Inter’s triumph in the Champions League has in some way returned Italian football to the top of the pile on the continent, but in no way can that isolated success compare to when Calcio really was the daddy of European football – the 1990’s. Of the twenty Champions League and UEFA Cup finals during that period, there were 10 Italian winners and a further 11 more finalists. Six FIFA World Players of the Year and six Balon d’Or winners played their trade on the peninsula and the world transfer record was broken no fewer than seven times by Italian clubs. Serie A was the place to be.
The strength of the competition and the fact that Serie A had only recently lifted its three foreigners rule meant that Italy was blessed with a precocious talent pool. At USA ’94 the Azzurri were a skied Roberto Baggio penalty away from their fourth World Cup, and made the short trip to France once again amongst the favourites to win the competition. Only four of Coach Cesare Maldini’s outfield squad were over 30, and Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi and Christian Vieri were all coming into their peak in their early twenties. Combined with the experience of Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta at the back, and the quality of Demetrio Albertini and Luigi Di Biagio in midfield, expectations from the motherland were typically high. Spirits were also raised by the reappearance of Italia ‘90 hero and US ’94 villain, Baggio after the Divine Ponytail enjoyed an Indian summer with Bologna, scoring 22 league goals.
Despite all the talent on show, the Azzurri still managed to make a meal of qualifying for the tournament and after Glenn Hoddle’s England team did an Italian job on the Italians in Rome, they had to negotiate a two-legged play-off with Russia before appearing at their fourteenth World Cup. When there, Group B also containing Chile, Austria and Cameroon presented few problems, with the only points dropped coming in a 2-2 against the Marcelo Salas inspired Chileans in the first game. Two goals from the prolific Vieri helped Italy to a comfortable 3-0 win over Cameroon next up, with Baggio and Vieri again on the scoresheet to wrap things up against Austria.
Having strode purposefully out of the group, Italy were paired with the organised and obdurate Norway in the second round – the Scandinavians having beaten and progressed with Brazil from Group A. In a predictably tight tussle at the Stade Veledrome, another Vieri goal was enough to send Maldini’s men through to a quarter-final against the hosts at the Stade de France – the venue of the final. Les Blues under the scrutiny of their home audience had needed the first World Cup ‘golden goal’ courtesy of Laurent Blanc to scrape past Paraguay in the last sixteen, and were again apprehensive about losing in a sterile encounter with the Azzurri. Chances were at a premium and Baggio almost nicked it late into extra time when his header flashed across the face of Fabien Barthez’s goal. However, the tie was to be settled by penalties and after Zinedine Zidane and Baggio exchanged the opening spot-kicks, both Bixente Lizarazu and Albertini missed. Another two penalties apiece were put away, before Blanc made it 4-3, meaning Di Biagio had to score to keep Italy in. The Roma man thumped his kick against the bar to send the French through, and the Italians home for a third World Cup in a row via the heartache of penalty kicks.
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