Contrary to expectations, not the opening of the Italian market for foreign players, but the Totonero scandal affected more the 1980-81 of Serie A. Without Milan the championship was weakened. The suspended players disturbed the normal development of some clubs. Three clubs had to fight against the penalties – their fate was different this year: one club was too weak to survive, one managed just that, but that was their aim anyway, and the third probably would have been stronger challenger if not penalized. But those clubs were guilty and paid for their involvement in the Totonero scandal. Meantime, the impact of foreign players was not that great, perhaps with one exception – Napoli. The championship was more or less similar to previous years: many ties, low scores, still defensive football dominated. Two clubs were hopeless outsiders. Six clubs were preoccupied with avoiding relegation. Two clubs competed for the title. One club was really going up and up, getting stronger and promising even better days. One club seemingly was plunging down.
At the rear of the league Pistoiese and Perugia settled for relegation early.
For Pistoiese climbing to Serie A was great achievement, but staying there proved impossible – they were too weak for that and nothing surprising about it. The team lost 20 of total 30 matches played. Last with meager 16 points.
Perugia was different case – nobody expected heroics from them, but they were also penalized with 5 points and had to overcome this handicap. Perhaps the mess surrounding Paolo Rossi affected the club as well, but without him the team was almost nothing. Down they went early in the championship, finishing 15th with 18 points. Even if Perugia was not penalized they would have been next to last.
Six clubs tried hard to avoid the third relegation spot – Torino came on top of them with 26 points. The others finished with 25. To a point, Torino was a bit of a disappointment this season, for they were strong in the second-half of the 1970s. But the team was not getting stronger, rather the opposite was happening and there was more than a hint of decline. Anyway, they escaped. So did 4 of the 5 clubs ending with 25 points – results between them decided final positions. Brescia draw the short stick, took 14th place and relegated, although it goal-difference was a factor they would have been saved at the expense of Ascoli.
Avellino were, in a sense, the heroes of the table’s bottom – they finished with 25 points, but with positive goal-difference. Avellino really overcome the handicap of 5 points penalty for their participation in the Totonero. If not that, they would have been 6th . Avellino also got a foreign player, who did really well – the little known Brazilian striker Juary.
But the club really jumping up thanks to successful acquisition of foreigner was Napoli – they signed Ruud Krol, aging, but still in excellent form. The arrival of the master boosted the team and they finished with bronze medals.
Third row: Pellegrini, Fiore, Speggiorin, Del Frati (assistant coach), Marchesi (coach), Castellini, Krol.
Middle: Cramnado (masseur), Capone, Marino, Ferrario, Nicolini, Sansonetti, Bruscolotti.
Front row: Damiani, Giudetti, Vinazzani, Musella, Marangon, Improta.
Inter, however, went in the opposite direction – the champions of 1979-80 bought Herbert Prohaska and the Austrian was world class – in theory, this addition should have made the team stronger. But Inter was not at all in the race for the title – they finished 4th.
Second row from left: Renato Cipollini, Nazzareno Canuti, Herbert Prohaska, Alessandro Altobelli, Gianpietro Marini, Graziano Bini.
Crouching: Gabriele Oriali, Carlo Muraro, Domenico Caso, Giuseppe Baresi, Franco Pancheri.
Three strong regulars are missing here – Ivano Bordon, Giuseppe Bergomi, and Evaristo Beccalossi – but even with them the squad is a bit thin. Yet, considering the squads in the league, Juventus excepted, Inter should have been a title contender. Instead, they were good enough for running for bronze and lost even this battle to more inspired Napoli.
Napoli and Inter were not strong enough, so only two clubs competed for the title – AS Roma and Juventus.
Roma, once again coached by Nils Liedholm, was gradually improving since 1974 and now was a title contender. The only truly developing team in the recent years, finally showing real claws, but still not ready to concur Serie A. Roma lost the title by 2 points, not a big difference, but perhaps they paid heavy price for not playing aggressively enough: Roma was the only team in the league not losing any match at home, but they lost too many points precisely at home games – almost half of them were ties: 7 out of 15 home games. It was not their year yet.
Juventus lost two home matches, but they were really looking for wins, not ties – at the end they finished 2 points ahead of Roma, thanks to 17 wins, 10 ties, only 3 losses, the best attack and the best defense in the league. The 19th title in their trophy room.
So familiar champions. Standing: Causio, Zoff, Fanna, Bettega, Scirea, Gentile.
Crouching: Cuccureddu, Prandelli, Cabrini, Tardelli, Brady.
Stabilty is the first word coming to mind regarding Juventus – carefully made team, which made timely adjustments, preserving top position. The best Italian team from the early 1970s, getting stronger and stronger. The Irish great midfielder Liam Brady was added for this years, but even without him the squad was top-notch – 8 current national team players! Incredibly stable team – the regulars hardly missed matches: Furino, not in the picture, was the only regular with less than 25 championship games this season. The previous years were not different – the starters had tons of experience, knew each other perfectly, slowing down was noticed quickly and remedies were thought of at once. Bettega, for instance, was a bit beyond his peak already, but Paolo Rossi was coming to replace him – that was typical Juventus thinking and no wonder the team was strong for so long already and not showing any sign of possible decline. Perhaps Prandelli was not up to the standards – he was not a typical starter, but more of a regular substitute, playing ‘just’ 20 matches this year – but he is familiar name today as a coach. So much for trivia – the rest is consistent strength, unmatched not only in Italy. Oh, well – Giovanni Trapattoni was coaching ‘The Old Lady’, still young and not even reaching the top of his potential.