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Serie A preview: 5 storylines to watch for this season

By Clemente Lisi

JUVENTUS STADIUM, TURIN, ITALY - 2017/05/21: Gonzalo Higuain (L) and Paulo Dybala of Juventus FC celebrate the victory of the Italian Serie A 'Scudetto' at the end of the Serie A football match between Juventus FC and FC Crotone. Juventus won their sixth consecutive and 33th official Serie A title. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
JUVENTUS STADIUM, TURIN, ITALY - 2017/05/21: Gonzalo Higuain (L) and Paulo Dybala of Juventus FC celebrate the victory of the Italian Serie A 'Scudetto' at the end of the Serie A football match between Juventus FC and FC Crotone. Juventus won their sixth consecutive and 33th official Serie A title. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images) /
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JUVENTUS STADIUM, TURIN, ITALY – 2017/05/21: Gonzalo Higuain (L) and Paulo Dybala of Juventus FC celebrate the victory of the Italian Serie A ‘Scudetto’ at the end of the Serie A football match between Juventus FC and FC Crotone. Juventus won their sixth consecutive and 33th official Serie A title. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
JUVENTUS STADIUM, TURIN, ITALY – 2017/05/21: Gonzalo Higuain (L) and Paulo Dybala of Juventus FC celebrate the victory of the Italian Serie A ‘Scudetto’ at the end of the Serie A football match between Juventus FC and FC Crotone. Juventus won their sixth consecutive and 33th official Serie A title. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images) /

A lot has changed in Serie A, and Juventus may no longer be the team to beat in Italy. 

A new Serie A season kicks off this Saturday in Italy with a number of lingering questions. While Italy’s domestic competition was once the world’s best league during the late 1980s and early ’90s, Serie A has had to deal with teams unable to spend the money they once did (with many Italian players moving on to English and German clubs) and a match-fixing scandal that embroiled Juventus, one of the world’s most-storied clubs, along with several other teams exactly a decade ago.

All that appears to be ancient history. Serie A may not have the money of England’s Premier League or the superstar players of the Spain’s La Liga, but an Italian soccer renaissance has been afoot the past few years. Several Italian clubs (AC Milan above all) spent the summer buying players, while Juventus, winners of the last six Serie A titles, are again contenders to win the Champions League after reaching the final twice in the past three years. Juventus open up their Scudetto defense this Saturday at home in Turin versus Cagliari to officially open the season.

AC Milan, who finished sixth last season, were one of the biggest summer spenders in Europe, having doled out in excess of £150 million to sign players, including defender Leonardo Bonucci, striker Andre Silva as well as midfielders Franck Kessie and Hakan Calhanoglu. In addition, 18-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who seemed destined to leave the club earlier this summer, committed to stay after brokering a lucrative new contract that keeps him in a Rossoneri jersey through 2021.

Former AC Milan manager Arrigo Sacchi, who coached the team during their most successful period in the late 1980s before taking over Italy at the 1994 World Cup, said Juventus don’t have a chance at winning the Champions League this season.

“They only play for 15 minutes and then just defend and counter,” Sacchi told Italian TV network Mediaset Premium.

Serie A has undergone a few scheduling changes this season. The two-week Christmas break is gone in favor of a Premier League-style calendar. The season (which American audiences can watch via BeIN Sports and RAI Italia or the online streaming service Fubo.TV) also ends earlier than usual, on May 20, to accommodate Italy’s preparations for the 2018 World Cup.

With more marquee foreign signings flooding into the league, teams bulking up their rosters and clubs looking to challenge for European glory, Italian soccer returns this season bigger and stronger than it’s been in a long, long time. Here are five storylines to follow.

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