The Seven Sisters: When Serie A Ruled the Football World — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Picture this. It's the fall of 1998.
2. 0:03Your Zinedine Sedan, freshly crowned
3. 0:06world champion, walking into the Stadio
4. 0:08de la Alpi [music] for a routine league
5. 0:10match. The flares already burning in the
6. 0:13Gurva. You look down at [music] the
7. 0:14pitch and you see Paulo Maldini
8. 0:16stretching. Behind him, Franco Barzi
9. 0:19shouts instructions. You look down the
10. 0:21tunnel, there's Delp Pierro, jawline
11. 0:23chiseled from marble, ready for war. and
12. 0:26prepare to do magic shoulderto-shoulder
13. 0:29with you. By today's standards, you
14. 0:31would say that [music] this was a
15. 0:32Champions League final. No, this was
16. 0:35nothing more than a regular Saturday
17. 0:36night in Syria. [music] And here's the
18. 0:38thing. Those who didn't have the luck to
19. 0:40witness it can never know, or at least
20. 0:43not from a firsterson perspective. Back
21. 0:45then, winning the Champions League was
22. 0:47the easier part. The real battle, it
23. 0:50happened every weekend in Italy. Setle.
24. 0:54Does that tell you something? In
25. 0:55English, it's pronounced like the seven
26. 0:58sisters. And the period between the late
27. 1:001980s and early 2000s. It was a time
28. 1:03when Italian football didn't just
29. 1:05dominate Europe. It was Europe.
30. 1:08Legendary players, legendary stadiums,
31. 1:11even legendary kit sponsors. AC Milan,
32. 1:14Juventus, Inter Milan, Roma, Latio,
33. 1:17Florentina, and Palmer. The seven
34. 1:20sisters. That iconic thought came from
35. 1:22Johnny Brea, a legendary sports
36. 1:24journalist who worked for Gazeta deloo
37. 1:26sport and went down in history as one of
38. 1:29the greatest to have covered the Italian
39. 1:30league. So without further ado, this is
40. 1:34the story of when Celia R was the center
41. 1:36of the football universe and why we'll
42. 1:38probably never see anything like it
43. 1:40again. Now, before we go to the real
44. 1:43story, however, a quick quiz for you
45. 1:45involving three interesting questions,
46. 1:48checking your ball knowledge from that
47. 1:49period. Question number one, how many
48. 1:52European finals did Italian sides win
49. 1:54from that period? There are 30 possible
50. 1:57finals, three competitions, European
51. 2:00Cup, and then Champions League,
52. 2:01obviously, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup.
53. 2:04How many of those 30 finals were won by
54. 2:07Italian clubs? Question number two, in
55. 2:09which year during the 1990s did Italian
56. 2:12clubs win all three European trophies?
57. 2:15And question three, how many goals did
58. 2:17AC Milan concede leading to their 1993
59. 2:2094 Syria AR triumph? Pause the video,
60. 2:24share your thoughts in the comments down
61. 2:25below and we'll reveal the answers
62. 2:27towards the end. Now, what is the thing
63. 2:30that's revolved and will always go hand
64. 2:32inhand with football and its
65. 2:33development? It's money, right? obscene,
66. 2:37reckless, beautiful, but also extremely
67. 2:40harmful for current football money.
68. 2:42Well, the 1990s in Italy were the wild
69. 2:45west of football finance. There was no
70. 2:47financial fair play in Sydia R or among
71. 2:50any of the European giants. There was no
72. 2:52luxury tax. There were just billionaire
73. 2:54owners with egos up to the roof and a
74. 2:57burning desire to turn their clubs into
75. 2:59European powerhouses. The first example
76. 3:02is of course Sylvio Berlesone at Milan,
77. 3:06arguably the most powerful leader in
78. 3:08football for the last four decades. Then
79. 3:10there was Masimo Morati at In, the
80. 3:13Agnelli family at Juventus, Sergio
81. 3:15Kraotti at Latio, and of course the
82. 3:18Palmelat magnate Kalisto Tanzi who
83. 3:21bankrolled Palmer from Syria Bay to
84. 3:23continental glory and casually fielded
85. 3:26two Ballindor winners. All of these
86. 3:28powerful individuals had the perfect
87. 3:30formula for football's success. First,
88. 3:32they were fanatics to say the least, and
89. 3:34that was their driving force. Add to
90. 3:37that their unlimited ambition and almost
91. 3:39limitless resources, and the path to
92. 3:41footballing success was more achievable
93. 3:43than ever. Indeed, [music] between 1990
94. 3:46and 1999, Italian clubs broke the world
95. 3:49transfer record six times. It all
96. 3:51started with Roberto Bajio in 1990 when
97. 3:54he left Florentina to join Juventus.
98. 3:56This cost a bianeri €12.9 million. Next
99. 4:00came Jean Pierre Papan who moved from
100. 4:02Marseilles to AC Milan in 1992 for 13
101. 4:05million. A couple of weeks later, Jan
102. 4:08Luca Viali moved from Sedora to Juventus
103. 4:11for 20 million. The record remained
104. 4:13unbroken for the next 5 years until 1997
105. 4:17when Ronaldo moved from Barcelona to in
106. 4:19for 26.5 million. And the fifth and
107. 4:23sixth record belonged to one person, the
108. 4:26legendary Christian Bobo Vieieri. First,
109. 4:29he left Atletico Madrid to join Latio
110. 4:31for 28 million in 1998. But a summer
111. 4:34later, after a single season in the
112. 4:36capital, [music] Vieri chose to wear the
113. 4:38black and blue of Inter Milan when the
114. 4:40Nerzoui paid 46 million. But here's what
115. 4:44made it possible. Television. The advent
116. 4:46of pay TV in Italy caused a financial
117. 4:49tsunami. The money involved was
118. 4:51staggering. It meant that a club from
119. 4:53Palmer, a town with a population of
120. 4:55around 170,000, could out bid Manchester
121. 4:58United for a household name like Lilian
122. 5:00Tur, a legendary fullback and World Cup
123. 5:03starter. You know him. Another example,
124. 5:05the money generated from TV rights meant
125. 5:08that Florentina could keep Batistuta
126. 5:10when Barcelona came calling in the late
127. 5:12'9s. An example I personally like the
128. 5:15most is, you probably know the story
129. 5:17about Luis Figo. You'll certainly know
130. 5:19it if you watched our video on the
131. 5:21channel. So in 1995 while playing for
132. 5:24his boyhood club Sporting, he had three
133. 5:26offers on the table. One from Palmer,
134. 5:29one from Juventus, and one from
135. 5:31Barcelona. He immediately put the
136. 5:32Barcelona offer to one side and signed
137. 5:35contracts with both Palmer and Juventus
138. 5:37because he wanted to play in Italy at
139. 5:39all costs. However, the Italian Football
140. 5:41Federation, FIGC, found out about this
141. 5:45and prevented him from joining either
142. 5:46Italian club. That's when he said,
143. 5:48"Okay, it looks like I should go to
144. 5:50Barcelona." And the rest is history,
145. 5:53obviously. But yeah, this example
146. 5:55visualizes how mighty Syria R was back
147. 5:57then. Figo, one of the brightest talents
148. 6:00at the time, had to be denied to not go
149. 6:02to Italy. And when it comes to
150. 6:04hierarchy, however, no one could sit
151. 6:06above the big three. AC Milan, the
152. 6:08Rosineri weren't just a football club in
153. 6:11the early '90s. They were a work of art.
154. 6:13Ariosaki's pressing system
155. 6:15revolutionized the game, turning the
156. 6:17Rosaneeri into the immortals. Then Fabio
157. 6:20Capella arrived and somehow made them
158. 6:22even better. Although that's open to
159. 6:25debate, so feel free to share your
160. 6:26thoughts in the comments down below. And
161. 6:29if we talk specifically about domestic
162. 6:31tournaments, Capello was definitely
163. 6:33better because he won four Sydia RS,
164. 6:35three of which in a row between 1992 and
165. 6:381994. He also created the invincibles of
166. 6:411991-92
167. 6:43when Milan went 58 games unbeaten. Two
168. 6:46seasons later, the 1993 94 season, they
169. 6:50won the Scuetto conceding just 15 goals
170. 6:53in 34 matches. That defensive line of
171. 6:56Berezi, Costa, Maldini, and Tasoti
172. 6:58[music]
173. 6:59could argue put as the best defensive
174. 7:01four football fans have ever seen in
175. 7:04history. Up front, the Dutch trio of
176. 7:06Hullet, Vanbaston, and Reichard made the
177. 7:08Sano a theater of total football.
178. 7:11Back-to-back European Cups in ' 89 and
179. 7:1490, then again in ' 94. Yeah, when we
180. 7:17merged Syria R and 1990s, AC Milan is
181. 7:20the club that most people would think
182. 7:22of, the symbol of supremacy in Italian
183. 7:25football folklore. Juventus, on the
184. 7:27other hand, they took a different path.
185. 7:29After Michelle Platin hung up his boots
186. 7:31in the 80s, the old lady entered a brief
187. 7:34wilderness. Then Marello Lippy arrived
188. 7:36in 1994 and built a perfectly
189. 7:38functioning machine. Tactically perfect
190. 7:41[music] down to every minute detail.
191. 7:43Roberto Bagio pulling the strings in
192. 7:45tight places in midfield and attack in
193. 7:48the period before Lippy and after that
194. 7:50in the single season he played under him
195. 7:52199495.
196. 7:55Then that role was handed over to
197. 7:56Aleandro Delpierro who played there
198. 7:58until 1992. By 96, Uve had another
199. 8:02magician next to Delpierro, Zinedine
200. 8:05Zedan, who dictated the play from
201. 8:06midfield like a conductor before an
202. 8:08orchestra. Three consecutive Champions
203. 8:11League finals from 1996 to 1998 and a
204. 8:14team that truly won the hearts of many.
205. 8:16And then there was Inter Milan, the
206. 8:18beautiful disaster. They won the Scuetto
207. 8:21in 1989 and then for the next five to
208. 8:23six seasons were very silent in all
209. 8:25parameters. No big names, no big
210. 8:28achievements, no big players signed. The
211. 8:30highlight for them in the first half of
212. 8:32the '90s was Lotar Matas's Ballandor in
213. 8:341990, which however was won mainly
214. 8:37because of his performance for Germany
215. 8:39at the triumphant 1990 World Cup.
216. 8:41However, after Masimo Morati took over
217. 8:44in 1995, a lot of things changed. He was
218. 8:47ready to spend and he did just that.
219. 8:50Firstly, Ronaldo Nazario arrived in 1997
220. 8:53for a world record fee. He was by far
221. 8:56the best footballer for the next two
222. 8:57seasons. He was genuinely unstoppable.
223. 9:00The problem with in however was that
224. 9:02they could never quite finish the job.
225. 9:04Not a single domestic trophy throughout
226. 9:06the 1990s, only the 1990 Super Copper,
227. 9:09which was a result of their Syria R
228. 9:11triumph, which doesn't count really.
229. 9:13Basically their biggest achievement was
230. 9:14the UEFA Cup in 1991 when they beat Roma
231. 9:18in the final. Still on pure talent alone
232. 9:21Interolonged in this conversation. They
233. 9:23had Ronaldo Zamarano Jayv Cholo Simeonei
234. 9:27Javier Zenetti. On paper they could have
235. 9:29stolen something from the mightily Milan
236. 9:31and Juventus teams of that period. But
237. 9:33it's a fact that the other two were a
238. 9:35couple of levels above them. But now
239. 9:37here's where Syria's supremacy became
240. 9:39truly surreal. the provincial clubs that
241. 9:41had no business competing with Milan,
242. 9:43Juventus, and in yet did anyway. Palmer
243. 9:47is the ultimate fairy tale. A club from
244. 9:49a city smaller than Nottingham
245. 9:51assembling a squad full of players
246. 9:52[music] who could have been literal
247. 9:54starters for Prime Milan or Juventus.
248. 9:56Two UEFA Cups in 1995 and 1999. A cup
249. 10:00winners Cup in 1993. Domestic trophies
250. 10:04including three in a decade [music] in
251. 10:061992, 1999, and 2002. And what about
252. 10:10prime Palmer? They don't get talked
253. 10:12about as much as they deserve. In the
254. 10:14second half of the 90s, Palmer fielded
255. 10:16two players who went on to win the
256. 10:18Balonor, Restore Stoskov, and Fabio
257. 10:21Kavaro. They also had arguably the
258. 10:23greatest goalkeeper in history, Jan
259. 10:25Luigi Buffon, as well as other big names
260. 10:27like Lillian Tam, Juan Sebastian Vron,
261. 10:30Bernan Crespo, Jan Franco Zola, Thomas
262. 10:33Brolin, and people in Zagi. Indeed, a
263. 10:36lot of aura exuded this Palmer team of
264. 10:38the late 90s. Fans also remember their
265. 10:40kits sponsored by Palmer Dairy Products.
266. 10:43They beat Milan a couple of times,
267. 10:45Juventus a couple of times, showing
268. 10:47[music] that they weren't so far away
269. 10:49from the level of the big ones. The fact
270. 10:51that the project eventually collapsed in
271. 10:53scandal and [music] bankruptcy doesn't
272. 10:55diminish what they achieved. It actually
273. 10:57bears the question of what could have
274. 10:58been. Now, part one of this video is
275. 11:01towards its end. But before we end,
276. 11:03these are the three answers of the quiz.
277. 11:06How many European finals did Italian
278. 11:08sides win from that period? Those who
279. 11:10wrote 13 in the comment section are
280. 11:13absolutely right. Italian clubs won
281. 11:15almost half of all the European finals
282. 11:18during the whole golden decade. Answer
283. 11:20two, the year in which Italian clubs won
284. 11:23all three major European trophies in the
285. 11:25same season was in 1989 90. AC Milan
286. 11:30claimed the European Cup, Sedora grabbed
287. 11:32the cup winners cup and Juve beat
288. 11:34Furentina in an all Italian final for
289. 11:36the UEFA Cup and answered three. Upon
290. 11:39their 1993 94 Scuetto, Milan conceded as
291. 11:43little as 15 goals towards their
292. 11:45triumph. Prime Capello ball at its
293. 11:48[music] finest. Now, we have another
294. 11:50challenge for you. If this video gets at
295. 11:52least 250 likes and 15 hypes, we'll
296. 11:55start part two of this video right away.
297. 11:57Yes, you can be sure that there are more
298. 11:59secrets to be revealed. So, hit the like
299. 12:01and hype buttons and don't forget to
300. 12:03check our analysis on the current three
301. 12:05[music]
302. 12:05and why not even five horse title race
303. 12:08in Sydia R. Ciao.