Rudi Völler talks about Italian successes in Europe. © APA/afp / INA FASSBENDER

Völler on Italian successes: “Favorable circumstances”

DFB sports director Rudi Völler considers the current success of Italian teams in European Cup competitions to be an exception.

10 May 2023

From: dpa

"It's nice for the Italians, they celebrate themselves a little for it, but I think that's also a little due to the Premier League, because clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea had bad phases and are weak," the 63-year-old told dem Cologne City Gazette. The former striker played for AS Roma from 1987 to 1992. The capital city will be opponents of Völler's long-time club Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-final first leg of the Europa League on Thursday (21.000 p.m.). In the other game, Juventus Turin welcomes Sevilla FC.

AC Milan and Inter Milan will meet in the Champions League this Wednesday (21.00 p.m.). In addition, AC Florence will host FC Basel in the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League on Thursday. Völler has great respect for the achievements of the Italian clubs, but also said: “Those were favorable circumstances. This won’t happen again.”