OFFICIAL: JUVE, LAZIO, FIORENTINA RELEGATED
And AC Milan Is Out Of Champions League For Season 06/07
So after weeks of decision making and investigation, the Italian FA have finally decided on the punishments for the 4 clubs involve in corruption and match-fixing scandal. Below is a quite summary:
AC MILAN - Stays in Italian Calcio Serie A, but they will start next season with a whopping -15 points. Will be without European football next season. Least affected.
LAZIO - Relegated from Serie A to Serie B. Starts next season with a 7 points deficit.
FIORENTINA - Relegated from Serie A to Serie B. Starts next season with 12 points deficit.
JUVENTUS - Worst hit club, due to their outright cheating. STRIPPED OFF THE SERIE A TITLE FOR THE LAST 2 SEASONS. Relegated from Serie A to Serie B. Starts next season with -30 points.
So, it will all be in quite some mess next season, with clubs going down, the merceneries...oh sorry, the players will have to make a move out of the sinking ship. I for one, can't see Juventus moving out of Serie B for quite some time and 3 years is the MINIMUM for them to move back out into the top flight.
The 4 teams that replace them in European competition will be Inter, Roma, Palermo and Chievo.
LET THE GREAT ITALIAN SALE BEGIN
After clubs are relegated, players with higher profile will usually choose to leave the team because they won't want to waste their talents to save a sinking ship right? Gabriel Batistuta will surely spring up from your mind, as he's really a club legend at Fiorentina. When Fiorentina was relegated few years back, he chose to stay on and help rescue the club.
But here we are talking about 4 squads of talented and high profile players especially for the case for Juventus and AC Milan. Both these teams are the flagship of Italian football over the years and have done them proud in European competition. What made them do such indecent act is beyond me, but as long as there's human, there's corruption.
Juventus is surely the worst hit club, in terms of the punishment dealed out and of course, the squad will be affected. This is the time when you can actually judge who actually loves the club and who's those merceneries. To me, almost everyone in that team are anyway. Clubs like ManYoo, Chelsea and Real Madrid have been hovering above Juve for weeks like vultures waiting to pounce. More so for Real, who have appointed former Juventus coach, Fabio Capello and surely, this is the smart move? He had the working experience with the players there and it'll be easy for him to lure the players over to Spain.
Rumours:
Giangluigi Buffon - To either Arsenal or AC Milan
Patrick Vieira - Back to England? Or most likely to Real Madrid.
Emerson - Most likely a move to Spain. Maybe to Valencia.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Signed a contract with Inter Milan.
Alex Del Piero - No word, perhaps he is their 'Batistuta' ? He'll have all my respect for doing that.
Pavel Nedved - No word as well.
Mauro Camoranesi - Linked with Liverpool as well as Valencia and Inter Milan.
David Trezeguet - Arsenal or Lyon
Gianluca Zambrotta - Real Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona.
Lilian Thuram - Arsenal, or a move back to home, France.
Fabio Cannavaro - Apparently, Chelsea is the favourites to snap up the Italian captain. But AC Milan will be interested as well as Real Madrid.
Look, how many of those players actually made an appearance in the World Cup finals. It's more like a world came crashing down scenario for some players. But I doubt they will have much trouble finding new clubs, especially those who had performed well.
This will throw the balance of football into a spin and I'm worried. Chelsea will still continue to sign players to form their B, C and D squad while Real Madrid is going to buy their way to success again. But having the best players doesn't always equate to success. I believe that Rafa will use his resources well and do what he can. We're not as rich as Chelsea, but as least we're making a difference.
Will the Old Lady rise again?
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