Daily Times

MILAN: Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus, coach Carlo Ancelotti’s homecoming and Parma’s return to the top flight a mere three years after going bankrupt have made the Serie A season one of the most eagerly-awaited in recent years. After years of falling attendances and top players choosing to ply their trade elsewhere, there is a feeling that Serie A might be regaining some of its old allure. Italy will even be back to four teams in the Champions League group stage this season – although that is thanks to a controversial re-formulation of the competition by UEFA rather than a significant improvement in performances by Serie A clubs. Most of all, there is a hope that Serie A will continue where it left off last season, with Napoli moving ever closer to ending Juve’s recent domination which has led the Turin side to win seven successive titles.

Last season, Serie A was the only one of the five major European leagues to produce a genuine title contest, with Napoli’s brave challenge finally ending two rounds from the end. Napoli struck the first blow during the close season when they hired Ancelotti to replace Chelsea-bound Maurizio Sarri in an impressive coup that confounded more than a few pundits. After winning domestic league titles in France, England and Germany, and the Champions League with Real Madrid, Ancelotti seemed to have outgrown Serie A. Ancelotti, who also won Serie A with AC Milan, seemed more comfortable at big clubs with spending power and where major titles were pretty much guaranteed, yet has now been lured to a club which last captured the Serie A crown in 1990.

Napoli have lost influential midfielder Jorginho but the bulk of their side remains intact and there are hopes that, even if his team are not as entertaining to watch, Ancelotti can provide the killer instinct that was missing under Sarri. Never ones to be upstaged, however, Juventus hit back in style with their signing of 33-year-old Ronaldo who, like the Turin club itself, shows no signs of resting on his laurels.

Published in Daily Times, August 17^th 2018.