First Division – Serie A. The top championship of Europe, ergo, the best championship of the world. What could be more proper than the best footballer of the world wins the best championship? That happened this season, although in a bit strange manner – it was not home games, but away record making the difference and also relatively tough defense – not free-spirited attacking football. But that was Italy – you win largely by preventing the opposition from winning. Two teams were lurking nearby – Juventus and Inter – so to beat them was hard and great, especially when they had slightly better squads than yours.
Udinese – last with 15 points and relegated. A team having Edinho, Bertoni, Graziani going down? Well, their fate was sealed in advance – they were penalized with 9 points deduction and could not overcome such handicap no matter what.
Sitting from left: Miano, Galbagini, Edinho, Anzi (?) – condition coach, De Sisti – coach, Ginulfi (?) – assistant coach, Bencivenga, Galraroli, Branca.
Middle row: Criscimanni, Storgato, F. Rossi, Abate, Spuri, Brini, Collovati, Colombo, Tagliaferri.
Top row: Caverzan, Graziani, Pasa, Chierico, Massimo Susic, Dal Fiume, Zanone, Bertoni.
Atalanta – 15th with 21 points and relegated. A bit strange, for they almost finished the season with a trophy.
Brescia – 14th with 22 points and relegated, despite having been sponsored by ‘the best Italian beer’ makers. Well, at least nothing surprising in their relegation – Brescia was the usual candidate.
Empoli survived by a point – 13th with 23 points. Scored the least goals in the championship: only 13, very low even by Italian standards.
Ascoli – another lucky survivor: 12th with 24 points.
Torino – steadily going down… 11th with 26 points.
Fiorentina – 10th with 26 points. Let say Antognoni aged and leave it at that.
Como – 9th with 26 points.
Avellino – 8th with 30 points. Very good for a modest club like them.
Roma – 7th with 33 points.
Sampdoria – climbing up: 6th with 35 points. However, unlucky – if goal-difference mattered, they would have been 5th. But they and Milan finished with equal points and a decisive play-off was staged for the last Italian spot in the UEFA Cup. Sampdoria lost it 0-1…
Milan – 5th with 35 points, thanks to the play-off 1-0 win over Sampdoria. On the road to recovery after the turbulent years following their disgrace and consequent penalty. Perhaps clinching the UEFA Cup spot was most important point at that moment: the club needed confidence.
Hellas Verona – 4th with 36 points. Nobody expected them to build a dynasty, but the team was still running high after winning the title.
Inter – 3rd with 38 points. A title contender – or should have been – but… nothing.
Juventus – 2nd with 39 points. Came ahead of Inter, could not catch Napoli… perhaps something little was missing at the moment. Too bad they did not won – it was the last season of Michel Platini.
Napoli had splendid season and triumphed on top of the table with 42 points from 15 wins, 12 ties, and 3 losses. 41-21 goal-difference. As numbers go, hardly the most impressive record: shared most wins in the season with Inter, but Inter finished with best defensive record and Juventus outscored the champions. Napoli had only the least lost games this season, which speaks more of defensive abilities than for their strikers – one expects the opposite from a team led by Maradona. Then again, we are speaking about Italian football – tough, rough, giving no quarter and not an inch: Napoli prevailed in that and quite heroically, for even with Maradona, the squad was inferior to the teams of Juventus and Inter. So much for numbers. The rest was grand: Napoli won the Italian title for the first time – making the team instant legends. Maradona finally won a title in Europe and that after winning the World Cup – it was somewhat more difficult to win the scudetto than the World Cup. In a nut shell – purely magical moment to be remembered forever.