In time for the Coppa Italia final, the Inter Milan general was received by the Italian president, and the Nerazzurri army was ready to attack the trophy.
Italian media began to discuss: Do Juve prefer to see Inter win the title than Fiorentina lift the trophy?
Does this statement make sense?
Naturally, some people do not believe it, after all, this season's Inter Juventus semifinals, just confrontation, scolding, red cards have made several troubles. After the Nerazzurri advanced to the Champions League final, Juventus fans directly composed "Manchester City Come On" into a song. These two teams are a century-old feud, how can Juve hope for Inter?
But in fact, this statement is really not completely unfounded.
As we all know, under normal circumstances, Serie A has 7 European places - 4 Champions League places, 2 Europa League places and 1 UEFA Europa League place.
Regardless of the impact of the three European Cups on European qualification, only the normal situation is considered. How are the two Europa League places allocated?
Some people who don't understand said: of course, the league 1-4 places play the Champions League, 5-6 places play in the Europa League, and 7th place play in the UEFA Europa League!
Not really. It is the 1-4 place in the league to play the Champions League, the 5th place in the Europa League, and the other Europa League place goes to the Coppa Italia winner.
However, if the Italian Cup winner itself can obtain the right to participate in Europe through the league ranking, this Europa League place will be "postponed" to the 6th place in the league.
The last two Serie Cup winners Juventus and Inter Milan have been able to qualify for the Champions League through league rankings, so this has been overlooked.
However, in previous years, winning the Serie Cup to qualify for Europe was a strategy for many Serie A teams.
For example, Napoli in the 2019-20 season, ranked 7th in the league, won the Serie Cup, and went straight to the Europa League group stage, but it was Serie A 6th (AC Milan) that year that needed to start from the qualifying round. For example, in the 2018-19 season, Lazio under Inzaghi Jr., ranked only 8th in the league, but won the right to participate in the Europa League by winning the Serie Cup.
From this point of view, Inter's Serie Cup final with Fiorentina is directly related to Serie A's European qualification competition.
If Fiorentina beat Inter to win the title, the mid-table team, currently ranked 11th in the league, would have taken a European place directly. Leaving aside the impact of other European finals, this would result in one less place for Serie A qualifying for Europe through the league rankings.
The teams currently ranked 5th, 6th and 7th in the league may not want to see Fiorentina win the cup.
After being penalized for 10 points, Juve are in seventh place in the league and theoretically still have hope of competing for four places, with a high chance of grabbing a European place through the league table. If Fiorentina win the Serie Cup, it would be in the Bianconeri's interest to reduce the European number of places created by the league rankings by one.
Allegri said after being penalized: "Deduction of ten points? I will talk to the club first, first I need to know where we will play next season and if we qualify for next season's Europa League in the last two games, whether we will be allowed to play..."
Giants such as Calvo also said that Juve have long known that they will be punished, and have prepared various plans, and the most important point at the moment is to play the last two rounds, strive for a European place, and then see what happens.
Some Juve fans said: If you can't play the Champions League, what's the point of competing for a Europa League spot, how much money is the Europa League? Even if you get it, you may be deprived by UEFA, and didn't UEFA let out the wind to not rule out the possibility of punishing Juve? Instead of this, it is better to simply not want this European place, fight on a single line next season, and go all out to attack the Serie A championship, isn't it fragrant!
But it's not just about money.
There are strategic considerations - if they really miss the European competition, Juve's current squad is a bit too bloated, which will inevitably lead to a significant reduction in the living space of young players, and the "rejuvenation" strategy set by the new senior management will inevitably have a great impact.
There are diplomatic considerations – after the ouster of Agnelli Jr., an important goal of Juve's senior management reorganization is to repair relations with UEFA. If you fight for a European place and then suffer from UEFA's additional penalties and are taken away, it can be regarded as a way to completely turn the matter over - the so-called "one crime without two penalties", punishment once, you may be able to thoroughly understand the matter. On the contrary, if Juve themselves can't grab a European place this season, they don't need UEFA to shoot at all, and they won't be able to compete in Europe, then the hidden danger of being punished will inevitably be left for the future, which may not be Juve's optimal solution.
In short, "Milano Sport Daily" pointed out: after the penalty, Juve need a European place to cope with the difficulties.
That's why Italian media say Juve would prefer to see Inter win the Serie Cup rather than Fiorentina.
In the world of football, the most important thing for each family is, of course, its own interests. Since the ownership of trophies is related to the overall situation of Serie A European qualification competition, the problem cannot be assessed from grievances alone.