Why Italian teams struggle in Europe

I've touched on this before, last season I believe, but it's so obvious to me now the reasons Serie A has failed to win in Europe in recent years (at least a decade now). There are three main reasons that I'll address, and they are money, mentality, and physicality.

I'll just start on money because it is one of the deciding factors in who wins in football. Back when Serie A was the dominant league, it was because they had owners dumping unsustainable amounts of money into clubs up and down the table. At least 7 clubs were relevant, hence the name "seven sisters". However, things change, and the league failed to innovate, so it was quickly overtaken in terms of production and hype. The stadiums are mostly old and many have running tracks, the language isn't popular, there are regular incidents with racism, and the marketing is really poor. This all means that when FFP showed up, almost everyone outside of Juventus was caught lacking, and one dominant club certainly doesn't bring visibility to the league. Another reason money is relevant is the Milan clubs, by far the most successful and popular along with Juventus, have only recently returned to the Champions League, which is where teams make money. Atalanta are "well run", but that's honestly just by crappy Serie A standards, and that's a club with plenty of issues of its own to deal with.

Next, and this is equally important in my opinion, is the "Italian football mentality". When I look at three of the four teams in the Champions League this season, they all are defense first. Now, this is NOT about acting like the only way to play is possessing the ball to death or pressing teams into submission. What I'm saying is you look at Inter when Conte was there and even more now, Milan under Pioli, and the "win by a horse's nose" ideal of Allegri; all these teams defend after scoring and don't go for the kill. That's the difference between those three and Bayern, Liverpool, and Man City (the teams that are favorites each season). It's actually a lot like Chelsea, but Chelsea spend their Russian oligarch money so they can actually win playing defensive football. Napoli now play attractive football, as they replaced Gattuso with Spalletti, but they're in Europa so they don't get the spotlight. The only team playing "good football" in CL is Atalanta, and they simply have a glass ceiling when compared with the global brands in that competition. Look at who they lose to. PSG, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Man Utd. All massive brands with ridiculous spending power. The football they play is praise worthy, but they won't win because their players are not world class.

Finally, I want to touch on physicality, the other issue I see plaguing this league. It's as much/more of an issue in La Liga, to be fair, but I'll discuss it in Italy. When I look at English, French, and German football, I see athletes and a back and forth game (generally). There are bits of chaos here and there in the other two leagues, but by and large the teams are cautious and the games are slower. Part of this is down to the type of player being produced in each country, as well as physicality. When I think of Italy's strengths at the moment, from the EURO winning team, I'd say for sure central midfield. Verratti, Locatelli, Jorginho, Barella from that team, as well as Pellegrini, Tonali, Cristante, Castrovilli, Pessina, and more. I would say central defense, but the new generation only really has Bastoni at this point. None of the players I just mentioned are particularly gifted in terms of physicality, and this is what I'm talking about. Like Spain, you can control games in midfield, but it's not like these guys all play for the same club team. Jorginho and Verratti aren't even in Italy. I'd say they have one elite winger in Chiesa, and yes I mean that, with Zaniolo having missed seasons so I can't count him as elite right now. I also think the way Allegri and Mourinho coach will limit those guys, but that's not the point for this paragraph. There are ZERO top strikers in the country right now, much like Spain. Long story short, Italian teams generally fail to adapt to how football is played today, and they won't win in Europe until they do (or simply buy the best players, which won't happen either). As I said before, Atalanta play a modern style, but when they face superior opposition the man-marking betrays them almost every time.