Today, calcio history was made. And perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Juventus who made it.
The first team on the peninsula to own its own stadium, the Turin club opened the new "Casa Juve" with a friendly match against England's Notts County, the original (and best?) Bianconeri, who gave the Old Lady its club colours. Second paragraph, and I've run out of synonyms for Juventus. Nuts.
The idea to bring County – currently in League One, the third tier of football in England – oozed old school charm. Most other elite clubs would have Pep Guardiola's boys on the plane from Barcelona, because after all, it's not every day you open a stadium. But the juxtaposition of the English minnows with the fireworks, the state-of-the-art stadium and Juve's stars of past and present made the whole event seem like more than just a marketing exercise.
The media coverage has been a bit much – Tuttosport spent the day tweeting pictures of people in queues, people behind desks, road signs etc – but it is a turning point for Italian football. Though small at 41,000 seats, the fact that Juventus own the venue will mean massive financial benefits and a huge advantage over their rivals. And Juve's strength has always been that it is the most supported club across Italy – it's large fan base means lucrative TV deals and large away attendances, but not necessarily huge home crowds. Better to have 41,000-paying bums in seats than a theoretical capacity of 69,000 (like the old Del Alpi) with not a sinner in it.
Sky Italia are calling it "Lo stadio che cambia il calcio", the stadium that changes football. And while that's a little bit dramatic for my taste, it's not completely wrong. This is the future, and the ripples are bound to have wide-reaching affects. It's certainly made me jealous.
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