Spezia and Sassuolo remind us Italian football’s soul after Super League crisis

In a twist of beautiful irony, the day after the proposed European Super League collapsed, two of its Italian ‘founding members’ faced opposition with a footballing history and purpose the proposed structure would’ve quite happily rendered obsolete.

Spezia Calcio are playing in the Italian top division for the first time in their 114-year history. So surprising was promotion from Serie B last July for Gli Aquilotti – the Little Eagles, they had to borrow a ‘home stadium’ for the first two months of this season whilst their intimate ground on the Ligurian coast was renovated to Serie A standard.

On Wednesday, Spezia drew 1-1 at home with Inter Milan. They are currently 15th, five points clear of the relegation zone. Staying in Serie A would be a monumental achievement and with five games to go Spezia are in a strong position to achieve this.

In 2006, US Sassuolo were competing in Serie C. A decade later they qualified for the Europa League group stage after finishing sixth in Serie A. I Neroverdi – the Green and Blacks were promoted to the highest division for the first time in their history in 2013, have not been relegated since and have established themselves as a Serie A side.

Current Sassuolo coach Roberto De Zerbi has been widely lauded for developing young Italian talent and his high pressing tactics. In his pre-match press conference prior to Wednesday night’s fixtures he was so outraged at his upcoming opposition’s dalliances with the Super League that he said he’d rather not play the game at all.

Sassuolo did play. And they won. Coming from behind to beat AC Milan 2-1 at the San Siro. A consecutive eighth place finish in Serie A beckons for De Zerbi’s side who on the pitch at least have become the model for so called smaller Italian sides to follow.

The ‘founding members’ at least got one win on Wednesday. Juventus beat Parma 3-1. This has not been a season to remember for Juve, who are in danger of finishing outside the top four in Serie A. Alongside only Real Madrid and Barcelona, Juventus are still yet to officially withdraw from the ESL project, at least they’ll have this tri-way round robin to fall back on if they don’t qualify for the Champions League.

But Juventus aren’t the real story here, nor Inter, nor Milan. Earlier in the week De-Zerbi put it best, saying:

“It’s like the son of a labourer can’t dream of becoming a surgeon, a lawyer or a doctor. It’s as if they had told me as a kid in the schoolyard, that ball’s mine. I’m taking it.”

The real story on Wednesday night was Spezia, De-Zerbi and Sassuolo taking that ball back in the only place and way that matters; on the pitch with sporting merit.

Proving that despite what the ‘founding members’ thought, that when the first whistle blows we are all equal and that anything can happen in the 90 minutes that follows which is after all the true essence of football.

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