Thuram Predicts Serie A's Demise
Friday 15th March 2002
The failure of Juventus to make the quarter-finals of the Champions' League has convinced Lilian Thuram that Serie A is on the wane.
``The domination of Italian football is slowly fading away, simply because the game cannot be adapted to Europe," conceded the France defender.
The former Parma star, who joined Juve for �28 million last summer, missed Wednesday's defeat to Bayer Leverkusen that condemned the Turin giants to an early Champions' League exit.
However, he feels their demise illustrates that Italian clubs are being left behind in Europe to clubs from more attack-minded leagues.
``The Spanish and the English create more and logically qualify for the quarter-finals," Thuram explained on his website.
``As far as the Italians are concerned, all we have left is the Italian league to concentrate on.''
A Serie A club has failed to win the European champions cup since 1996, when Juventus beat Ajax on penalties, and have not even boasted a semi-finalist since 1999.
Roma are well placed to qualify for the quarter-finals from Group B of this year's competition but Thuram's comments are sure to mark a period of reflection in il calcio.
