A Football Blog
Italy. Fifth level of the vast Italian pyramid, named Campionato Interregionale. Only the final winners, promoted to IV Division or Serie C2: 12 teams in total.
Saronno
Formia
Imola. However, later Imola was not admitted to play in the upper level for financial reasons.
Sangiuseppese
Pievigina
Leffe
Vastese
Savoia
Enna
Astrea
Fiorenzuola, and
Viareggio.
The European Supercup. It was played in the fall of 1990 with huge gap between the first and second leg- the first match was on October 10th, the second on November 29th. No matter what, the ‘biggest’ trophy of the European pyramid never got the intended importance – it was difficult to find proper time for it, fans, observers, and clubs never warmed up to it, as attendance amply shows. It was the new season, domestic and international, on the mind of coaches, players, administration, fans. And since it was a new season already, the opponents featured slightly different squads than those which won the Champions Cup and the Cup Winners Cup back in the spring of 1990. Milan was apparently stronger and perhaps more motivated, but there was a problem, becoming increasingly bigger: the injuries of the flying Dutch. It has been Gullit more than an year ago, now van Basten was out. Unfortunately, there was no solution and it looked like that Milan was going always to miss some key player and as soon as he was back, the next one was out. One more problem was goalkeeping, which was always somewhat not at par with the rest of squad. But Sampdoria had similar problems – either that, or Vujadin Boskov preferred to keep his foreign players fresh and healthy for the Italian championship. Whatever the circumstances, neither team appeared to be in full strength. Yet, it was a trophy to be won…
Important, not important, Milan won.
Franco Baresi lifted the Supercup,
Everybody happy.
1st leg, Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, 10 Oct 1990, att 25000
UC Sampdoria (1) 1 AC Milan (1) 1
31′ 1-0 S: Mikhailitchenko
39′ 1-1 M: Evani
UC Sampdoria: Pagliuca; Mannini, Invernizzi, Pari, Lanna, Pellegrini, Mikhailitchenko,
Lombardo, Branca, Mancini, Dossena
AC Milan: Pazzagli; Tassoti, Costacurta, Guadenzi, Galli, F.Baresi, Donadoni (Rijkaard 59),
Ancelotti, Massaro, Gullit, Evani (Stroppa 70)
Referee: Rosa dos Santos (Portugal)
2nd leg, San Siro Stadium, Milan, 29 Nov 1990, att 25000
AC Milan (1) 2 UC Sampdoria (0) 0
44′ 1-0 M: Gullit
76′ 2-0 M: Rijkaard
Milan won 3-1 on aggregate
AC Milan: Pazzagli; Tassotti, Baresi, Costacurta (F.Galli 78), Maldini, Carbone, Ancelotti,
Rijkaard, Evani, Gullit (Donadoni 73), Agostini
UC Sampdoria: Pagliuca; Lanna, Pellegrini, Vierchowod, Bonetti, Pari, Mikhailitchenko
(Dossena 67), Katanec (Branca 73), Lombardo, Vialli, Mancini
Referee: Petrovic (Yugoslavia)
Milan with the Supercup – it was their year, so far they won the Champions Cup and the Supercup and by the end of the year will collect the Intercontinental Cup. All international trophies in their hands, a testimony of a great team. A testimony of great Italian football too – all European cups went to the Italians, two all-Italian finals. Let forget the World Cup fiasco.
The UEFA Cup. And it was really an Italian year – at the final, two Italian teams, making 4 Italian clubs total at the European finals. Juventus vs Fiorentina. Both teams permitted to be beaten only once on the road to the final, but Juventus had it tougher, yet, seemingly stronger campaign – they eliminated Gornik Zabrze (Poland) 1-0 and 4-2, Paris SG (France) 1-0 and 2-1, Karl-Marx-Stadt (DDR) 2-1 and 1-0, Hamburger SV (West Germany) 2-0 (in Hamburg) and 1-2 (in Turin), and finally 1. FC Koln (West Germany) 3-2 and 0-0. Fiorentina was… economical: Atletico Madrid (Spain) 0-1, 1-0 and 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out, Sochaux (France) 0-0 and 1-1 (away), Dinamo Kiev (USSR) 1-0 and 0-0, Auxerre (France) 1-0 and 1-0, and in the ½ finals Werder (West Germany) 1-1 (away) and 0-0. Fiorentina never scored more than a single goal in a game, but in addition they were punished for fan violence by UEFA and had to play their home games in Peruggia all the way to the final, where they had to play home game at least 300 km from Florence, for the fans – and it seems also the club itself – did not take the punishment seriously. Yes, the English clubs were still banished from playing in the European tournaments, but violence already spread far and wide and was not only English problem anymore. The ½ finals, however, stated clearly who was on top of European football now: if 10 years ago West German clubs prevailed and reached finals, now the Italians eliminated the iron West Germans and made all-Italian final. The final, however, was unpredictable, but more for out of the field reasons – Juventus looked like having an advantage not only because Fiorentina was not able to play at home, but also because of rumors of Roberto Baggio going to Juventus (and he transferred shortly after the finals, to the great displeasure of Fiorentina’s fans). But on the other hand Dino Zoff was already informed that his coaching contract with Juventus was not going to be extended and the finals were his last games – hardly a motivation for both coach and team. Of course, Juventus was not in great shape recently and the transfers of Soviet stars Aleynikov and especially Zavarov were huge failure. Zavarov was no longer with Juventus, but the team did not improve much, even if winning the Italian Cup. Somewhat, pluses and minuses canceled each other and the there was no real favourite at the final.
As the games went… Juventus took full advantage from his home match and won it 3-1. Two early goals were seemingly crucial, but the game was ugly both on the pitch and on the stands. It was summed as ‘constant verbal and physical abuse’ and the press urged the Italian Federation to sanction all involved, that is both clubs, but… the Federation decided to postpone decision after the second leg of the final. Everybody will be sanctioned, especially 4 players of Fiorentina, but later. And the teams traveled to distant Avellino for the second leg. By now observers were pretty certain that Juventus already won the UEFA Cup – Fiorentina had to look for particular result: to score a minimum of 2 goals and permit nil, but since they never scored more than 1 goal on the road to the final, the task of scoring a minimum of 2 goals seems entirely fantastic. The second leg was as ugly as the first, despite the warnings and threats by official bodies: 7 yellow cards were shown and Bruno (Juventus) was expelled in the 58th minute. Juventus, as it turned out, played its record 200th game in the European tournaments and celebrated the occasion by playing deep defense. Moving across the central line into enemy half was not in their books and as a result there was a grand total of 5 shoots toward both nets – 3 times Fiorentina, twice Juventus. Only Roberto Baggio came close to actual scoring, but Tacconi saved. It was not a match to remember and ended 0-0. Juventus won the UEFA Cup.
Well, the pictures tell it all – a lot of kicking and battling, very little football.
Tacconi lifted the UEFA Cup,
Juventus celebrated their victory…
Final 1st Leg, Stadio Comunale, Turin, 2 May 1990, att 45000
Juventus (1) 3 AC Fiorentina (1) 1
3′ 1-0 J: Galia
10′ 1-1 F: Buso
59′ 2-1 J: Casiraghi
73′ 3-1 J: De Agostini
Juventus: Tacconi; Napoli, De Agostini, Galia, Bruno (Alessio 46); Bonetti, Aleinikov,
Barros, Marocchi; Casiraghi, Schillaci
AC Fiorentina: Landucci; Dell’Oglio, Volpecina, Pin, Battistini; Dunga, Nappi, Kubik (Malusci 87),
Baggio; Buso, Di Chiara
Referee: Aladren (Spain)
Final 2nd Leg, Stadio Partenio, Avellino, 16 May 1990, att 32000
AC Fiorentina (0) 0 Juventus (0) 0
Juventus won 3-1 on aggregate
AC Fiorentina: Landucci; Dell’Oglio, Volpecina, Pin, Battistini; Dunga, Nappi (Zironelli 71),
Kubik, Baggio; Buso, Di Chiara
Juventus: Tacconi; Napoli, De Agostini, Galia, Bruno; Alessio, Aleinikov, Barros
(Avallone 72), Marocchi; Casiraghi (Rosa 79), Schillaci
Referee: Schmidhuber (West Germany)
Fiorentina lost and under the circumstances… one can’t be really sorry for them. Not a bad squad, but not great either and Roberto Baggio leaving… sad to say, but the first winners of the Cup Winners Cup back in 1961 did not add a second European trophy.
Juventus won the UEFA Cup for 2nd time – 13 years passed from their first victory, which was the first European trophy the grand club won, but after that there was enough success and Juventus was the only club at the moment which won all European cups. It was good ending for 18 years of service as player and coach for Dino Zoff – with a victory. The team, however, was well bellow some vintages of which Zoff participated as player or coach. No wonder changes were in order and already started – Zoff was out, Roberto Baggio was coming.