Inter CEO Beppe Marotta has offered a candid assessment of the state of Italian football on the European stage following a disastrous set of results for Serie A clubs.
The comments come in the wake of a bruising week for Italian sides in the Champions League play-offs, where Juventus suffered a heavy 5-2 defeat at the hands of Galatasaray and Atalanta fell to Borussia Dortmund. These losses have intensified the debate surrounding the competitiveness of Italian teams against their continental peers.
Speaking to Sky Sport, as relayed by TMW, Marotta addressed the recent struggles and the changing landscape of the league’s financial structure. When asked if there is too much focus on balance sheets rather than results, Marotta stated: “I don’t entirely agree. Our football has been in decline for a decade, the presence of funds arrived in a difficult historical moment. If we imagine that the two Milanese clubs are foreign-owned, it means that without that the situation would have been even worse. Since Oaktree arrived we have made greater investments compared to recent years. The model has changed, but I am not skeptical about the arrival of funds. There is fund and fund, it must be evaluated who wants to create a virtuous path and not just a speculative one. We are lucky.”
Marotta also looked to move past the recent controversy surrounding the Derby d’Italia against Juventus, choosing to focus on Inter’s own European task: “Let’s not get into the controversy or we won’t come out of it. Certainly this is a pitch that has problems, it is an old-generation synthetic and there are difficulties in adhering with the shoe when you run. But we must adapt to this situation as well.”
He concluded by expressing his hope for a turnaround in fortunes for the remaining Italian representatives: “I don’t want to add anything more, it’s a page that left bitterness in general. Let’s close it and think about this beautiful Champions League match, very difficult, hoping that the Italian teams manage to pass the round.”
