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Photo: Football Italia
Inter vs Real Madrid, Napoli vs Arsenal: Serie A's brutal CL openers
The Champions League fixtures are out, and Italian football has been handed absolutely no favours on matchday one. Inter Milan away at Real Madrid. Napoli vs Arsenal. Roma in Istanbul against Fenerbahçe. According to Football Italia, Serie A's three European representatives open their campaigns against opponents who will tell us very quickly whether this is a vintage year for Italian football or a reality check dressed up in a glamour fixture.
Inter at the Bernabéu
This is the one that will stop the room. Inter Milan travelling to the Bernabéu for their opening fixture is the kind of draw that makes you check the screen twice. Real Madrid at home, matchday one, no warm-up, no easing in. Simone Inzaghi's side have shown they can compete at this level, their recent Champions League campaigns have been deep, serious runs, but opening away at the most decorated club in the competition's history is a different kind of test entirely. No Serie A side has opened a Champions League campaign at the Bernabéu in recent memory, and Inzaghi will know that his two finals runs were built on exactly this kind of hostile away night.
Napoli vs Arsenal
According to Football Italia, Napoli's opening assignment is Arsenal, which is a fixture that needs no selling. Antonio Conte's Napoli against Mikel Arteta's Arsenal is a tactical collision worth watching twice. Both managers are meticulous, both sides press with purpose, and neither will be content with a draw. The Maradona will be loud for this one.
Roma in Istanbul
Roma's trip to Fenerbahçe is the fixture that tends to get overlooked when the blockbusters are announced, but Istanbul away is never straightforward. The atmosphere at Fenerbahçe's ground is one of the most hostile in European football, and Roma will need to be at their sharpest just to leave with something.
Serie A's European standing, decided early
Three Italian clubs, three difficult openers. The fixtures do not get kinder from here, they rarely do in the Champions League, but the draw has handed Serie A a chance to announce itself on matchday one. A clean sweep of wins across all three fixtures would put Italian clubs at the top of the early standings table and shift the conversation around Serie A's European form before October arrives. A clean sweep of defeats would do the opposite, fast.
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