Euro Bites: Serie A - Are Italian teams cursed? Juventus' history-making start for the wrong reasons and the return of Mario Balotelli

Latest news from Serie A as Juventus make history for the wrong reasons, AC Milan stutter as Inter top the table and the enigmatic Mario Balotelli makes his return home - again.

ITALIAN TEAMS CURSED IN UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLAY OFFS?

Lazio was eliminated from the Champions League by Bayer Leverkusen in Germany last Wednesday. It continued the trend of Italian teams seeming to have a negative tradition in the Champions League play-offs. Lazio’s defeat is the fifth elimination in the last six years for Italian sides. The 3-0 defeat extinguished all hopes of making the group stages and Lazio will now play in the Europa League. After their 1-0 victory in the first leg, expectations were high but Lazio’s weakness was most evident in their defensive line with the first two Leverkusen goals the result of errors by De Vrij and Mauricio, who ended the game early with a red card.

ITALIAN UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HOPES SUFFER A BLOW

Juventus and Roma have a particular interest this year in making it to the Champions League Final because May 28, 2016, will mark the fourth time in history that the San Siro stadium in Milan will host the final. But on Thursday in Monte Carlo, Juventus landed the most difficult group, including heavyweight teams Sevilla FC (winner of the Europa League), Manchester City and Borussia Moenchengladbach. Juve coach Allegri promised that although the matches would be tough, his team would come through the group. AS Roma’s group, meanwhile, is less threatening. The Italian team will most likely fight it out with Bayer Leverkusen for the second spot, as Barcelona is almost certain to pass and Bate Borisov are the underdogs of the quartet. Coach Garcia remains optimistic and called the group “open to possibility” behind the indomitable Barca.

AC MILAN’S SOUR VICTORY

On Saturday, it seemed that AC Milan, like last year, are struggling to get their act together. The second Italian matchday saw another disappointing performance by Milan against Empoli at the San Siro, with boos, jeers and whistles during half-time. Although two new acquisitions, Colombian forward Bacca and Brazilian Luiz Adriano, saved the day with two goals to set up a 2-1 win, Empoli was the better team for over an hour, and Milan demonstrated the same midfield weakness and lack of direction as last year. Coach Mihajlovic admitted that his team lacked drive and character, and told reporters “it’s all my fault. We created nothing, and won only because of our two new strikers”. Milan will need to improve to appease the fans.

JUVENTUS CREATE UNWANTED HISTORY WITH ROMA DEFEAT

Never in history has Juventus lost the opening two matches of the season. But after a 2-1 defeat against their rivals AS Roma on Sunday the Serie A champions are heading into the third matchday with zero points and an unwanted place in the history books. Roma dominated the match, thanks to a strong midfield performance, speed, and determination, not to mention the Bosnian stars (Dzeko and Pjanic) who scored two memorable goals - Dzeko a header and Pjanic an extraordinary free-kick. Juventus only really began to play after Roma’s second goal despite being reduced to 10 men after the dismissal of defender Evra. Newcomer Paulo Dybala goal Juve back in the game and narrowly missed another chance in injury time. Sunday marked the first time Roma coach Garcia has defeated Juventus, but his counterpart Allegri was not concerned, saying: “We need to make some changes, especially in terms of motivation. But the season is long.”

INTER LEADS SERIE A

Among Italy’s strongest teams, Inter is the only one to have won both matches and currently occupies top spot in Serie A. After some disastrous performances in pre-season, not even coach Roberto Mancini could have hoped for the kind of start his team have made, with three goals in two matches from new striker Jovetic. Mancini pointed out that work needed to be done on the Inter defence, however, a sentiment echoed by Napoli coach Sarri. Napoli’s fragile defence allowed for a 2-2 comeback draw against Sampdoria after the Neapolitan team dominated the first half of the match and held a 2-0 lead for close to an hour. Lazio continued a bad streak this week, following its Champions League play-off loss, with a crushing 4-0 defeat at the hands of Chievo, signalling a moment of crisis for the team.

MARIO BALOTELLI RETURNS TO ITALY (AGAIN)

At a time when the dilemma of immigration is at the forefront of the news in Europe, one product of African immigration to Italy has once again captured attention: Mario Balotelli. Born in Sicily to Ghanaian parents, Balotelli became a symbol of modern Italy, as well as a media bad boy. His story is not one of poverty and need, but excess and absurdity of the football market. Balotelli was sold last year by AC Milan to Liverpool for around €20 million, after which Liverpool raised his salary from €4 million to €6 million a year. Last week, it was decided that Balotelli will be loaned back to Milan for free, and Liverpool will pay more than half of his salary. Not a common story for a second generation Italian.