Fiorentina File: Fiorentina 0 Juventus 3
For us Viola fans this was the big one. We have always thought that a penalty denied to us at Cagliari and one awarded to Juventus at Catanzaro presented them with the 1981 Scudetto: we hated the sale of Roberto Baggio to them and more recently the young talent Federico Bernardeschi.
Sadly for the Fiorentinas of this world the gap between us and the moneyed big boys widens every season.
It is much the same in the Bundesliga where Bayern Munich buy up all the domestic talent, or Barcelona or Real Madrid whose award of the bulk of TV rights assures their hegemony season after season. Great historic clubs with pedigree like Ajax or Arsenal can no longer compete at the top table.
We were hopeful that the capacity crowd last night at the Artemio Franchi might get us over the line against Juve but but in the end their victory was complete and total.
The arrogance of the big clubs does not stop with their status but extends to their superstars, Ronaldo committed a red card offence, no doubt assured (as was the case) that he would not be so penalised. So we carry unrealistic expectations, become disgruntled, managers are sacked or move but the situation does not change.
After the game I exchanged messages with a Fiorentina fanatic. I said how sad it was to see two of our best players in recent years – Cuadrado and Bernardeschi – in Juve colours.
My friend replied that I would soon be seeing Federico Chiesa making the move to Turin.
It is not just the money of Juventus, but their all pervasive influence in the media which makes them so unpopular. When
Juve were stripped of the title after controversial decisions from corrupted officials , these were not replayed on Italian TV. The purchase of Ronaldo must surely infringe the fair play rule. And so it goes on. Talking to Alan Tanner about Claudio Ranieri , a fantastic appointment at Fulham as he would be a perfect fit for that level of club, I thought of players we enjoyed , admired and respected when he managed us like Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa. They gave the best part of their careers to the Viola cause and shirt and would never have dreamed of moving to Juve.
