Promotion & relegation knock-off
As usual, in the early August, the Playoff took place between Lecce and Perugia:
- Perugia – Lecce (0-0)
- Lecce – Perugia (1-0 – Pasculli)
Verdicts
- Pisa, Liberty Bari, and Triestina promoted to Serie A through Serie B placement;
- Ascoli, Cremonese, and Genoa relegated to Serie B through Serie A placement;
- Lecce confirmed in Serie A / Perugia remains in Serie B through Playoff.
Formula and international tournaments
The 1985-1986 Serie A consisted of a single 18-team national league. The latter three placed teams withstand direct relegation, while the 15th placed is forced to the playout against the 4th Serie B club.
- Torino (National Champion) to 1985-1986 European Cup;
- Andrea Doria (Coppa del Re winner) to the 1985-1986 European Winners' Cup;
- Verona, Juventus, Ambrosiana, and Milan to 1985-1986 UEFA Confederation Cup.
- Juventus to 1985-1986 UEFA Super Cup and 1985-1986 Intercontinental Cup.
Serie A 1985-1986 roster
- Torino
- Verona
- Juventus
- Ambrosiana
- Andrea Doria
- Milan
- Capitolina
- Naples
- Monaco
- Firenze
- Atalanta
- Udinese
- Avellino
- Como
- Lecce
- Pisa
- Liberty Bari
- Triestina
Transfer market
The transfer window of Summer 1985 saw Zico, Sócrates, and Falcão departing the league. The latter was probably the most controversial: the reasons for the divorce from the Tricolors match with the well-known disagreements with then-president Dino Viola over contractual negotiations. In the last season, Falcão's salary was the highest in the Italian league, over a billion liras/year. In addition, the player refused to undergo a medical examination by the club, leading to a final break of the relationship.
In the predictions, the grid-scudetto saw a trio composed of Osvaldo Bagnoli's Verona, looking to win the championship after their last year's unlucky run, Eugenio Bersellini's increasingly solid Andrea Doria, and Ilario Castagner's Ambrosiana in the front row.
Torino lost striker Aldo Serena in the bidding with Ambrosiana for the remainder of the sporting tie. Gigi Radice redrew the team with the striker Antonio Comi taking over Serena's role and promoted a few youngsters from the Youth Team (Cravero, Ezio Rossi, and Lerda). The unique arrival for the title holders was the winger Sabato from Ambrosiana.
Verona suffered many sales and the change from Guidotti to Chiampan in the presidency. Garella went to Naples, Fanna and Marangon to Ambrosiana. On the inbound front, Verza from Milan and Vignola from Juventus tried to boost the squad's ambition for another championship on top.
European reigning champions Juventus let go of many of their stars, like Paolo Rossi, Marco Tardelli, and Zbigniew Boniek, betting on a few selected players like Massimo Mauro from Udinese, the Danish Laudrup for the position of Second Striker and the midfielder Manfredonia from Lazio. Moreover, Juventus snatched Aldo Serena from Ambrosiana in the deal that brought Tardelli to Milan. Serena had been on shared property between Torino and Ambrosiana, with the latter redeeming the entire sporting tie thanks to a higher bid from Galliani.
Berlusconi's Ambrosiana reinforced itself by signing the Bavarian Bayern München star, Lothar Matthäus. Galliani opened the purse with the Bavarians for more than 8.5 billion Liras. Ambrosiana snatched Verona's winger Fanna for 2.7 billion Liras and its former teammate Marangon for an additional 0.8 billion. Serena's half cost 2.2 billion, and its balance sheet value soared to 3.1 billion to have the trade with Juventus (Tardelli to the Checkers and Serena to Juventus) on par. Berlusconi approved the further signing of striker Selvaggi from Udinese for an undisclosed fee (rumored to be around 1.5 billion). To counterbalance these humongous expenses, Galliani sold many household names like Captain Graziano Bini (to Genoa), Sabato (to Torino), and Irishman Brady (to Monaco).
Mantovani's Andrea Doria confirmed its roster, adding a few players to enlarge the pool of quality substitutes (Aselli from Parma, Matteoli from Como, and Lorenzo from Catanzaro).
Milan retained Liedholm on the bench and due to the strong financial constraints had to sell many good prospects like Battistini and Incocciati. Liedholm had to choose between Verza and Di Bartolomei, retaining its loyal Roman player. Farina attempted to sell Filippo Galli to make the ends meet and financing the acquisition of his protegé Paolo Rossi from Juventus. Luckily for Milan, Farina managed to get Rossi thanks to a lifeline economic support from Gianni Nardi, keeping the centre-back Galli in Milan.
Firenzealso rejuvenated a lot, thanks mainly to the graft of 18-year-old Berti, coming from Parma; the Tuscans also put under contract another promising youngster, Roberto Baggio, a fantasist fished in C1 side, Vicenza (who, however, struggling with a serious injury, could not make his debut for the Violas until the following season). At the opposite end of the spectrum, Naples relied on experienced elements such as Giordano and Pecci in order to redeem the uninspiring result of the previous year. Atalanta retained rising star Donadoni, a mainstay of Azeglio Vicini's Under-21 team.
Top 8 teams Rosters for 1985-1986 - in green the new signings / in blue the promoted youth team players
The championship
First round
At the start of the championship the supremacy of a concrete Juventus seemed evident, soon making detractors of the renewed course recant, in the first eight days they conceded three goals and equaled their own record of consecutive opening victories going immediately into the lead. With the Milanese seesawers, attempting a chase was Naples, which with a "historic" Maradona's free kick halted the Bianconeri's escape on November 3, 1985.
In fact, the leading team soon resumed its march-not letting itself be affected by the Intercontinental Cup commitment that would take it to the roof of the world-and, with a lead of 26 points out of the 30 up for grabs in the first leg, clearly detached its struggling opponents.
Berlusconi, livid for the disappointing play and the large gap towards Juventus, decided for the sacking of Castagner, with the bench duties appointed to former flag-bearer Mario Corso. Their city rivals, Milan, were shocked by the sudden discovery of bankruptcy risk. This occurred following a search from Guardia di Finanza at Milan's Headquarters, leading to Milan Ultras and supporters siegeing the headquarters and sending threats to Chairman Farina.
In obvious decline was the runner-up of the previous season, Verona, which suffered exceedingly from the sale of the Fanna-Marangon duo, so much so that, for much of the initial round, it remained mired in a still wide relegation zone, also including the disappointing Andrea Doria, and with Lecce the only team already detached at the bottom.
Second round
As the final round began, Juventus slowed down, while Sven-Göran Eriksson's Capitolina stood out among the pursuers. Six consecutive victories launched the Tricolors, dragged by Pruzzo: on February 16, 1986, the striker sank Avellino with a five-goal win and brought his team to -3 from the shaky leader.
Nevertheless, Juventus managed to expand again its lead to +5 in the February-March period. On March 16, in the direct clash at the Stadio Olimpico, Capitolina decisively beat Juventus, which also fell in Florence on April 6 and saw its rival looming just one length behind.
Taking advantage of the Bianconeri draw on April 13 against Andrea Doria, the Tricolors passed in Pisa in a comeback and hooked the leader, looking with confidence to the non-prohibitive commitments of the last two days; the epilogue of the championship seemed to be directed towards a playoff-scudetto with the Turin rivals or no less, calendar in hand, to the overtaking in the home straight by the Roman eleven, at this point considered widely favored.
Instead, on April 20th, the unthinkable happened: Juventus now considered to be in disarray, distracted by nervousness inside the locker room as well as by rumors that coach Giovanni Trapattoni was leaving after a decade, overcame Milan with a goal by Laudrup, while a launched Capitolina, in a packed Olimpico and confident of a good outcome lost by surprise against the already relegated Lecce (2-3). This came with a lot of laughs from opponent supporters because Rome's mayor, Nicola Signorello, held a "parade" on the pitch during the pre-match.
On the final day, with an external victory precisely over Lecce (with a similar result), the Bianconeri celebrated their 17th Scudetto, while the Tricolors were also defeated by a Como, yes revitalized by coach Rino Marchesi but by then devoid of goals to achieve.
The banning of English clubs from the European cups after the Heysel massacre, the international successes of Juventus, and the good placings of the other Italian teams had meanwhile brought Serie A back to the top of the European rankings by reassigning to the league the entirety of the four places for participation in the UEFA Cup, making the fight for this zone once again hard-fought and interesting. The worst fate befell Milan, still struggling with economic issues. Fourth with just a few days to go, the Rossoneri strung together a series of negative results, including the derby, scoring just one point in the last five matches, a roster that cost them a scalding elimination. Andrea Doria and Verona, who had been credited with far greater ambitions on the eve of the tournament, were never able to insert themselves: the Genoese, moreover, did not even manage to seize the chance to participate in the next Cup Winners' Cup as they lost the Coppa Italia final against Capitolina. It was precisely the Roman success in the domestic cup that freed up a slot for sixth-placed Firenze and, therefore, qualified for Europe along with Naples, Ambrosiana, and Torino.
In addition to Lecce falling, Liberty Bari returned to the top flight after many years without managing to stay, and Pisa met relegation. The Tuscans, remounted in the championship finale by Udinese and Triestina (the latter destined for the playouts), couldn't take advantage of a good first round.
Juventus' winning Eleven
Scudetto Roll of Honor
Coppa del Re
The formula of the Coppa del Re involved 96 clubs, with the best 16 placed teams in previous Serie A accessing directly the Round of 32 and the other clubs from Serie B, Serie C1 and Serie C2 competing in knock-offs.
- 18 Serie A clubs
- 20 clubs from Serie B
- 36 Serie C1 clubs
- 22 Serie C2 clubs
Italian Football Federation began to discuss a reform to have the Coppa del Re transformed in a "Cup of the Regions". The underlying idea was to have Regional rounds for B-C1-C2-D clubs to assign the title of "Regional Champion". The winners of these mini-leagues would then qualify for the Round of 32 against Serie A clubs with a preliminary playoff to cut the number of Serie A clubs from 18 to 16 (18th vs 15th & 17th vs 16th).
Final phase
As usual, the Round of 32 presented many surprises from lower tier leagues, such as Gloria Fiume, Reggiana, Empoli, and Anconitana. Varese, Empoli, Rimini, and Genoa were the unique underdogs managing to reach the Round of 16. From there on, Serie A clubs dominated the Coppa del Re.
Round of 16
Torino lost at home against Varese (Cambiaghi) and then went to Lombardy dispatching the Red&White club with a net 0-4 (Schachner's double, Zaccarelli, and Cravero).
Naples defeated Empoli with the same score of 3-1 both at home and away. At San Paolo stadium, Giordano did the job with a hat-trick, while in Tuscany Maradona scored a double with the addition of Bruscolotti's goal.
Milan suffered against Atalanta at home, with San Siro being shrouded in chants against Farina's chairmanship. Nevertheless, the Red&Blacks manage to tie the game after a first half who saw them losing 0-2 (Stromberg, Donadoni) with the late goals of newbie Paolo Maldini (son of Cesare) and Wilkins. The return leg in Bergamo saw the Milanese win thanks to an early goal from Virdis.
Rimini presented itself well, but in the end Liberty Bari overcame them 0-2 (Rideout and Bivi) and drew the home game (Bivi again and Fabbri for the Romagna team).
Juventus quashed Como 5-1 at home (Serena, Serena, Platini, Laudrup, and Brio for the Bianconeri, consolation goal by Borgonovo for the Lombards). The return leg saw Juventus getting blasted by Como by 3-1 (Borgonovo's double and Corneliusson, Pacione for Juventus) because of the large turnover mandated by Trapattoni.
Andrea Doria couldn't have the same season of the previous, getting mauled at home by a strong Udinese (Carnevale's double, Edinho, and Chierico for the Friulians vs Vialli's consolation goal). In the return leg, Doria managed to go on the 0-2 (Vialli and Mancini) getting then caught thanks to Edinho and Miano.
Capitolina overwhelmed Firenze with an aggregate 7-2 thanks to scores of Pruzzo (five goals in the two games), Ancelotti, and Boniek. Firenze's goals were from the young Baggio and the Argentine Passarella.
Verona destroyed Genoa 5-0 in the two games thanks to Elkjaer (hat trick in Verona) and Verza (double at Genoa).
Quarterfinals
Despite Maradona's class, Torino overcame Naples, with a 1-0 win in Turin (Schachner) and a resounding 0-3 win in Naples (Junior, Comi, and Dossena), in which Garella, Naples' goalkeeper committed two serious blunders.
Milan, still in troubled waters, had still a 2-2 at home against Liberty Bari (Wilkins, Virdis for the Milanese and Rideout's double for the Apulians), snatching the berth for the Semifinals in Bari, where they won 0-4 (Wilkins, Virdis' double, and Di Bartolomei).
Udinese crushed Juventus, too much worried of Capitolina's return to focus into Coppa del Re. Trapattoni's turnover and the severe results of the two games likely were the causes of the summer divorce between him and the
Vecchia Signora. Udinese won 0-2 in Turin (Edinho's double) and 3-0 at home (Carnevale, Edinho, and Miano).
Capitolina annihilated Verona by 4-2 at home (Nela, Pruzzo, Boniek, and Giannini for the Romans, Vignola and Elkjaer for the Veronese) and repeated itself with a 1-2 win at Verona (Galderisi for the hosts and Pruzzo's double for the guests).
Semifinals
Milan suffered a tremendous defeat against Turin at Filadelfia. The Milanese lacked their defensive totem Baresi and its top-scorer Virdis, and the Torinese club netted a 5-1 at home (Schachner's double, Comi, Beruatto, and Sabato for the Yellow&Blacks and Evani's consolation goal). Torino coach Radice (former Milan player and coach) apologized in live TV to Milan fans and called for the resignation of Chairman Farina with these words:
"As an old timer Milanese fan foremost, player, and then coach, it's a shame that our beloved is still held hostage by that adventurer. Farina, free Milan and allow the people who loves it to save it".
The return leg saw a bit of pride in Milan players, who scored a 2-0 (with two undone scores on dubious offsides) thanks to Hateley and Virdis. Not enough for them, unfortunately.
Capitolina smashed Udinese, seeing the chance to realize a double (in the meantime, they were ahead of Juventus and before the infamous Capitolina-Lecce game). Pruzzo's hat trick sealed the deal in Rome (3-0), and the return leg was decided by the goal of Tovalieri (0-1 for Capitolina).
Finals
Capitolina managed to win on the difficult Filadelfia pitch in Turin (0-1 Boniek), and in the return leg Torino did the same in the regular time (0-1) thanks to a Comi goal. In the extra-time, Capitolina snatched the trophy (their 9th) thanks to a goal from Giannini.
Capitolina Coppa del Re winning eleven
Coppa del Re Roll of Honor
