5 Serie A Teams who unexpectdly reaped achievements

DBasia.news – Serie A became a league that gave birth to a lot of football drama on the field, a duel full of intrigue, fierce battles between clubs, and coaches fighting strategy.

All the beauty of Serie A was present in the 90s era. All football lovers were sedated by the presence of world-class stars.

Not only in Italy and Europe, Indonesia is also one of the countries with the most Serie A lovers in the world. Not surprisingly, in Indonesia there are fan bases of Sampdoria, Lazio, and Parma.

In fact, long ago Parma was an idol club for fans when strengthened by players such as: Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, Gianluigi Buffon, Hernan Crespo, and Juan Sebastian Veron.

But it is all in the pass. Serie A will never be the same again. However, now is the right time to rewatch it. Serie A has been resurrected since the arrival of the superstar who has won five Ballon d’Or and five Champions League titles, Cristiano Ronaldo.

His arrival not only benefited Juventus in various aspects, the domino effect also occured with the increasingly competitive Serie A. The competition underneath the top teams has also been increasingly exciting. The other 19 teams are motivated to prove that Serie A is not a weak league.

Some clubs have competed to be champions with Juventus, some other teams fight to enter the European zone, and the rest want to avoid the relegation zone.

Like the Premier League, with unpredictable competition from teams that can disrupt top teams, Serie A is too.

This proves that Serie A is competitive again. It is rare for the public to see a team competing in the top flight of Serie A which is dominated by Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Naples and AS Roma.

So far, only a handful of secondary clubs that have been able to surprise Serie A. Among these are the five teams:

1. Chievo Verona (2001-02)

The status of the 2001-02 Serie A promotion team, Chievo Verona was originally predicted to go down again to Serie B. But in fact, The Flying Donkey – the nickname of Chievo – instead flew high in Serie A and had topped the standings for six weeks under the tutelage of Luigi Delneri

Chievo’s strength is centered on both wings. In a 4-4-2 formation, Eriberto and Christian Manfredini have always been a scourge for the opponent’s defense with their ability to penetrate and provide crosses. Massimo Marazzina also showed his sharpness up front through a total of 13 goals scored in Serie A.

In addition, Delneri’s squad also has experienced players like Nicola Legrottaglie, Eugenio Corini, Simone Perrotta, Fabio Fimani, and Bernardo Corradi. They lasted at the top of the table and at the end of the season, Chievo finished fifth with a UEFA Cup ticket (now called the Europa League).

What was so heroic and great about Chievo’s trip in the 2001-02 season, Marco Vitale was inspired and made an economical football book entitled “Fenomeno Chievo. Economia, costume, societa “.

2. Sampdoria (1990-91)

Throughout the establishment of the club from Genoa for 72 years, Sampdoria won only once in Serie A, namely in the 1990-91 season – in the era when Serie A was on top. Roberto Mancini, Attilio Lombardo, Gianluca Pagliuca, Gianluca Vialli and Pietro Vierchowod were key to Sampdoria under the Serbian coach, Vujadin Boskov.

Vialli scored 19 goals in Serie A and Mancini became his tandem up front. Sampdoria applied an effective counterattack strategy in its journey in the 1990-91 season. Solid on the back, Sampdoria is sharp like a knife on the front.

David Lacey (a former Guardian correspondent) described the Sampdoria team as a team that is awake (from the defense side) and quiet (without realizing it, Sampdoria can score goals quickly).

While the Dutch art critic, Rudi Fuchs, described Sampdoria as a representative of Italian football as a whole. “The Italians welcome and attract you, tease you with their subtle approach, then strike a goal as sharp as a knife’s edge.”

Sampdoria only swallowed three defeats, conceded 24 goals – the second best after Milan, and scored a total of 57 goals – the most among 17 other clubs.

3. Udinese (2012-13)

From the beginning until now, the club with the same color style as Juventus and AC Siena is known as a club that often orbits young players, in the middle of nowhere, becoming Europe’s top players. Arturo Vidal and Mauricio Isla became famous products from the players’ training by Francesco Guidolin.

In the 2012-13 season, Udinese once enlivened the competition at the top of Serie A and ended the season in fifth place with a ticket to the Europa League Third Round Qualifiers.

Udinese has the collectivity to play in a squad containing: Antonio Di Natale, Medhi Benatia, Luis Muriel, Roberto Pereyra, Piotr Zielinski, Allan, and Giampiero Pinzi. Di Natale became the most prominent player with a score of 23 goals, six adrift of the top scorer of Serie A who played in Naples, Edinson Cavani.

4. Cagliari (1969-70)

History that may never be repeated again. The small club from the Sardinian Islands which was formed in 1920 once ruled Serie A with 11 goals conceded, 42 goals, and two defeats during the 1969-70 season, when the league still contained 16 clubs.

The Cinderella story of Cagliari was built with patience from the Presidency of Enrico Rocca, who lifted Cagliari from Serie C, to the Efisio Corrias era which perfected the foundations of Rocca. In the era of Manlio Scopigno’s coaching, Cagliari became a solid and whole team.

Riva’s “Gigi” Luigi, Nene, Pierluigi Cera, Enrico Albertosi, Mario Martiradonna, Giulio Zignoli, are some Scudetto Cagliari heroes whose names will be timeless in the history of the club and also Serie A. Scopigno cleverly blends the squad.

Cera, who in fact was a defensive midfielder, was made a central defender, until he had a vision to build attacks from behind.

Together with Albertosi, Martiradonna, and Zignoli, Cera formed a formidable fortress in the back line. In the middle and sides of the wing, Nene and Angelo Domenghini are always a threat with their speed and ability to process the ball.

The midfield maestro, Ricciotti Greatti, always creates dangerous opportunities for the opponent’s defense and supplies the ball to the predator, Riva. A piece of the Cagliari story in the 1969-70 season will always be a beautiful story from generation to generation told by Sardinians from one generation to the next.

5. Atalanta (2016-17)

La Dea (The Goddess) was not formed as a trophy fighter team. The proof, during the 110 years of the founding of the club, Atalanta only once won the Coppa Italia 1962-63, the rest was on Serie B, six times. No doubt their achievements in the 2016-17 season are referred to as Atalanta’s most successful achievement in Serie A.

At that time, under the tutelage of a coach who likes to play the tactics of three defenders, Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta finished fourth in the standings and was entitled to receive a ticket directly to the Europa League group phase. In the previous season Atalanta only finished 13th in the standings.

Alejandro Gomez is the sharpest player in the Atalanta squad with 16 goals in Serie A. Gasperini is also able to maximize the potential of players in the squad owned by Mattia Caldara, Roberto Gagliardini, Andrea Conti, Bryan Cristante, Franck Kessie, Jasmin Kurtic and Andrea Petagna.

Gasperini’s concoction made Atalanta the fourth sharpest team in Serie A under Napoli (94 goals), AS Roma (90 goals), and Juventus (77 goals), who won at the end of the season.

Improvements in the Atalanta playing chart has continued to this day. They qualified for the Champions League in club history in the 2019-20 season after finishing in the top three in Serie A 2018-19.