ANALYSIS: The Bianconeri's Champions League final appearance against Barcelona will be visible proof that finances aren't everything in football
The European Cup has had its surprise successes over the years and, as such, Juventus' progression to the Champions League final at the expense of Real Madrid should not have come as such a major shock.
The Old Lady is no penniless pauper, with her status as Italy's biggest club being bolstered by yet another Serie A title this season. It was hardly a David vs Goliath story. The trip to Berlin in June will mark their eighth final, not their first.
Yet the ever-widening gap between the richest and the rest in the modern game dictates that any failure for one of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid becomes a huge story. The phenomenal pulling power of the top trio has threatened not just to leave behind the minnows of the game, but also many of the traditional giants from elsewhere across the globe - Juventus included.
Not since 2008 has the Champions League final taken place without one of Barca, Bayern or Madrid, while all three have made the semi-finals in three of the last four campaigns. It is four years since the Germans didn't make the semis, with Madrid going one better. Barca, meanwhile, have only once failed to make the last four in eight attempts since a last-16 exit to Liverpool in 2007.
There can be no doubting that the financial conditions which have been put in place in recent years have been hugely beneficial to the traditional powerhouses, with the largely unchanged make-up of the Champions League each season speaking volumes about the way the natural order has been strengthened.
GOAL.COM
No comments:
Post a Comment