Tuesday, 16th September, 2014
Roma captain Francesco Totti believes Italian clubs have fallen behind teams from other countries in Europe.
Roma qualified for this season’s Champions League on the back of a fine campaign in Serie A, where they finished second.
They are in placed in Group E alongside German champions Bayern Munich, English champions Manchester City and Russian champions CSKA Moscow.
Totti has conceded that there are better teams in Europe at the moment than Italian clubs.
“Today there are stronger teams in Europe than ours”, the Italian captain said in a press conference.
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Italian clubs dominated Europe even a few years ago with Juventus and AC Milan competing in the final in 2003 and the Rossoneri winning the competition for the seventh time in 2007.
Inter Milan won the Champions League under Jose Mourinho in 2010 as part of their historic treble.
However, Italian clubs have seen a sharp decline in their fortunes in the last few years. Italian champions Juventus failed to qualify from the group stage last season and Milan, the second most successful team in the history of the competition, failed to qualify for this year’s Champions League.
“In Italy there were Juventus, Milan a few years ago and there was Inter Milan’s treble but we have stopped doing well in Europe”, Totti conceded.
“Real Madrid and Barcelona are stronger and have more chances to win the competition.”
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