Decade in Review: 2006/2007

The Decade in Review continues with the 2006/2007 season. The 2006/2007 season was the beginning of a new era for Italian football. It was the first post-Calciopoli season, and it was the first Serie A season without Juventus. A reinforced Inter side dominated the championship, finishing 22 points ahead of second place Roma and winning their first scudetto on the pitch since 1989. A surprising Empoli side qualified for the UEFA Cup, Mazzarri’s Reggina performed a miracle salvezza, Serie A had 3 Sicilian sides in Serie A for the first time ever, and Chievo were relegated from Serie A for the first time since their promotion in 2001. Full review after the jump.

SUMMER TRANSFERS AND SUCH

Inter reigned supreme in the transfer market, really strengthening the team in all aspects: the Nerazzurri signed the Brazilian fullback duo of Maicon and Maxwell as well as World Cup hero Fabio Grosso, who had signed a pre-contract in May. With Juventus in Serie B, Inter took advantage, buying Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic from the Bianconeri. Hernan Crespo returned to the club after 3 years. Milan, starting with a points penalty, saw Jaap Stam leave for Ajax. Their big loss was hero Andriy Shevchenko, who decided it was time for a new experience and was sold to Chelsea. The Rossoneri signed promising defender Daniele Bonera and French starlet Yoann Gourcuff. The search for Sheva’s replacement was long, but in the end the Rossoneri decided to gamble on Real Betis and Brazil striker Ricardo Olivieira. Roma, seen as Inter’s main competitors, decided to sign Max Tonetto and Marco Cassetti as well as David Pizarro, a Spalletti favorite from his Udinese days. Up front, the Giallorossi gambled on Lecce’s Montenegrin striker Mirko Vucinic. Fiorentina’s big signing was Romanian star Adrian Mutu, but also signed Argentinian winger Mario Alberto Santana and midfielders Fabio Liverani and Manuele Blasi. Palermo gambled on Chievo’s Brazilian striker Amauri.

THE SEASON

Thanks to the Calciopoli scandal, the season started with Juventus in Serie B and 4 Serie A sides starting with point penalties: Fiorentina (Originally 19 points, but then reduced to 15 thanks to CONI), Lazio (11 points, then reduced to 3), Milan (8 points) and Reggina (15 points, then reduced to 11). After the euphoria of Italy’s World Cup triumph, the season started rather late on September 10th. In the first couple of weeks the two favorites Inter and Roma battled at the top along with surprise Palermo. However Roma, because of some bad results including the direct encounter vs. Inter, fell a couple of points behind along with Palermo who lost to Cagliari.

The following Sunday, November 26, Palermo’s loss left Inter clear at the top. Inter then went on an incredible run of 17 consecutive wins, setting a Serie A record, that ended on February 28, 2007, when the Nerazzurri drew with Udinese at home and were already 14 points clear of Roma. However, it was a terrible event in February that this season will be remembered for.

On February 2nd, tragedy hit Serie A: during the Sicilian derby of Catania-Palermo, played on a Friday because of the Sant’Agata feast in Catania, there were battles going on outside the stadium between ultras and police, that caused many injuries and the death of a 40 year old police officer, Filippo Raciti, which was caused by serious liver injuries inflicted by a blunt object. After the chaos, FIGC temporary head Luca Pancalli decided to suspend all Italian soccer championships of every tier of Italian football, from Serie A to Terza Categoria. New safety regulations were now to be enforced in all stadiums around Italy including lengthy security checks. If a club didn’t have the infrastructure in place, the game would be played behind closed doors. So the season resumed on February 11th and fans were advised to show up extra early to avoid missing kick-off. Catania’s Cibali stadium was disqualified for the rest of the season and the Sicilian side had to play all remaining home matches a neutral venue.

Once the season was restarted, Inter increased their lead over Roma to 16 points, arriving at the long-awaited Inter-Roma game on April 18th 20 points ahead. Roma won, but with Inter so far ahead the victory really meant nothing, the only thing it did was stop Inter from finishing the season undefeated. On April 22nd with a win away to Siena, Inter won their 15th Scudetto with 5 games to go, their first won on the pitch since 1989. At the end of the season Inter would finish 22 points ahead of Roma. The Nerazzurri’s win was filled with many records: besides the 17 consecutive wins, there was the 30 wins in 38 games, the record 97 points never achieved by other Serie A team in history (in a 20-team season), undefeated away from home (15 wins, 11 consecutive), and the mathematical victory of the Scudetto 5 days early equaling the record of the Grande Torino 1947-1948 win and Fiorentina’s 1955-1956 win. Roma, having Totti in great form (26 goals), could only satisfy themselves with second place and an automatic Champions League spot.

Inter’s domination at the top left the European spots race and the relegation battle the only interesting things in the season. The reduction of Lazio’s points penalty to only 3 points, coupled with a great season from Delio Rossi’s squad, allowed the Biancocelesti to qualify for the Champions League. Milan, with no chance of a Scudetto victory, focused all their attention on the Champions League (which they would go on to win) and finished 4th. Palermo, who surprised at the start, grabbed a UEFA Cup place while Fiorentina, with the big handicap, had to settle for a UEFA Cup place instead of a Champions League one. Without the points penalty, they would’ve finished 3rd. The big surprise of the season was Empoli, led by Gigi Cagni, who had an amazing campaign and grabbed the last UEFA Cup spot. At the bottom, Messina finished dead last (they were only in Serie A again because of Juve’s relegation) and Ascoli also were relegated after failing to repeat the previous year’s magic. Chievo’s stay in paradise was over. The Flying Donkeys arrived at the last day of the season with a relegation dogfight with Catania. Whoever lost had a high chance of being relegated. Chievo lost and were overtaken in the table by Parma, Siena and Reggina. Reggina, who at the start of the season were hit with a heft points penalty (-15) and made relegation favorites, performed the impossible. Led by goalscorers Rolando Bianchi and Nicola Amoruso, the Amaranto were brilliantly managed to the salvezza by Walter Mazzarri and his 3-5-2. Without the points penalty, they would’ve finished 8th. Parma looked down and out at the winter break. They were in the UEFA Cup and struggled to handle both competitions. With the club destined for Serie B, Ghirardi fired manager Stefano Pioli and made two moves that changed their season around: the hiring of Claudio Ranieri and the loan of Giuseppe Rossi. Ranieri immediately solidified the weak Parma side and motivated them to start playing well. Rossi, who was poached from Parma by Manchester United at a young age, was an unknown quantity in Serie A, only known to Italian fans as the guy from England that played for the U-21 side. He exploded, becoming the Gialloblu’s talisman and leading them to an improbable salvezza. Torino, back in Serie A after their bankruptcy, were led to salvation by surprise standout Alessandro Rosina.

FINAL TABLE: Inter 97, Roma 75, Lazio 62, Milan 61, Palermo 58, Fiorentina 58, Empoli 54, Atalanta 50, Sampdoria 49, Udinese 46, Livorno 43, Parma 42, Catania 41, Reggina 40, Siena 40, Torino 40, Cagliari 40, Chievo 39, Ascoli 27, Messina 26.

Top Scorers: Francesco Totti 26, Cristiano Lucarelli 20, Christian Rigano’ 19

Here is Inter’s Scudetto-winning roster:

Starters:

12 Julio Cesar
13 Maicon
23 Marco Materazzi
2 Colombia Ivan Cordoba
11 Fabio Grosso
4 Javier Zanetti
19 Esteban Cambiasso
7 Luis Figo
5 Dejan Stankovic
8 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
18 Hernan Crespo

Reserves: 1 Francesco Toldo, 16 Nicolas Burdisso, 6 Maxwell, 17 Francesco Coco, 15 Olivier Dacourt, 10 Adriano Leite Ribeiro, 9 Julio Ricardo Cruz, 22 Paolo Orlandoni, 79 Fabian Carini, 25 Walter Samuel, 77 Marco Andreolli, 21 Santiago Solari, 91 Mariano Gonzalez, 20 Alvaro Recoba, 99 Lampros Choutos, 14 Patrick Vieira, 54 Matteo Momentè

Manager: Roberto Mancini

COPPA ITALIA

For the third time in a row, Roma and Inter met in the two-legged final. The match was won in the first leg at the Olimpico, when Roma ran rampant and won 6-2. In the second leg, Inter won 2-1, and of course that wasn’t enough. Roma won their 8th Coppa Italia title, their first since 1991.

ITALIAN TEAMS IN EUROPE

With the Calciopoli scandal, the Italian teams participating in Europe had to be decided. Originally Milan were excluded from the Champions League, but were then allowed in but had to go through the preliminary qualifying phase. Lazio were barred from European competition and Juventus were relegated, bumping Roma up to the second automatic Champions League place and giving the 4th Champions League spot to Chievo, who would go through Champions League qualifying. Palermo, Livorno, and Parma were granted UEFA Cup spots.

In the UEFA Cup, Palermo, Livorno, and Parma were joined by Chievo in the first round since the Flying Donkeys were eliminated in Champions League qualifying. Chievo then lost to Braga in extra time in the first round and were eliminated. Parma defeated Rubin Kazan, Palermo defeated West Ham, and Livorno defeated Pasching. In the group phase, Livorno qualified third in their group (with a goal from Marco Amelia), Palermo were eliminated on goal difference, and Parma dominated their group, finishing first. However in the Round of 32 both Italian clubs were out. Livorno lost to Espanyol 4-1 on aggregate and Parma lost to Braga 2-0 on aggregate.

In the Champions League, as I mentioned Milan were reinstated but had to go through qualifying. They passed the hurdle, defeating Red Star Belgrade 3-1 on aggregate. Chievo’s dream of a first ever Champions League appearance was crushed when they fell to Bulgarians Levski Sofia 4-2 on aggregate. In the group stage, Inter finished second in their group with Bayern Munich, Sporting, and Spartak Moscow. Roma finished second in their group with Valencia, Shakhtar, and Olympiacos. Milan topped their group with Lille, AEK Athens, and Anderlecht. In the Round of 16, Roma impressively defeated Lyon away 2-0 to advance 2-0 on aggregate. Milan got by Celtic 1-0 on a goal in extra time by Kaka. Inter fell to Valencia 2-2 on away goals, and famously got into a fight with Valencia players after the second leg game.

In the quarter-final, Milan were handed Bayern Munich and Roma were handed Manchester United. In the first leg in Rome, Roma won 2-1 (featuring some crowd trouble at the Olimpico). However the second leg was quite simply a disaster. The Giallorossi were trounced 7-1 at Old Trafford and went out 8-3 on aggregate. Milan suffered 2 away goals at the San Siro, but impressively won 2-0 in Munich to advance to the semi-final vs. Manchester United. In the first leg at Old Trafford, Milan went down early but two goals from Kaka gave them a 2-1 lead. However Rooney equalized in the second half and then scored in stoppage time to give Man Utd the victory. Milan faced a must win situation at the San Siro, and they played one of their greatest European matches ever. It was complete domination at the San Siro, with Milan striking early with Kaka and then doubling the lead with Seedorf and then closing the game with Gilardino. Milan advanced to their 3rd final in 4 years and would look for revenge vs. Liverpool.

So at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Milan got revenge on Liverpool and erased the memory of Istanbul in 2005. Pippo Inzaghi scored a somewhat fortuitous goal at the stroke of half-time, and then added a second in the 82nd minute to close the game. Dirk Kuyt scored a consolation in the last minute.

Italy, after the bad reputation it had because of the Calciopoli scandal in the summer, got some revenge on Europe and the rest of the world with the Champions League victory.

NATIONAL TEAM

After the World Cup victory, Marcello Lippi stepped down, leaving the job of national team boss vacant. It was unclear who would succeed him, since many of the top candidates were under contract with a club and not available. Names were being thrown around, but then in July the name of Roberto Donadoni became a serious rumor. Eventually, Donadoni was hired, much to the surprise of people everywhere. It was becoming a trend to hire a young former-player as national team manager (Germany did it with Klinsmann, Brazil appointed Dunga, etc), so the FIGC handed the reigns to Donadoni, who had only coached Livorno a few months in Serie A. Was the fact that former Milan teammate Demetrio Albertini played a big role in the hiring process a strong part of his hiring? Yes. And so, Donadoni was national team boss. In his first interviews, he said he would call up Cassano (who was finally playing well with Real Madrid) and wanted the same spirit the previous national team had. In his first friendly in August, none of the 23 World Cup winners were called up because they had just returned from vacation. So an experimental Italy side lost to Croatia 2-0.

When September qualifiers rolled around, the World Cup winners were back with some new names (Semioli, Marchionni, Cassano, Di Michele, Di Natale). Italy were in a tough group with rivals France, Scotland, Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania, and the Faroe Islands. In their first qualifier vs. Lithuania, Lithuania shockingly took the lead but 9 minutes later a Cassano assist found Inzaghi who tied the match. Italy couldn’t find a winner and got a disappointing draw. In the second qualifier vs. France, it was a disaster, falling 3-1 in Paris to Les Blues. So Donadoni didn’t exactly start off on the right foot. In October, Italy got back on track with wins vs. Ukraine at home and Georgia away. In November they drew Turkey 1-1 in a friendly. In March Italy faced Scotland in Bari, including the return of Alessandro Del Piero, who was impressing with Juve in Serie B. Italy won 2-0 with two goals from Toni. In June Italy had two away games vs. Faroe Islands and Lithuania. Pippo Inzaghi scored 2 goals in a pretty disappointing match, with the Faroes getting on the scoresheet towards the end. Against Lithuania, Donadoni gave Fabio Quagliarella his first start in an Azzurri jersey and the Sampdoria striker repaid him with 2 beautiful goals. The season ended with the Azzurri back on track to qualify for Euro 2008.

PREVIOUS REVIEWS

2005/2006: Calciopoli, Campioni del Mondo

2004/2005: Capello’s Juventus reign supreme

2003/2004: Milan champions of Italy, Euro 2004 delusion

2002/2003: Italy dominates Europe
2001/2002: 5 Maggio, World Cup delusion
2000/2001: Scudetto Giallorosso
1999/2000: Lazio tastes glory/Italy almost champions of Europe

Some Related Serie A Posts:

• Decade in Review: 2005/2006
• Decade in Review: 2004/2005
• Decade in Review: 2003/2004
• Decade in Review: 2002/2003
• Decade in Review: 2000/2001

Category: Azzurri, Champions League, Coppa Italia, Players, Results, Serie A, Serie B, UEFA Cup

Tags: Azzurri, Champions League, Coppa Italia, Players, Results, Serie A, Serie B, UEFA Cup

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