Italy Aims to End 16-Year Champions League Drought With Inter, Napoli, Roma and Como

Sixteen years. That's the number hanging over Italian soccer every time the Champions League kicks off. Since Inter beat Bayern Munich in the 2010 final with Jose Mourinho on the bench and Diego Milito as the unlikely hero, no Serie A club has lifted the trophy again. And it's worth noting that this drought has now matched Italy's worst historical stretch on the continent, the one that ran from 1969 to 1985. If no Italian side wins it this year either, the country will be in uncharted territory.

It's not that Serie A lacks quality. In fact, in recent seasons its clubs have been competing on equal footing with Europe's biggest names. The problem shows up right when it's time to close things out. Inter is proof of that: the club lost the finals in 2023 and 2025, the latter a brutal beatdown at the hands of PSG. The question that lingers every August is the same one: is competing enough, or does it take something more to finish the job?

Inter, Once Again the Standard Bearer

Christian Chivu's side arrives as Italy's biggest hope, and that's no accident: the club cruised to the Scudetto last season and is now reinforcing a core that was already working well. It added Djed Spence and John Stones to the back line, along with Aleksandar Stankovic and Curtis Jones in midfield. Up top, Lautaro Martinez remains the leader, joined by Marcus Thuram and Pio Esposito. The squad is solid, but the elimination against Bodo Glimt just a few months ago made clear that dominance at home doesn't always carry over to Europe.

Napoli, Roma and Como Also Want Their Shot

Napoli has its own unfinished business: champion of Italy two seasons ago, the club crashed out of the league phase without much of a fight under Antonio Conte. Now it arrives with Massimiliano Allegri in charge, a coach with plenty of experience in the late stages of European competition, and with key names still on the roster like Kevin De Bruyne, Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund.

Roma, meanwhile, comes back into the competition with a different feel. The club opened the season with lopsided wins, led by Paulo Dybala and Donyell Malen, under Gian Piero Gasperini, the same coach who took Atalanta deep into Europe with a style all its own. The squad barely changed and added names like Santiago Castro, Rodrigo Mora and Nahuel Molina.

The fourth Italian side is Como, making its debut in the main phase after a remarkable rise up the table. The club's biggest win in the transfer market was holding on to Nico Paz, its top player, something many assumed was a lost cause given interest from bigger clubs. Alongside him will be Martin Baturina and Maximo Perrone, with Trevoh Chalobah brought in to shore up a defense that will try to sustain the fearless style Cesc Fabregas wants to play.

Four teams, four different stories, one shared goal still out of reach. Italy heads back into the Champions League still hoping to end a wait that's starting to sting.