Italian football re-created the miracle after 29 years
In May 1994, Milan under Fabio Capello crushed the Barca of the late Johan Cruyff with a score of 4-0 in the Champions League final in Athens, Greece. The goalscorers for Milan were Marcel Desailly, Dejan Savicevic and Daniele Massaro scored twice.
In the final match of the UEFA Cup - the predecessor of the Europa League, Inter beat Austria Salzburg with a total score of 2-0. Nicola Berti helped Inter win 1-0 in the first leg, while Wim Jonk scored the only goal in the second leg at Giuseppe Meazza.
The remaining representative of Italy, Parma, lost to Arsenal 0-1 in the final of the Cup Winners' Cup - the tournament for the European Cup winners merged into the UEFA Cup since 1999 - in Copenhagen, Denmark. . The only scorer for the "Gunners" was Alan Martin Smith.
After nearly three decades, Italian football has re-established this achievement in the continental arena. In the Champions League, Inter in turn defeated Porto, Benfica, and Milan to battle Man City in the final at Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey on June 10.
The last time Inter reached the Champions League final was the historic 2009-2010 treble season under coach Jose Mourinho. This season, Simone Inzaghi's teachers and students also have the opportunity to win the treble, having won the Italian Super Cup, reaching the Champions League final and also the Italian Cup final against Fiorentina on May 24 in Rome.
In the Europa League, Roma overcame Xavi Alonso's Leverkusen in the semi-finals to raise their dream of winning the European Cup for the second consecutive season, after winning the Europa Conference League season 2021-2022. They will meet Sevilla - the team that defeated Juventus with a total score of 3-2 in the remaining semi-finals - in the title match at Puskas Stadium, Budapest, Hungary on the evening of May 31.
Sevilla is the most successful team in Europa League history with six titles in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020. Mourinho has won all five previous European Cup finals, winning the UEFA Cup. 2003 and then the 2004 Champions League with Porto, helping Inter to win the 2010 Champions League, bringing Man Utd to the top of the 2017 Europa League and most recently the Conference League title.
In the Conference League, Antonin Barak shone with a strike in the ninth minute of extra time to help Fiorentina beat Basel 3-1 in the second leg semi-final, thereby winning with a total score of 4-3. They will meet West Ham in the title match at Fortuna Arena in Prague, Czech Republic on May 7.
