Where do the 2 Milan clubs fit in the current Serie A hierarchy?

Through the years in Serie A, there is seemingly always the ‘Big 3’, with Juventus, AC Milan and Inter being Italy’s 3 most prestigious clubs. Of course Juve entered a rough patch when sent to Serie B for their supposed actions in the 2006 Calciopoli scandal, where the baton was passed to their bitter rivals Inter Milan, who had their dominant spell in the Peninsula, but the past few seasons have not been kind to the Nerazzurri, and the same must be said for their Rossoneri sister.

The recent powershift in Serie A has been a great one, the most notable since 2006, when Juventus were resigned to Serie B, which left Inter Milan and AS Roma as the main Scudetto challengers. As expected, times changed again, giving Milan their first Serie A title in 7 years, as they ended Inter’s 5 year dominance. Although it was a high for an ageing, inconsistent Milan side, they haven’t built on it, and while Juve have returned to the top of the Calcio tree, Napoli and Fiorentina have become 2 of Europe’s better sides, while at long last, AS Roma also look to end a spell of great disappointment, as new manager Rudi Garcia has started his career in Italy in spectacular fashion, winning all 7 league games so far, including a 3-0 mauling of Inter at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, thus ending Inter’s unbeaten streak under new boss Walter Mazzarri.

But Inter can take solace in the fact that they are still sitting in the business end of the table, and have shown great improvement, after Stramaccioni’s final season seen them floundering in 9th place. Milan meanwhile look out of their depth at times, although they may have only lost out by 1 goal away to Juve, there was only really one side in it, while Sebastian Giovinco made an instant impact, turning Cristian Zapata inside-out before slotting past the ageing Cristian Abbiati. The fact that Milan’s defence shut down to let such a talented player find a way through is what will give Max Allegri his biggest headache, as when Messi and co. arrive on the 22nd of October, they will have to face arguably the finest attacking trident in the world, not to mention a certain Andres Iniesta pulling the strings behind them.

Inter meanwhile don’t have European competition to think about, which means they can now put all focus and effort into returning to the Champions League, but as much as it is a good point, it leaves former Napoli boss Walter Mazzarri with no excuses come the end of the season. With Erick Thohir taking the reigns there may be light at the end of the tunnel, as the club may finally be able to afford to bring in much needed replacements for long-time stars Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti, while also revamping their forward line with the likes of Edin Dzeko, but how much interest will be shown by the Indonesian businessman remains to be seen, as we all heard the same when Hicks and Gillette purchased Liverpool, and we all know how that ended.

With Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani still running Milan, they will not go forward. With the 2 selling almost every asset the Milanese had to try and balance the books, Mattia De Sciglio, Riccardo Montolivo and Mario Balotelli are the only true Milan class players left. With stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva being sacrificed, what else could they have expected? Currently sitting in 12th with a dismal 8 points from 7 games, things aren’t looking too bright for Europe’s once most glamorous club, and without investment in January, things will only get worse. With the club spending almost £12m on the seemingly useless Alessandro Matri, it seems that a new transfer ‘guru’ is also of great need.

Serie A is currently Europe’s most competitive league, as it seems that Juventus, Fiorentina, Napoli and Roma are all more than capable of lifting the famous trophy come the 18th of May, as they have all set a pace that the Milanese can simply not match. With the current state of things, Inter are capable of a Europa League spot, while AC Milan would be lucky to be considered as such. If smart investments are not made in what was once the undisputed football capital of the world is under threat from Madrid, and unless things change, both Milan clubs could end up like Torino, Parma and Bologna, who slowly faded away.