have won 35 Italian Championships to date, way ahead of every other side.