Champions League | Match Day 1

We greet you with a smile destination calcio .com. It's David Ferrini, Dan Cancian and Emmet Gates bringing you another broadcast where smart working as they call this in Italy. We're back in the UK, all of us and we're happy to be back from Como. Dan and I went there. Next up we've got Emmett ready to come to Milano as you will see down the bottom of your screens. Check out our social platforms, Facebook, Insta, TikTok, Twitter, all those things, and especially the website. Let's get into the first order of the day. Toto Schillaci has passed, sadly, after everyone remembers him for that Italia 90 performance. Came from next to nowhere, playing at Messina. All of a sudden thrust into the international arena, into the spotlight and did what he did. Played up forward with Robbie Baggio I saw Robbie Baggio actually put up an Instagram post Dan (00:37) Let's get into the first quarter. David Ferrini (00:58) yesterday to pay tribute to Toto Guys Saturday. Dan (01:05) Yeah, very sad day. mean, 59 is no age really, is it? And I think it's sad particularly because for people of our age, it's something that we... it marks like a generational shift. I think Italian 90 was arguably the last of the Inverter Commerce pure World Cups before football became this giant commercial and financial jack -o' -n that... seems impossible to stop and maybe it's nostalgia, maybe it's you know the feeling that we're all getting old but it just felt like everything was better back then you know the kids, the players, perhaps not the football but there was just something special about the World Cup and he embodied it. David Ferrini (01:55) Yeah, it was more organic back then, Dan. I agree with you wholeheartedly. 100 % Emmett. What about you? You've put a piece up on Destination Culture about Skilachi's passing. Emmet (02:07) Yeah, I mean, think for a lot of people, obviously in Italy he associated with the Magic Knights on that summer when Italy hosted Italia 90. But for people in the UK and especially in Ireland, because he knocked Ireland out at the quarterfinals, he's endeared himself to people all around the world. And it's kind of like I posted on Twitter, I think Scalacci was one of the last players that not exactly come from an unknown but because of the pure saturation of football now you can get so much information so much footage so much stats on players before they've hardly even kicked a ball whereas Galacci come he went to Italian 90 as a backup striker and three weeks later he left a national hero and he's one of the last to be able to do that because you just simply can't do it now and it's as Dan said it kind of his passing brings back memories of a a cleaner, purer, more simpler time in football before the commercial beast set in. It's a sad, obviously any passing of footballers, but for Scalaggis, typically it's a reminder of what football used to be. David Ferrini (03:24) Absolutely. We're going to touch on Toto's life in a separate podcast. We're going to dedicate some time to him. That will be towards his funeral date. Whenever that is, we're going to meander through the Champions League matches that have already happened this week. Also, there's one that still is yet to be played. We're recording this just before Atalanta take on Arsenal. But Juventus, Bologna, Milan and Inter. We're going to finish off with that big one at the Jevys Stadium. look, Emmett, you're in the kitchen there. can see that Juventus are cooking up some goodies. Three goals to one against PSV, Yildiz, McKennie, Nico Gonzalez, then Saibari with a good finish at the end. That Yildiz goal, he's a connoisseur of flamboyant goals. seems, does Juve have their new Alex Del Piero? Emmet (04:14) No pressure there for Yildiz. I mean he did break his record to become Juve's youngest scorer in the Champions League of all time, beating Dalpiro's record I think by around a year. But you want to keep the pressure off him. He's only still a teenager. There's still a lot of growth there, a lot to develop. But you just need to give him the freedom, take away the pressure. but you know, what a goal. And yeah, he's definitely a superstar in the making, but I think it's key to keep the pressure off him and just let him, you know, develop at his own pace. But yeah, what a goal. David Ferrini (04:58) Absolutely. Is this a case of U -Vayor being great or PSV filling their nappies? they go there and not perform to their very best and Coupe Miners looking good, winning balls and helping the tempo of Juventus but PSV in that performance, is it U -Vayor just being simply too good? Dan (05:17) I think there is a bit of both. EU were definitely good. They needed a result like that after the two stalemate draws in Serie A. But PSV, they were a bit underwhelming, shall we say. And I think we're going to be seeing a lot of these with the current format in the Champions League. Because while it may help smaller teams get through, you're also going to have occasions just these where you have just... The teams are overmatched. PSV won the league in the Netherlands last season. are top of the Eredivisie this season. But it looked man against boys for the majority of the game. David Ferrini (05:58) Yeah, did look three decent goals there. McKennie's goal was a good one. And that El Sombrero move by Nico Gonzalez, you know, flipping the ball from one side of the defender around the back, getting through, putting a ball in Vlavich with a touch McKennie with a finish. McKennie's not every Juventino's favorite player. Emmett, you know, he scored a goal and now I guess he's got Nico Gonzalez to thank. Nico Gonzalez was criticized after his Serie A performances, but the stats showed that PSV deserved a goal. They did get one in the end, 15 to 12 goal attempts. Also the XG 2 .57 against 0 .099. So it pretty much played out exactly how the algorithms would assume. We've heard about the rise of Di Gregorio. Is this a crisis now that you have conceded their first goal of the season, Emmett? Emmet (06:51) I think it is, I think he should be dropped for Mateja Perrin and actually he should be sold on the back conceding that goal. mean you know statistically have the best defence in Europe's top five leagues, in the league anyway they haven't conceded in the four games but I think as Thiago Mata said after the game if all your biggest concern coming out of the game is conceding the late goal it didn't mean anything you've got no problems really so. Yeah, I mean, obviously any goalkeeper will want to keep a clean sheet, but all things considered, think Diego Aguero will be happy with what he's done so far in his UVA career. David Ferrini (07:30) Is it an omen considering that Napoli are coming to town? the Allianz Stadium, which I will mention that we've got the stadium guide available on DestinationCulture .com. Allianz Stadium, we were there for Juventus Como. It's going to be phenomenal this weekend. Napoli in town, it's second on the ladder against third in the standings, depending on which part of the world you come from, whether it's a lateral standings or Campionato or whatever it is. But it's Napoli then Genoa away. Then it's RB Leipzig in the Champions League again. Let's move on to Bologna, who didn't do too badly. They fared fairly well 60 years since European Cup Champions League status for them. Renato de Lara in full voice, Skorupski doing well. The penalty given away by Posh, he lacked that pace to keep up with Eguinaldo. That just seems like a player that's made up back on PS. Skorupski diving to his left to save that frustrating night considering the stats. The weather didn't help. Castro and Orsalini looking lively and Dui with the slid that pass through. Castro nearly beating the keeper, Ruznik Bologna to their credit kept coming, Shakhtar thinking the footballing gods, thanking them at the end for nicking in a way result against Bologna. That's an interesting sign considering Shakhtar usually fairly good at this level. Look, Vincenzo Italiano, Dan, you did a piece on him following the Como match, which we attended. What is in store for him? Dan (09:02) It's hard to say, it? Italiano has been pleading for time since he was installed to replace Diego Mota. And you can see why he's been pleading for time. Last night was an improvement. Bologna look, as you said, more solid, more direct. They had a better tempo of the game. But they just cannot score. They cannot score to save their lives. And it's interesting when you look at their sort of... issues in front of goal because they lost Joshua Xerx to United. But it's not like Xerx was an over prolific striker. scored 11 goals in Serie A last season. So why did leave a gap? It's not like they have to replace a 30 -goal -a -season striker. And Italiano, again, that was more of the same for me. I the post -match press conference said that they need to be more clinical in front of goal. They need to be better at taking their chances. And I just wonder, you know, whether their play, there is something missing, there's something that these players are not getting what he wants them to do, because the refrain has been the same for the best part of four or five weeks now. It was the same case in Como. In Como, they actually did get their chances. They sort of, they did take their chances rather. And the problem for them was they didn't create anywhere near enough of them to win the game. And last night it was again... back to creating lots of chances and fair -end to taking them. So they have to get this sorted then quickly because they've got a tough run of games coming up. They've got Liverpool and Villa away from home in the Champions League. So Italiano wants time, but as I brought in my PSL this week, I don't think it's going to get it if results don't start coming then quickly. David Ferrini (10:50) Well, the results speak for themselves. He's winless in five competitive games. You mentioned that they've lost Zigzi, of course, he went to Manchester United. But there's also an ACL injury for Ferguson. Salamakers left Calafiore off to Arsenal. Christensen as well, no longer there. Thiago Motta, the big one, of course, they all bought into his system. Emmett, do you think this is a problem for Vincenzo Italiano where everyone bought into the Motta system? Are they buying into the Italiano system? Emmet (11:19) Yeah, I don't think so. And I think obviously, Mata propelled Balaña into the top five playing a certain way. And, you know, as you said, a few, and they're all key, the key players have left or injured. The ones that are left, it's obviously going to take them time to adjust to Italiano's 4 -3 -3. I think without the quality of players that maybe Italiano had at Fiorentina, I don't know if the system that he wants to employ is going to work and I don't know, as Dan said, if he's going to get time. So yeah, I think it is a learning curve, but I don't know if, yeah, like I said, Italiano is going to get time to actually implement it because he could be gone in the next few weeks. David Ferrini (12:05) He could be and they're counting on Ricardo Wasolini. He's the captain. Remoi Froila. Lucky they've got him. Also Fabian playing well. Young kids, young aspiring Italian, 21 years of age. Just having a look through the flyer score up here. Castro up forward. He did OK, I thought. And Dui and Castro trying to combine there to beat Ruznik and Goal. And at the end of the day, it's a situation where they've got Monza away this weekend. And after that, it is excursion that we had three nights in Como. We went off to see at the Giuseppe Sinigalli Stadium. Bologna visiting Como put in a fantastic performance. I thought that first 70 minutes got a pot up of course, that people can check out on our YouTube channel. But Dan disappointing day for Como in the end two goals up and as he said Italiano, he kind of throws everything at his opponent when he's down. So he threw on a few subs that paid off with Ealing Jr. based on their early season form in Serie A, will they get back to the Champions League or even Europa League? Can they instil that sense of winning, of being a European side with Sartori and of course, Fenucci running the club? Are they going to hold on to Italiano and do they belong here? Will they get back here? Dan (13:58) I think that's a loaded question. Would they belong in the Champions League? On the basis of last season, yes. But you just can't see them finishing the top five this season. You can't see them finishing Europa League. And not just because teams around them are likely to be better than they were last season. But as Emmett said, there's just not enough time. don't think there may not be enough time for him to implement his... implement this system and ultimately if your team doesn't score goals you can have the best system in the world but you're not gonna have results to show for it. David Ferrini (14:36) Yeah. And Emmett, Tegelmotte was there. He's now with Juventus. You can see the difference from him leaving one club and going to the other and bringing what he's got to Juventus. He's changed their mentality. They look a lot cleaner despite that Allegri ball performance against Empoli. They were quite good against PSV. Bologna though with Italiano. You can see the night and day, the contrast between the two coaches. Do they belong in Europe on not just on the early season form, but can they turn this around to get there, there's still so much time left in the season. Emmet (15:13) I when they finished in the top five last season everybody was like yeah it's a wonderful thing to see you know a team punching above their weight and getting into the Champions League and I was kind of of the opinion that yes it's nice and it's good to see change in football and teams getting their shot but at the same time you know how the modern day game works. Any team that has won good season, they're broke apart by the beginning of the next season and I feared that's what was going to happen to Bologna and that's exactly what happened. As we've all alluded to, Chalefiori left, Salamacca's left, Xerxi left, Mata left and what you're left with is a shell of a team that there was last season so I don't think, I agree with Don, I think it would be very hard. Even if Italiano gets the season, I still don't think Bologna is going to be anywhere near. You know, even Europa League places this year, I think it was just a one season deal and now they're going to return to the main, which is probably 9th, 10th in and around there. It's sad to see, but I think that's just the way it's going to go. David Ferrini (16:13) Yeah, bye bye. Yeah, based on early season form, looks like Napoli might be springing a surprise, making their comeback of sorts and also Ampoli and Udinese with good early season form. We'll see if they last the distance. Let's move on to Inter nullifying Manchester City. 0 -0 a few changes from the side that drew at Monza. And we were there for that game, Dan, to see Inter. Pava de Vrij, Aslani, Fratezi, Mkhitaryan Di Marco, Lattaro Martinez. Lots of changes for Inzaghi against... the CT Carlos Augusto pushed up out wide on the left with Dimako unavailable. Achebe, Bastoni and Bisset came in. a total overhaul at the back, a midfield overhaul as well. Only Darnian remained in that midfield. Tademi started against City as well. Emmett, we'll throw to you on this. What were your thoughts on N 'Zaghi's methods and his approach to this game? Emmet (17:13) I mean you can clearly see that he's trying to implement rotation, know, making the changes. The system stayed the same, know, 3 -5 -2, which he's brought into the club over the last couple of years. And you can see what he's trying to do. He's trying to give game time to players like Ziliensky who had maybe what, 35 minutes of football since signing and Tereme giving him the start at the expense of Lattaro Martinez. Although I don't think that worked, but I can see his thinking behind it. I don't know if it was wise kind of bringing in, you know, maybe second, second tier players for a game of this magnitude against City in Manchester. But in the end Inter held their own, but I can see, he's trying to freshen things up, give players a game, obviously keeping, you know, one eye on the Derby on Sunday. So yeah, think a rotation was the name of the game for Zaggy and hoping that Inter could still get something, which they did in the end. David Ferrini (18:14) Yeah, Teremi and Turam. They didn't gel all that much, but the positives were Barela was phenomenal. Zieliński also displaying world class levels. Going to the Erihad and asserting yourselves against a side that hasn't lost there in years. Dan, you can touch on that subject for us. Dan (18:32) Yeah, I I slightly disagree with that, but I think this was a textbook performance for Inter Milan. Inzaaki has made clear that he doesn't have starters and substitutes. has 25 players to choose from. And it just goes to show how good Inter's squad is, that he can sort of rotate his players without the performance levels dropping too much. I thought Inter needed to respond after the game against Monza. As you said, we were there. and they were woeful, were sort of sluggish in possession, they looked tired off the ball, they looked like they thought they could just turn up and get a win, which wasn't the case. And last night it was the inter that we saw last season, aggressive, diligent from a tactical standpoint. I thought it was interesting how pretty much every opportunity they created came either on the counter -attack or by them by passing city's pressing quickly. That's what Inzalgi wants. And I thought they could have won the game. Mikitardin had a great chance in the second half. Itamiyan was almost clean to run goal and for reasons that I still haven't figured out, decided to back kill the ball back to Barella. It would have been a United legend forever more if this match went in the top corner, but sadly it wasn't to be. But no, joking aside, think Inter have... Emmet (19:45) I don't know what that was about. Dan (19:59) have nothing to fear against big teams in Europe if they played like they last night. And when you consider that they've got the derby coming up, it could be a really good week for them. David Ferrini (20:10) Yeah, definitely an incline from that monster performance to then go to Manchester and get a good result. Inter's had some decent chances. It seemed like City were set up waiting to pounce on errors from... Inter's defensive third when they wanted to progress up the field. Damian's back heel. Haven't seen him do that too much in his career, Dan. Not at Manchester United, not at Parma, not anywhere. Perhaps this was his make on moment playing coming in from that right side trying to show us his Brazilian inner Brazilian. Foden, Gundawan and Mkhitaryan with chances to win it. Sommar ultimately was massive. Sidi piled on late. Goalless but world class football from both sides, I think. Inter showing they have. what it takes and we've been honing in on Davide Frattese after his big performances for Italy. Dan, you've written a few pieces on that. I will direct people to go to DestinationCulture .com and check on those. But the next match is the big one in terms of Serie A. It's the Derby della Madonnina. It will be played at the Giuseppe Miatsa in the suburb of San Siro. That will be Sunday night. We'll be there to cover that one for DestinationCulture. Let's move on to the team that we playing in that derby, Milan, who were thumped plain and simple against Liverpool 3 -1 Pulasic and Konate, Van Dijk and Schauberslie with the goals. We wrote a piece on these two giants of Europe. We put that up on the site. I will direct people to go and see that. It could have been much worse considering Salah hit the bar twice, guys. Did Milan score too early? So that is a question I will let's see. Will I give this one to Emmett? Emmet (21:52) I think it didn't matter when Milan scored because Liverpool were just going to beat them. You could see it, was evident after the first five minutes Milan scored there was a bit of pressure and then Liverpool felt the way into the game and then it was night and day the difference and Liverpool honestly could have won by 6 or 7 and that's not exaggerating and they were playing in third gear most of the time they just looked tactically, structurally, pace, physicality, a game plan they just looked oceans above Milan and You're kind of thinking what has Paulo Fonseca done in the months that he's been, he was brought into the job in June and it's now September and Milan look a team without a game plan, without a system, without a formation, players not knowing what to do, where to go, what positions to hold. Liverpool, I don't think it really mattered David when Milan scored, whether it was the first minute or the 90th, Liverpool were always going to win this game and that's how it played out. David Ferrini (23:00) Yeah, it appears as though Milan is sliding at a rate of Napoli 2023. It was a set piece shit show to put it bluntly, Dan Pavlovich and Tamori at the back. Do they need more time? Dan (23:14) They need more time, but as Zermatt suggested, they also need a plan to follow and there doesn't seem to be one. Jürgen Klopp often describes his football as organized chaos. With Milan, there is chaos in abundance, but without any hint of organization of any kind. I watched Milan this season three or four times now, and I just can't, for the life of me, work out what they're trying to do. Are they trying to press? Are they trying to be a team that counter -attacks? Are they trying to be neither? I don't know. And the players don't seem to know either, which is far more concerning as far as Fonseca is concerned. Again, you know, the defense looked shambolic. But I don't think you can just put it down to individual mistakes. As I've said, there is a lack of structure. players look at each other, waiting for someone else to step up, waiting for someone to hold the position and it never seems to happen. the confusion is not just on the pitch, the confusion is behind the scenes as well because I don't think that Fonseca was the right man. I've been skeptical about him since day one. It was an odd choice and I don't think it's going to work out for them. Now, yes, they could win the derby, he could turn it around. But in all likelihood, they could get dumped in the derby and it could be gone before next week. David Ferrini (24:47) They don't usually fare too well in the derby of late. Fonseca is in charge of a side that can score goals seemingly against weaker sides, but can't stop conceding them. If we take out that Venezia result, a side that probably would be top six Serie B this season, think, Venezia. Pavlovic and Tamori at the back. I'm just not sure if Fonseca will have enough time to get them working a bit better together. Problems at right back as well. Is that the weak link, the structural issue, the indecision at both corners? think Tiziano Crudelli, the Milan, the old Milan fan. Actually, I've got a video I want to play. I'm just going to get up on my phone. Just have a look at this. It's old school Italian TV. 2024. And this is the kind of stuff. Dan (25:39) That is tremendous. David Ferrini (25:46) that I actually want to cue it up to a bit where Crudelli loses it and it's at the Here we go. Emmet (25:59) Classic Crudelli. Dan (26:01) superb. David Ferrini (26:03) Off he goes. Dan (26:11) Well, he lives in the moment, I give him that. David Ferrini (26:14) Yeah, I should actually forward it to the part where they don't show him disappointed. I don't know if you guys remember when Atalanta beat Milan, I think it was 5 -0 a few years back and Crudelli was reduced to tears. yeah, that was the start of the game. Obviously, that is a 45 minute clip on YouTube that anyone can look up and for the rest of it, it's quite drab and Milan with that kind of performance. That's what they're going to get out of Tiziano Crudelli. Magnan gets injured. Lorenzo Torreani comes in to make his senior debut at 19 years of age in a Champions League game. Is it all unraveling? Can Inter and Fonseca, or can they end his spell? They're with three or four daggers this Sunday. Dan (26:58) I think they can and I think they probably will. There is a gap in quality and a gap in coaching between Inter and Milan at the minute. As Evan says, it's just like night and day as it was with Liverpool. David Ferrini (27:15) Yeah, and if we have a look at Milan's upcoming fixtures, just going to go back to the app here, it's... We've got Inter on Sunday, then Lecce, then Leverkusen away in the Champions League, Fiorentina away, and then Udinese who are top of the table technically, coming to the San Siro. Then it's Club Brugge. We would expect them to beat the Belgian side. Wiedelfonseke will still be there. Who knows? Let's move on to the game that hasn't been played yet. The Champions League, the fifth Italian side, Atalanta Arsenal. So Atalanta come from behind win over Fiorentina. They're back on track seemingly after getting smashed by Inter. But everyone seems to be apart from Monza getting belted by them in Serie A. Always plenty of goals in their matches, an average of four per game for Atalanta thus far in the league. They've already played once in Europe. That was against Real Madrid where they lost 2 -0. But they show they can match it at times with... bigger clubs. Atalanta's fourth Champions League participation every time they've been drawn against an English side. They've only ever beaten them once. Of course, that was Liverpool when they beat Liverpool, should say, 3 -1 on aggregate on their way to lifting the Europa League. What can we expect from Atalanta? Dan. Dan (28:32) I think more of the same really, they're to go out, Gasperini only knows one way to play and that's on the front foot. And why not? It's worked for them in Europe before, it may as well work for them again. I think going back to what we were saying about Bologna and whether they belong at this level, it just shows how good the job Gasperini has done that despite losing players is basically turned Atlantium into... a solid reality in European football, whether it's the Champions League, whether it's the Europa League, they are tremendous addition to the competition and I do think that they could cause Arsenal troubles. Arsenal are in great form obviously, they win against Perth on Sunday, but Atalanta away is not a game to be taken lightly. David Ferrini (29:19) Yeah. And Emmett, what do you think? What can we expect from Atalanta? Emmet (29:23) Yeah mean you're always, know, Gasparini team is always a Gasparini team. I think it was Pep who likened facing Gasparini as like going to the dentist. So Arsenal and Ortega are going to have their work cut out for them, especially with Atalanta at home in the new stadium, completely refurbished now and it looks spectacular and hopefully David, we get the witness at first hand on Monday night against Como. So it's going to be 24 ,000 packed. a raucous atmosphere and you know technically it's going to be a fascinating battle and you know at Atlanta on their day can match any team in Europe I believe and yeah Arsenal are going to have their work cut out for them think tonight. David Ferrini (30:07) Yeah, Arsenal will be aware of the dangers in front of them. Both sides are potent. The Gunners beating Tottenham on the weekend. Declan Rice is available after missing the North Island Derby. Arsenal have only won one of their past six away Champions League matches, losing four of those. So that plays into Gasparini's hands. could be Mateo Retegui's night. He scored three times between the 20th minute and the halftime period. Also Kai Havits has scored twice in that period of the game, both at 25 years of age. Exciting stuff. We will wrap up the show. Go to our YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, whatever you can. We're in beta mode right now in September. We're going to get into a full launch. in October, big announcements including an addition to the staff next week and then a very big announcement coming towards October and that is going to be massive. We are a calcio startup with big ambitions, big announcements to come. boys, Emmett, Dan, thank you. Dan, you're taking the weekend off. You'll be running things from back in the UK. Emmett and I will be off to Milan. Dan (31:29) I am not jealous at all. I'm not jealous at all of you two being in the San Siro for the derby. Not in the slightest. David Ferrini (31:35) Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And also we'll be catching up, I should mention, hopefully, with our friend of the show, Adriano del Monte in Milan to discuss the Derby della Madonnina. Hopefully that will take place on Saturday afternoon. There is a slight chance if our plane is on time, but we'll be going to watch some Serie C, Arsione Milano and Vicenza. We'll leave it there, guys. Make sure you head to DestinationCalcio .com.