Juventus' run to Champions League semi-final gives Italian soccer a reprieve from off-field problems

The heavyweights have landed a succession of combinations. Juventus – back in the final four of the competition for the first time in 12 years - picked up an important 2-1 Champions League semifinal first-leg victory Tuesday against holders Real Madrid in Turin. Last week, the club claimed its fourth successive Italian league title after a 1-0 win at Sampdoria.

At the other end of the spectrum though, even the underdogs are getting their moment in the sun. In the second division, little-known Carpi – with a population of 67,000 and a stadium capacity of 4,000 – ensured their incredible promotion to the top flight after playing amateur soccer just 15 years ago.

Later this week, Fiorentina will face Sevilla in the Europa League semifinals – their best European performance in seven years. Also on Thursday, Napoli meet Dnipro at the same juncture of the competition – their best European performance since 1989.

But is all this positivity a short-lived spark or could Italian soccer genuinely be something to feel good about again? Recent history suggests that we shouldn't get too carried away with the renewed sense of purpose.

It's more than 20 years since Roberto Baggio infamously missed from the penalty spot in a World Cup final shootout with Brazil. Only in hindsight does it appear a defining moment for Italian soccer. Just weeks before, AC Milan had demolished Johan Cruyff's Barcelona in the 1994 Champions League decider. Inter Milan were crowned UEFA Cup champions. The best players in the world all played in Serie A. It was the place to go and the league to watch. Yet, that World Cup defeat proved to be a death knell of sorts.

The following season, Ajax were crowned European champions, beating Milan. With the game scoreless and just six minutes away from extra time, the world's then-most expensive player, Gianluigi Lentini, was introduced as a substitute by the Rossoneri. A minute later, a relatively unknown 18-year-old named Patrick Kluivert, one of Ajax's second-half replacements, scored the winning goal for the Dutch side. It said so much.

Between 1995 and 2002, only one Italian team managed a Champions League title. And though Juventus appeared set to rule European soccer in the mid-’90s, their sole triumph (in 1996) was overshadowed by the final defeats they experienced in the two years that followed.

There was a brief renaissance. Milan made three finals in four years and won two of them. But then there came a devastating collapse.

In 2006, Calciopoli brought Italian soccer to its knees, shamed Serie A and stained the character of some of Europe's best-loved clubs. At the heart of the controversy was the alleged manipulation of refereeing assignments to favour Juventus. Other clubs were dragged into this mess, too – Milan and Fiorentina among them. The punishments were severe. Juventus were stripped of the league titles they won in 2005 and 2006 and were demoted to Serie B. The other offenders were slapped with massive points deductions. But the ramifications ran deep.

In late June 2006, as the Italian national team prepared for a World Cup quarter-final against Ukraine (Marcelo Lippi's side would go on to inexplicably win the tournament despite soccer in the country being in tatters), Gianluca Pessotto, a Champions League winner with Juventus 10 years before and their newly-appointed sporting director (the entire board had resigned following the allegations of widespread corruption), attempted suicide by jumping off the top of the club's offices. He survived. There were whispers of his actions being a result of mental health issues but the details mattered little. The Pessotto story seemed a metaphor for Italian soccer: it was deeply unsettling and not even a strange and unlikely World Cup success could repair the damage caused by the greasy, cretinous and power-hungry figures at the centre of the Calciopoli scandal.

The fabric of Italian soccer still carries the marks of it, of course. Nine years have passed but in March, Calciopoli was back in the public consciousness again as Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraud – two former Juventus executives – had charges against them dropped because the statute of limitations had expired. Moggi had initially been sentenced to five years and four months in prison for his role in conspiring with referees while Giraud had faced a 36-month stint behind bars. Now, they walked free.

The timing was impeccable, as always. Italian soccer doesn't seem capable of enjoying itself without a dark shadow looming large close by. There does seem a fascination, or at least a passing interest, in self-sabotage.

As much as Juventus are the current success story, and rightfully so considering their domestic dominance and European performances this season, the club was at the centre of another controversy late last month when, during the Turin derby against Torino, Juve fans threw two paper explosives at the visiting support. Nine people were injured and afterwards, Juve manager Max Allegri gave a scathing critique of the problems that continue to derail Italian soccer:

“Unfortunately in Italy we are still behind, and until the responsible parties start to take measures this is how it will be. That goes for football but also the country as a whole. We need to improve to bring people back to the stadium and kids first of all, given that only a madman would bring them along with everything that happens today.”

He has a point. Right now, Italian soccer is persistently overshadowed. This season alone there was the alleged racist chanting in the Tuscany region of the country during an annual youth tournament, with the black players on Milan's under-10 team subjected to abuse. Last year, a Napoli fan was shot dead after clashing with Roma supporters before the Coppa Italia final. In April, a banner at Roma's Stadio Olimpico insulted the dead fan's mother. The club's punishment was a part-stadium closure in their next home game. Away from social ills and violence though, there was even the sorry demise of Parma too – the once-thrilling and brilliant club that excelled in the mid-to-late 1990s with players like Zola, Aprilla, Dino Baggio, Cannavaro, Buffon, Thuram, Veron and Crespo all providing some glittering and triumphant moments.

The most frustrating aspect to all of this is that Italian soccer has lots of reasons to be cheerful. In Paul Pogba, Juventus have the most coveted young player in Europe while that ageless maestro Andrea Pirlo continues to mesmerize and seduce in central midfield with his composure, elegance and subtlety. The terrier-like Carlos Tevez is sorely missed from the Premier League (as he so perfectly demonstrated against Real Madrid) and the likes of Buffon, Chiellini, Vidal and Marchisio are always eye-catching.

At Napoli, Gonzalo Higuain and Marek Hamsik remain impressive performers while one can't argue with Rafael Benitez's adaptability as coach. In Florence, there are many familiar faces that are shining in a new environment including former Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez and Chelsea reject Mohammed Salah.

Juve's victory serves as a reminder that Italian soccer still has plenty to give though it's hard to focus solely on matters of the pitch when so much continues to happen off it.