Champions League fallout: Paddy Agnew watches as the Italians seize the opportunity to crow and have a go at the Spanish

Italy was yesterday basking in the glory of a momentous week of football which has put the country's two most famous sides, Juventus and AC Milan, into the final of the UEFA Champions League.

That spirit of revenge was aimed in particular at the Spanish, whose sports media have heaped derision on Italian football in recent months. This could, of course, be something to do with the fact that Italian clubs have eliminated all of Spain's finest, starting with current league leaders Deportivo La Coruna, then reigning champions Valencia and finishing with the consecutive knockouts administered by Juventus to the Big Two, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Italian clubs, we were informed, like to play defensive football just as "pigs like to roll in manure". Wednesday night's intriguing second leg semi-final between Juventus and Real Madrid was played, according to one Spanish paper, not in Turin but "in the land of football Troglodytes".

Previewing the other all-Italian semi-final between AC Milan and Inter Milan, Spanish daily Marca had advised readers to turn off the television and go to the cinema instead. Milan's celebrated San Siro stadium was renamed the "San Zero" in reference to the poor-quality, overly defensive fare offered by the two Milan sides.

Against the background of such fierce criticism, Juve's 3-1 win over Real Madrid on Wednesday night was seen not just as "one in the eye" for the Spaniards but also as a definitive vindication for an Italian football movement that has suffered its share of disappointments in recent times, including a humiliating elimination from last year's World Cup finals and three consecutive seasons of European whitewash at club level.

"Those who idolise Spanish football are free to go the cinema on the night of May 28th so that they do not have to watch Juventus v Milan. It does not really matter anyway since half the rest of the world will be tuning in to Old Trafford to watch the game. But, tell me, was Italian football not outdated, in total ruins and on the way out?", chortled Milan daily Corriere Della Sera.

"The Spaniards have been jeering us for months as if some latter-day Moses had handed down to them the Tablets re-football.

"Now we see them struggle off the pitch on their knees, still reeling from the tough lesson handed out to them," echoed the sports daily Gazzetta Dello Sport.

Many commentators suggested that while some of the criticism aimed at Italian football, and particularly at the Milan-Inter ties, was justified the same could not be said of Juventus after their defeat of Real Madrid.

"This time the good football, indeed the brilliant football, was played exclusively by Juventus. The Spanish contribution to the evening was that of slow-motion, fanciful embroidery from a team that was tired, perhaps over the top and certainly short of creative inspiration".

Many commentators acknowledged that the definitive turning point in Wednesday night's game had been the second-half penalty awarded to Real Madrid.

This was a turning point, argued Rome daily La Repubblica, first and foremost because Juventus defender Paolo Montero probably deserved to be sent off (but was not) and secondly, most obviously, because Juventus goalkeeper Gigi Buffon saved Figo's spot kick.

"However, in the end, Real Madrid produced very little, probably indeed because against this Juventus it simply was not able to do an more", concluded La Repubblica.

With light-hearted realism, the Rome paper also advised Real president Florentin Perez to stop buying the world's best strikers but instead to go looking for a few decent defenders since the Real central pair of Helguera and Hierro are "very slow".

Even Juve's normally elegant coach Marcello Lippi got in on the act, saying: "We've proved that Italian football did not deserve all the negative judgments aimed at it but that, on the contrary, it deserves respect. I don't know if Italian football is the best but that matters little. What matters are the results and the results say that it will be an all-Italian final."