After all the scandals, the big names are back for what may be the most intriguing season in years. Paddy Agnewreports
Serie A, the league championship once called "the most beautiful in the world", gets back to business this evening when Lazio play hosts to Torino at the Olympic Stadium in Rome for the first game of the season.
Even if the burgeoning economic power of the dominant Premiership, allied to a variety of scandals and socio-economic problems, have robbed Serie A of much of its glamour, this still remains an intriguing, highly competitive league.
Not for nothing are Italy the world champions and AC Milan the Champions League holders. The product might be less "sexy", but the quality remains unaltered.
On top of that, the season looks to be one of the most intriguing for years. Twelve months ago, notwithstanding that World Cup triumph in Germany, Italian football was in tatters, struggling to shake off the damage of the calciopoli match-fixing scandal. Missing from the Serie A line-up was the country's most famous club, Juventus, relegated to Serie B as punishment for their involvement in calciopoli, while big-name clubs such as Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina all started the season with points penalties.
This season all the big names are back and with a bang. Juventus have served their time in Serie B, easily winning the lower division. They return to Serie A still smarting from their year in purgatory and with a big point to prove. AC Milan start off as reigning European champions, while historic powers Napoli and Genoa are back in Serie A, keen to reclaim their place in the top flight.
In the context of last season's weakened championship, champions Inter Milan made hay while the corruption scandal ruled. In an all-dominant season, they turned the campionato into a one-horse race. Having made arguably two of the best buys of the Italian summer in Cagliari's Honduran striker David Suazo and Roma's Romanian defender Christian Chivu, Inter look stronger than ever.
Not surprisingly, many pundits make them favourites to repeat the trick. However, no less a judge than former Real Madrid, Juventus, Roma and Milan coach Fabio Capello argues that this season things will be much harder for the reigning champions.
"Inter will again be the team to beat because they have strengthened themselves with two terrific buys in Suazo and Chivu," said Capello. "On top of that, they have rediscovered a really important player in Vieira and they have held on to Figo, another key element. They're a complete team that believes in itself. But it's exaggerated to say that it will be a one-horse race again this year.
"Last season, given the absence (of Juventus) and the points penalties (on Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio), it was as if they had a 15-metre start in a 100-metre sprint. They could still win again this year, but not by the same distance."
At this point, it would seem only realistic to predict that, at best, Serie A will be a four-horse race featuring Inter, AC Milan, Juventus and Roma - round up the usual suspects, in short.
If Inter have strengthened their already strong squad, the good news for Juventus concerns not so much their new players (Portuguese defender Jorge Andrade and his compatriot midfielder Tiago) as much as the big-name squad players they persuaded to stay in Turin.
Goalkeeper Gigi Buffon, midfielder Mauro Camoranesi, French striker David Trezeguet and captain Alessandro Del Piero will provide the "chassis" for a side that, under former Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri, is sure to be nothing if not competitive. Certainly a recent 5-2 friendly win against Roma suggests the Old Lady will not be selling herself short, possible defensive shortcomings notwithstanding.
Roma, the only side to (briefly) challenge Inter last season, could again have a say in the title contest. With new boys in Brazilian defenders Juan and Cicinho and French winger Ludovic Giuly, and with captain Francesco Totti having "retired" from the Italy squad, Roma look stronger than ever.
The point was well made in last weekend's Italian SuperCup when Italian Cup holders Roma beat Inter 1-0 in a game they had dominated.
Until this week, AC Milan had looked very much like more of the same. Then came the midweek purchase of Real Madrid's Brazilian midfielder Emerson, a powerful, ball-winning and not very "Brazilian" player who after four seasons with Roma and two with Juventus knows all there is to know about Serie A.
Not much admired by the Real Madrid fans, Emerson was nonetheless a key cog in the winning machine assembled by coach Capello. He could add much-needed bite and weight to a Milan midfield that so far has relied on just two players, Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso.
Up front, by the way, Milan rely on the Golden Oldies brigade of one-time phenomenon Ronaldo and veteran Pippo Inzaghi. The latter, scorer of both Milan's goals against Liverpool in the Champions League final last May, was at it again the other night, scoring both goals as AC Milan beat Juventus 2-0 in the annual Berlusconi Trophy.
Elsewhere, the season is guaranteed its share of passion as two of Italy's most fervently supported clubs, Genoa and Napoli, return to the fray. North-South battles between Napoli and Inter/Juventus/Milan, as well as derby games in four cities - Genoa, Turin, Milan and Rome - are sure to add to the attraction of what could be a compelling championship.
Unfortunately, the spectre of crowd violence still hangs over the Italian game, as witnessed by the decision to ban "away" Milan fans from Sunday's Genoa v Milan game. Police were concerned that elements among both sets of fans might be willing to rekindle a long-standing rivalry that was partly responsible for the death of Genoa fan Vincenzo Spagnolo, stabbed before a game on January 29th, 1995.
Remember, too, that last season's Serie A was marred by the death of police inspector Filippo Raciti, killed during scuffles prior to the Catania v Palermo Sicilian derby last February.
Notwithstanding that recent tragedy, and even allowing for the fact that security measures introduced last season have made both buying a ticket and getting into the stadium more complicated, football league president Antonio Matarrese hopes to see the trend of falling attendances reversed. He hopes Serie A will attract two million spectators this year. Who knows?
If the promises of a competitive championship are maintained, anything could happen. Il campionato might once again become bello.
