Founded in 1929, Serie A is one of the premier footballing institutions in not only Europe but the world. The Italian league has established itself as one of the top five leagues in Europe and has millions of football fans glued to their TV sets year after year.
Over the course of the years, the league has presented us with numerous moments, records, victories to cherish and carry with us for a lifetime. When we had to choose the 5 most precious moments/events that have captured our imagination, let it be said, we were spoilt for choice.
The plethora of talent that has played in the league, the dominant teams that have been fielded and the world class managers that have revolutionised the game gave us a pleasant headache. In this segment, we bring to you 5 of the greatest moments/events from the Italian SerieA.
#1 Juventus winning the league for five Consecutive seasons
The Old Lady of Turin was caught in the midst of one of the biggest scandals that rocked the Italian football in mid-2000’s when they were implicated in a match-fixing scandal. The legendary club was relegated to the Serie B as a punishment for their deeds, an event that led to departures of several key players including Lillian Thuram, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Fabio Cannavaro, and more importantly the emergence of the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedved and David Trezeguet as legends.
Unsuspectingly, the club achieved promotion without much fuss during the 2006-07 season and have been a critical part of the Italian league ever since.
Yet, it is over the last five years that the Turin-based club has established itself as the premier club in Italy as well as Europe. That transformation was completed towards the end of the 2015-16 season when they clinched their 5th consecutive league title to match the most consecutive league titles ever won by an Italian team.
Perhaps, it is their subsequent redemption from a crime, to rise from the ashes that makes their achievement a memorable moment in the history of Serie A.
#2 Maradona’s arrival and subsequent triumphs at Napoli
The enigma that is Diego Armando Maradona never ceased to capture the imagination of the footballing community during his formative years as a player. After having conquered Spain with Barcelona, it came as a rather intriguing move when the Argentine playmaker decided to make the switch to Naples in the summer of 1984.
His mere arrival at the city, enriched with Italian culture, woke the city from its slumber. There were 75,000 fans in attendance when he was unveiled at Napoli and a local newspaper even went on to claim, “Mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, none of this matters because we have Maradona,” expressing their delight at the arrival of the world beater; and Maradona did not disappoint.
He led Napoli to their first ever league title in the 1986-87 season, making them the first ever team from the Southern Italian peninsula to win the title and followed it up with another brilliant 1989-90 season when he helped them win their second ever league title. The Argentine enjoyed some of his finest years at Napoli and is still revered to this day in the city, having achieved demi-god status.
#3 Higuain equals Rossetti’s 36 goals in a season record after nearly 50 years
To say that Gonzalo Higuain has had an eventful career thus far would be an understatement. The Argentine superstar, who arrived on Italian shores in July 2014 took the Italian league by storm, scoring goals by the bagful. Despite his troubles at international level with Argentina, he has hit back at his critics on the pitch by scoring goals and showing everyone why he is one of the most feared strikers in the world.
Though the 29-year-old striker might currently be plying his trade at the Juventus Stadium, it was at Napoli, his former employers, that Higuain showcased his true potential as one of the best strikers to have ever graced the game of football.
During the 2015-16 season, the Argentinian recorded his best ever league season as he notched up an incredible 36 goals in 35 League appearances and equalled a record set by one of the Italian legends of all times – Gino Rosetti.
Rossetti had set the record for the highest number of goals in a single season by a player during the 1928-29 season, having found the back of the net 36 times. The record seemed uncatchable for 85 seasons until Higuain equalled his record in the last season of the Serie A, forever making him one of the finest strikers to have played in the league.
#4 Retirement of Paolo Maldini
While the life of the Italian legend Paolo Maldini could be termed as a celebration of one of the best defenders to have graced the game, it was perhaps, his retirement from the game that brought to the fore, the legendary status he has acquired for his services to AC Milan.
Termed a natural born leader, Il Capitano (The Captain) had been at the heart of the AC Milan defence when they dominated Italy and Europe and after his retirement, the footballing community came forward to applaud his contributions to the game.
Perhaps, the opinion of his former foe, the mercurial Brazilian striker Ronaldo, on Maldini, would help us find out how highly the former Milan man was rated amongst the footballing fraternity. The Brazilian was quoted as saying, “I always found it very difficult when I came up against Paolo Maldini. He was the best defender I faced over the course of my career. He definitely deserved to win the award FIFA World Player of the Year several times over.”
AC Milan, who had been the biggest beneficiaries of his abilities, duly recognised his contribution to the club and deservedly retired the No. 3 shirt in his honour, making him one of the few players ever to have their number retired when most football clubs have learned to treat players as mere commodities.
#5 AC Milan’s 58 games unbeaten run between 1991-93 (highest in the top 5 European leagues)
If you are an Arsenal fan, you would want to look away since we are ready to take some sheen away from your status as “The Invincibles”.
When Fabio Capello was brought in to replace the legendary Arrigo Sacchi, AC Milan were fairly successful. Yet their ageing superstars were termed as a threat to their continued dominance in the future, especially with the club unwilling to dip into their transfer reserves. What followed was a domination unheard of amongst the top five European leagues as the Italian manager led his side to an invincible 58 consecutive league wins from 1991 to 1993.
The side’s unbeaten streak was threatened on numerous occasions, but they showed character and grit to come back from behind several times to help establish themselves as one of the most dominant teams to have plied their trade in the Serie A.
While their streak ended in March 1993, when Parma beat them by a solitary goal courtesy of a Faustino Asprilla strike, it did not deter the Milan club from winning the title. It could be said that the foundations for a dominant Milan side that dominated world football were largely laid down by the legendary Fabio Capello during his time at the club.
