Why the Serie A Needs Milan and Inter Back

Milan and Inter are no longer the teams they used to be, and the Serie A desperately needs them back. Image: Reuters

Milan and Inter have fallen off track in recent years, and the Serie A has taken a rough hit. Here’s why the league needs them back.

Looking Through History

Milan and Inter are the two most successful clubs in Italy in European competitions, winning seven and three Champions League titles respectively. Their current squads do not reflect this, far from it in fact, and Italy needs them desperately. The last time a team other than the two Milan clubs won the Champions League was in 1996 when Juventus took home the title. Milan and Inter have combined for ten of the twelve Champions League wins of Italian clubs, and it is unlikely that any will be added on in the upcoming years, barring a Juventus win. They also have a rich history of winning the league, albeit not as great as that of Juventus. The two clubs have combined for 36 league titles, four more than Juventus.

They are not the same teams as years past, though. Gullit, Rijkaard, and Van Basten have been replaced by Bonaventura, Bacca, and Suso, some good talent, but nowhere near the skill of the former legends of the game. Stankovic, Zanetti, and Eto’o have been replaced by Icardi, Joao Mario, and Perisic. Inter are certainly more on track to getting to their previous form, but Milan have lots of work to do if they want to even come close to their previous lineup, and the whole club sale saga certainly doesn’t help the Rossoneri out.

Where’s the Competition?

Sure, you have Napoli and Roma, but no one has truly been able to challenge the Bianconeri for the past five years now, and the Serie A desperately needs some better competition. Gone are the days where the league went down to the final matchday, when you never quite knew who was going to come out on top. Now, it’s become repetitive. Juventus atop the table by a large margin while all the other teams are fighting for second place, again and again.

Milan and Inter used to provide a thrill to the league that is no longer there, a sense of excitement and of ecstasy. The Serie A is not the league that it once used to be; it is a mere shadow of its previous stature, perhaps lacking behind even the Bundesliga. This is echoed in the audience figure of recent years; less and less people are watching the Serie A, preferring to watch the dominant La Liga or the always popular Premier League instead.

Milan have slipped to mid-table and while Inter have started a form of resurgence, they are still a long way away for the mighty Juventus. The funds simply aren’t there for Milan, and Inter have the opposite problem. They certainly have the money, but several acquistions have not gone their way such as the failure of Geoffrey Kondogbia. Without the competition that Milan and Inter used to provide, the Serie A has become stale, and Roma and Napoli simply do not have the quality nor the funds to compete with Juventus.

Do it for the Fans

Fans of the Milan clubs have gone through some tough times, perhaps the toughest times in their history, in recent years. The disappointment is reflected in the rather poor attendance figures at the San Siro. While Milan and Inter do still have the highest attendance average in the league, their figures have gone down considerably in recent years. In the era of dominance, the two clubs maintained an average of 50-60 thousand fans a match compared to the 40 that appear today. A Milan fan myself, I have struggled week in and week out, watching a Milan team plagued by inconsistency and a lacklustre defence and midfield lose games that they certainly would not have lost ten years ago.

Milan and Inter fans have been returning, but the two clubs need to perform better if they wish to play in front of the masses they used to.

Being a Milan fan, I would be happy to watch Milan rise back while Inter stand behind, but as much as it pains me to say it, the Serie A needs both of them back.