Marotta: Italian football lagging behind

Juventus director Giuseppe Marotta believes his club’s Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich shows how far behind Italian football has fallen.

The Serie A champions were beaten 2-0 in Wednesday’s return in Turin after previously losing the first leg by the same scoreline, and Marotta said the result highlighted how Italian clubs are unable to compete with the best Europe has to offer.

“Unfortunately, there is currently a gap between football in Italy and other countries,” Marotta told the club’s official website.

“Just look at Bayern, they had double the turnover of any Italian team. It’s impossible for us to spend 40 million euros on players at the moment. We know we have to grow and improve, and we’ll work towards that.”

Nevertheless, Marotta was pleased with Juventus’ performances in Europe this campaign.

“This new management only took over in 2010, so we would have happily settled for being in the Champions League quarter-finals and playing against a great team like Bayern,” he said.

“It’s been an important experience for us, so the thanks of the entire club goes to Antonio Conte and his team.”