Club-by-Club Preview of the 2020/21 Serie A season
Serie A has been dominated by Juventus for the last decade, with Antonio Conte, Massimiliano Allegri and Maurizio Sarri all helping the giants to nine straight titles.
But now, for the first time in a long time, there are serious doubts about their ability to retain their crown in 2020/21.
The coming season is set to be a fascinating one in Italy, and we’ve looked ahead at each of the top flight’s 20 sides’ chances.
Andrea Pirlo has returned to the Allianz Stadium as Juve boss this season in what is his first ever coaching job at any level.
He’ll be in charge of a number of his former teammates and he’ll have to hit the ground running with the Old Lady aiming for a 10th consecutive Serie A title.
Dejan Kulusevski and Arthur Melo have already arrived to strengthen the squad, and Cristiano Ronaldo will be leading from the front.
Antonio Conte’s Nerazzurri are the biggest threat to Juventus’ stranglehold on the Scudetto and he’ll be desperate to get one over one of his former players in Pirlo.
He’s been given signings, most notably Achraf Hakimi and Alexander Kolarov, while Lautaro Martinez hasn’t been signed by Barcelona.
Last season ended with Conte explosively speaking out against the club, but he’ll be hoping for fireworks of a different kind and the end of 2020/21.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s side gained themselves a lot of new fans last season, playing a carefree attacking game that saw them score more goals than anyone in Italy for the second consecutive season, all while reaching the Champions League’s last eight.
They’ve added well in the transfer market, kept big players Papu Gomez, Duvan Zapata, Luis Muriel and Josip Ilicic, with their only sale being backup full-back Timothy Castagne to Leicester. They’ll be aiming for the Champions League again.
Simone Inzaghi’s side have made things uncomfortable for those at the top recently, winning the 2018/19 Coppa Italia and snatching the 2017 and 2019 Supercoppa Italianas from Juventus.
Pre-COVID they looked set to really challenge for the Serie A title, but had the wind taken out of their sails.
With last season’s top scorer Ciro Immobile, Luis Alberto and others in their ranks, they’ll be aiming to finish in the top four again.
Paulo Fonseca came under fire last season but he’s into his second term on the bench now with a clear idea of how he wants his team to play.
The 2019/20 season saw some fine performances followed by some catastrophic games, which he’ll want to iron out as the Giallorossi push to return to the Champions League.
Another Champions League contender, Milan opted to stick with Stefano Pioli despite Ralf Rangnick almost signed as their new coach.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic they have something magic leading their line and they’ve brought in young talent in Brahim Diaz and the promising Sandro Tonali.
Last season started horribly and Carlo Ancelotti paid the price, but things improved a lot under Gennaro Gattuso and the season ended with Coppa Italia silverware.
They’ve spent big to bring in Victor Osimhen to play alongside Fabian Ruiz, Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne and the rest, so they’ll expect to compete for the top four as well.
The Neroverdi stand out for the small population of their town and that their success comes from the backing of a big company in Mapei.
The 2020/21 campaign will be their eighth straight in Serie A and they achieved their second best finish – eighth – last season.
They’ve always had talent and that’s no different now with Jeremy Boga, Francesco Caputo and Manuel Locatelli some of their starring players.
Ivan Juric’s side were last season’s breakout team after gaining promotion from Serie B and they flirted with European qualification at times.
They’ve lost big players this summer to Napoli, Fiorentina and Roma respectively, so Juric will be up against it from the off this season.
They opted to stick with Giuseppe Iachini rather than appoint Daniele De Rossi or Unai Emery after he had steered them back on track last term, but this season they’ll be aiming for Europe.
Borja Valero has returned home, Franck Ribery is still there and Federico Chiesa is too, for now.
Their third consecutive season in the top flight after achieving three straight promotions and they’ve recently been taken over by American Kyle Krause.
Roberto D’Aversa parted ways with the club to be replaced by former Lecce coach Fabio Liverani. They’ll be happy to have another peaceful season in 2020/21.
Bologna boss Sinisa Mihajlovic knows the true meaning of survival, having recovered from Leukaemia and coronavirus this year.
He’ll be wanting to steer his team clear of the relegation battle in Serie A this season.
Luca Gotti, Maurizio Sarri’s former assistant coach at Chelsea, has earned the trust of Udinese owner Gino Pozzo since taking over last November.
His goal this season will be to better the 13th-place finish achieved last time out.
New head coach Eusebio Di Francesco has been busy in the transfer market this summer, signing the likes of Giovanni Simeone from Fiorentina and Razvan Marin from Ajax.
A European place beckons for Cagliari if everything falls into place.
Claudio Ranieri’s men just about survived relegation after a disappointing end to last season where they picked up four points from a possible 15.
Still with veteran striker Fabio Quagliarella leading the line, Samp’s objectives start with avoiding the drop.
Marco Giampaolo’s side will want to avoid being sucked into a relegation battle for the second season running.
Much of their hopes of a comfortable league finish are pinned on star striker Andrea Belotti.
Everything indicates that Genoa will once again have to fight for their lives in Italy’s top flight.
Rolando Maran is the new man in charge, arriving at the club having been sacked by Cagliari in March.
Filippo Inzaghi has guided modest Benevento back to the big time and will go up against his brother, Simone, when they face Lazio this season.
Gli Stregoni’s priority will surely be to make sure they avoid an immediate return to Serie B.
After two years away, Crotone have earned promotion back to Serie A.
Giovanni Stroppa will be looking to maintain their position in the top tier and forward Simy is expected to play a crucial part.
Newcomers at this level, Spezia booked their place in Serie A this season through the playoffs in August.
The minnows have been labelled as the favourites to be relegated, so new goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet has a difficult task on his hands.
The post Club-by-Club Preview of the 2020/21 Serie A season first appeared on Forza Italian Football.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com
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