This season’s Champions League has not been a great one for Italian soccer. Forward of this week’s motion, there have been critical doubts surrounding all 4 golf equipment from the boot-shaped peninsula.
With some poor first-leg showings, it was wanting like it might be . Because the reintroduction of the last-16 knockout spherical in 2003-04, there has all the time been at the least one Italian consultant. Even worse for this present crop, on 12 events within the final 22 years, there have been three.
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So, with aid restored with Atalanta’s magical comeback towards Borussia Dortmund, let’s at the least have a look at a comfort… , which may hopefully be reinvested to raised impact subsequent season.
Napoli (eradicated within the league section): €47.22 million
NAPLES, ITALY – JANUARY 28: The gamers of SSC Napoli look dejected at full-time following the staff’s defeat within the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Section MD8 match between SSC Napoli and Chelsea FC at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on January 28, 2026 in Naples, Italy. (Picture by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Pictures)
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Antonio Conte’s Napoli stuttered to a League Section exit, with mediocrity on the fore of their outcomes column. A gap evening 2-0 defeat away to Manchester Metropolis set a comparatively dour tone, though the Partenopei labored exhausting following Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s early dismissal.
Religion was considerably restored with a 2-1 dispatch of Sporting on the Maradona, but this felt like a flash within the pan as an impressed PSV powered on to a 6-2 thrashing on the Philips Stadion.
A return to port between late November and early December did restore a way of normality, as Conte’s troops rallied to a 2-0 victory over Qarabag, however then slumped to a 0-0 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt.
The latter’s uncertainty seeped into some extent from two video games between Lisbon and Copenhagen, earlier than a 3-2 residence loss towards Chelsea noticed the Azzurri crash out with a meagre thirtieth place end within the whole standings.
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Glimmers of promise blended with inconsistencies throughout the park lead many in Campania to suppose forward to subsequent season (each within the Scudetto race and Europe). There, they may incorporate €47.22 million to their efforts.
Juventus (eradicated within the playoffs): €62.19 million
TURIN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 25: Galatasaray gamers rejoice after profitable on combination within the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Knockout Play-off Second Leg match between Juventus and Galatasaray A.S. at Juventus Stadium on February 25, 2026 in Turin, Italy. (Picture by Stefano Guidi/Getty Pictures)
Faring considerably higher than their southern Serie A rivals, Juventus nonetheless had a chaotic League Section themselves. Their first two outings at residence to Borussia Dortmund and away at Villarreal ended stage and with zero objective distinction, regardless of hitting the again of the online six instances.
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After falling to a closely-fought 1-0 defeat on the Santiago Bernabeu, Igor Tudor’s draw-happy group noticed a 1-1 stalemate at residence to Sporting within the Croatian’s closing time on the continental helm. Luciano Spalletti took over, and nearly squeezed previous the head-turning Bodo/Glimt 3-2 away, because of Jonathan David rescuing the win within the 91st minute.
Spalletti’s new supervisor bounce continued with consecutive 2-0 residence victories over Benfica and Pafos, and just about settled playoff qualification forward of a bleak 0-0 draw at Monaco. Issues actually heated up within the subsequent stage, although.
Galatasaray’s boisterous Rams Park performed host to the Bianconeri, popping out the worst of an end-to-end 5-2 drubbing. Noa Lang starred with a double, holding the strained ex-Napoli hyperlink alive. That acquainted membership connection received’t have been misplaced on Spalletti within the second leg.
Victor Osimhen hit the primary of a two-punch knockout within the second half of additional time to snuff out a valiant Juve comeback try and finish the tie 5-7 in Gala’s favour.
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Deflated, but fastened again on the highest 4 path in Serie A, the staff from Turin can prepared themselves with €62.19 million.
Inter (eradicated within the playoffs): €69.77 million
MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 24: Bodo/Glimt gamers rejoice in entrance of the followers following the staff’s victory within the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Knockout Play-off Second Leg match between FC Internazionale Milano and FK Bodo/Glimt at Stadio San Siro on February 24, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Picture by Marco Luzzani/Getty Pictures)
Inter’s Champions League marketing campaign obtained began in very best vogue, with Cristian Chivu’s staff wanting quietly assured of pushing themselves again to a different closing.
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Their near-faultless first 4 video games towards Ajax, Slavia Prague, Union Saint-Gilloise, and Kairat Almaty noticed the Nerazzurri tuck away 11 objectives with only one in response. Nevertheless, when the large boys arrived within the fixture listing, momentum was misplaced.
A troublesome trifecta of fixtures between late November and mid-January noticed no factors acquired. First, Atletico Madrid settled a 2-1 rating proper on the dying on the Metropolitano because of Jose Maria Gimenez. Late drama continued towards Liverpool on the Giuseppe Meazza too, as a Dominik Szoboszlai penalty flattened spirits within the 88th minute.
After this, Arsenal ran away from Milan with a 3-1 win to proceed an ideal first seven video games, resulting in questions in the direction of the well-respected former defender within the Inter dugout.
Chivu restored the religion that he’d been bestowed throughout his first Serie A time period taming and main Il Biscione (the Huge Grass Snake) to the league summit. His aspect battled previous Dortmund to settle a late 2-0 away win in Germany. Composure, nevertheless, was in the end lacking towards event wildcards Bodo/Glimt, with Inter changing into one more well-known footnote in soccer historical past.
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Including to the Scandinavians’ spectacular scalp assortment, together with Manchester Metropolis and Atletico Madrid, they have been surprised 3-1 on the astro turf within the Arctic Circle, earlier than the yellow Gleam blinded San Siro to see the mixture rating settle at 5-2.
After all, now’s the right time to be important of the Serie A leaders, but we’ll go away the interior enquiry to that of the Italian media and the membership, as they finish the European season with €69.77 million.
Atalanta (certified for the Spherical of 16): €70.40 million
BERGAMO, ITALY – FEBRUARY 25: The gamers of Atalanta BC rejoice the victory on the finish of the through the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Knockout Play-off Second Leg match between Atalanta BC and Borussia Dortmund at Stadio di Bergamo on February 25, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Picture by Marco Luzzani/Getty Pictures)
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The Bergamo outfit started poorly with a 4-0 thrashing by the hands of PSG in Paris, but grappled again some management with some regular showings. Within the subsequent fixtures, a measly 0-0 draw with Slavia Prague, a 3-2 residence defeat towards Athletic Bilbao, and a 1-0 away defeat to USG punctuated some fairly spectacular performances.
First, Gli Orobici edged out Membership Brugge 2-1 at residence, and Marseille 1-0 away. They then continued optimistic type on their travels with an imposing 3-0 efficiency in Frankfurt. Forward of the losses to Bilbao and USG, one other 2-1 win, this time towards Chelsea, turned heads in England.
Nevertheless, with the primary leg of the play-offs, it appeared that the consecutive defeats had stopped La Dea in her stride as Dortmund prevailed 2-0 with a stable first-half displaying on the Westfalenstadion.
Cue a really frenetic second leg. Gianluca Scamacca took simply 5 minutes to trace at Raffaele Palladino’s decided outlook on the New Steadiness Area. Then, Davide Zappacosta levelled the tie on combination simply earlier than the interval with a deflected effort from vary.
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Forward of the hour, Mario Pasalic’s header from an inch-perfect Marten de Roon cross introduced additional euphoria, however Karim Adeyemi rapidly halted this with an instantaneous influence from the bench approaching the ultimate quarter-hour.
The closing phases supplied this conflict with the frenzied crescendo it deserved as Atalanta stored pushing for the winner. Gregor Kobel struggled to get the ball away from his field, and a secondary cross over the keeper had Ramy Bensebaini hooking his leg up.
The Algerian inadvertently caught the decided Nikola Krstovic, and the VAR helped referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez level to the spot, dismissing each Bensebaini and indignant substitute Nico Schlotterbeck within the resolution’s wake.
So, Atalanta maintain the Italian spirit alive within the final 16 and can get pleasure from a bonus of €70.4 million for subsequent time period. Their subsequent opponent might be determined within the knockout draw on Friday (tomorrow) at 11:00 GMT.
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