Team of the Season 2000-2001   Shevchenko Crespo (Milan) (Lazio)     Nedved Tacchinardi Zidane Liverani (Lazio) (Juventus) (Juventus) (Perugia)       Materazzi Samuel Viali Cafu (Perugia) (Roma) (Lecce) (Roma)   Buffon (Parma)   Buffon : Buffon gets in just ahead of Toldo because he made fewer mistakes. World Class Materazzi : Perugia's most influential player. A Powerful, commanding defender who weighed in with 11 goals (8 penalties). Borderline World Class Samuel : Many 'experts' are quick to attribute Roma's Scudetto success to Totti or Batistuta but I personally feel without Samuel protecting their horrendous defence Roma would have finished top four at best. Probably the best tackler in the World. World Class Viali : Like Materazzi, Viali has shone for a modest club. It's difficult to gauge how good he is defensively but going forward he's superb. Borderline International Class Cafu : This 31 year old defender is better than ever. Only Zidane made more assists from open play last season. World Class Nedved : Nedved's superlative performances for the Czech Republic during Euro 2000 came as no surprise to those who follow Serie A. Devastating pace, devastating finishing, devastating assists. Up there with Figo as the best left sided player in the World. World Class Tacchinardi : The best defensive midfielder in Serie A. His displays in the second half of the season were particularly impressive. Has managed to cut out making murderous, leg breaking tackles. International Class Zidane : After what seems an eternity he finally lived-up to the hype with some truly breathtaking football. Linked particularly well with Trezeguet. Shame about the Champions League. World Class Liverani : Came from nowhere (Serie C to be precise) to earn a place in the national side. The Italian David Beckham. Zero pace but laser precision delivery from set pieces. International Class Shevchenko : Lead the scoring charts for the majority of the season and scored 24 goals despite a miserable supply line. Still needs to work on his team game, far too selfish in possession. World Class Crespo : Was initially weighed down by the £35 million transfer fee but came good following the arrival of Dino Zoff. Finally managed to find the consistency that has eluded him in previous seasons. A better striker, a better player than his more illustrious national team-mate Batistuta. World Class 2001-2002 Season Preview ATALANTA Stunned Serie A by briefly topping the table before their lack of depth sent them into the UEFA Cup. As expected lost many of their key players but have signed adequate replacements over the summer. Still look lightweight in attack Key Players : Taibi, Saudati Prospects : Mid Table/Intertoto Cup BOLOGNA Despite a strong squad last season Bologna flattered to deceive. Cruz was a massive flop. Bologna have lost their best two midfielders - Lima and Maresca and are still overly reliant on an increasingly injury prone Guieseppe Signori. If gifted young striker Giacomo Cipriani can take the scoring burden off Signori Bologna could have a respectable season. Key Players : Signori, Viali, Cipriani Prospects : UEFA Cup/Intertoto Cup BRESCIA Thirty somethings Roberto Baggio and Dario Hubner inspired the team to a surprise 8th place finish. Brescia have made some really smart signings in the shape of underrated Federico Giunt from Milan and arguably Italy's most promising young player the giant striker Luca Toni. The loss of Coach Carlo Mazzoni, who resigned earlier this week, could be a huge blow Key Players : Baggio, Giunti, Toni Prospects : Mid-Table FIORENTINA For only the second time in a decade Fiorentina threatened a title challenge until coach Fatih Terim fell out with club President Vitorrio Checchi Gori (or vice versa). Roberto Mancini arrived to salvage the team's customary UEFA Cup place. The Viola have lost their remaining World Class players - Rui Costa and Toldo to Milan and Inter respectively. The clubs perilous financial state has meant an even more modest than usual foray into the transfer market. Fiorentina will do well to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Key Players : Chiesa, Torricelli, Morfeo Prospects : Mid-Table, Intertoto Cup INTER Inter will want to forget last season (and the season before and the season before, etc, etc). Coach Hector Cuper arrives to set Italian football further back tactically. As usual Inter have spent a fortune on signings over the summer but in Marco Materazzi they finally have a true leader, a player who can hold the rest of this talented if somewhat mentally weak team together. Anything is possible if Ronaldo and Vieri can stay fit. Key Players : Materazzi, Conceicao, Ronaldo Prospects : Champions League JUVENTUS On paper this is the most talented Juve team of the past decade. Thuram arrives to shore up the best defence in Serie A and Nedved will provide a more direct style of fantasy than Zidane. Up front the outstanding Trezeguet is partnered with Marcelo Salas or bottler Del Piero. Juve just missed out on the Scudetto for the second successive season prompting the truly desperate decision to re-hire former coach Marcello Lippi. This alone could prove be the most expensive decision Juve made over the summer. Ancelotti never had this much talent at his disposal. Key Players : Thuram, Nedved, Trezeguet Prospects : Champions/Champions League LAZIO By the time Zoff arrived to take over from the tactically naive, long ball merchant Sven Goran Eriksson Lazio were out of the title race. Lazio played arguably the best football in Serie A last season but shipped goals. The Roman club have done great business by offloading the inconsistent and lazy Veron and signing Fiore, a more than adequate replacement. The rest of the clubs dealings in the transfer market however are perplexing. Wing back Coco is the only major defensive reinforcement. Giannicheda will provided un-needed competition for Simeone, who had his best ever season in Serie A, Mendieta arrives in place of Nedved and the decidedly average Kovacevic was the makeweight in the deal that took Salas to Juventus. Key Players : Nesta, Fiore, Crespo Prospects : Champions/Champions League MILAN Milan got rid of the inept Alberto Zaccheroni too late to salvage a Champions League place. Fatih Terim have built a team geared to attack. In Rui Costa Milan finally have a World Class playmaker for the first time since the days of Savicevic. Javi Moreno and Inzaghi will fight to partner the awesome Shevchenko in attack. The defence still looks suspect despite the arrival of Laursen and Contra. Key Players : Shevchenko, Rui Costa, Laursen Prospects : Champions League PARMA Many pundits could be forgiven for thinking the club have given up on their quest to win the Scudetto following the sale of Thuram and Buffon but Parma have spent wisely over the summer. Thuram is no great loss, he simply hasn't tried for the past two seasons however it will be interesting to see how Cannavaro copes without his long-term defensive partner. The midfield looks suspect despite the arrival of Nakata but Parma have three excellent attackers - Milosevic, Di Vaio and another of Italy's giant young strikers, Bedazzle. Key Players : Cannavaro, Nakata, Di Vaio Prospects : Champions League PERUGIA How long can Perugia keep confounding the critics by selling of their best players and shopping in the lower leagues? We'll find out this season. Key Players : Liverani, Vryzas Prospects : Survival/Relegation ROMA It wasn't pretty and Roma certainly had their fair share of luck but they won the Scudetto. Roma haven't had any particularly impressive signings. The tactically inept ego maniac, Capello, has already sown the seeds of his previous downfalls by falling out with saviour Montella. Indeed more so than Totti or Batistuta a successful defence of the Scudetto depends on the form of Samuel and Montella. Key Players : Samuel, Montella, Totti Prospects : Champions/Champions League UDINESE At one stage of last season Udinese topped the table but nose-dived all the way to 12th place. The club have lost more key players, no surprise there, and made no fewer than 19 new signings. Key Players : Turci, Jorgensen, Sosa Prospects : Intertoto Cup VERONA Verona secured Serie A status with a play-off victory over Reggina. With the loss of Laursen and Bonazzoli this season promises to be an almighty struggle. Key Players : Salvetti, Mutu Prospects : Relegation