TIRO’s Euro Preview 2025/26

European competition returns next week and we’re all doing our best to forget about Inter getting pasted 5-0 by PSG in Munich a few months back. Italy has only four Champions League spots this year and seven sides in total.

What’s the outlook for Serie A’s seven sides this year? Can anyone follow Roma and Atalanta’s success in recent years? We preview all seven teams and their hopes of Euro glory:

Napoli

The Serie A champions are back in the Champions League after a year away. Their last match in the competition was a feeble 3-1 defeat to Barcelona in the last 16 when Francesco Calzona — their third manager that season — was in charge and the club were headed towards a 10th place finish.

But things are different now, right? Antonio Conte has revitalised the club and rebuilt a team with Scott McTominay the spiritual leader and midfield maestro. Imagine writing that sentence two years ago. 

Conte’s kryptonite has been managing on both domestic and European fronts at the same time, but it’s ridiculous to suggest that he can’t make this Napoli side competitive in the Champions League while also making a fist of defending their league title.

Fixtures: Man City (A), Sporting CP (H), PSV (A), Frankfurt (H), Qarabag (H), Benfica (A), Kobenhavn (A), Chelsea (H)

Prediction: A plucky last 16 defeat to a top seed, or maybe a run to the quarter-final depending on how much of a challenge they face domestically.

Inter

The scars of PSG’s lashing will live with them for some time. Their mercurial coach Simone Inzaghi left immediately after that defeat and while Cristian Chivu has retained much of that side, Inter don’t feel like a side capable of punching above its weight anymore.

One positive is that they have greater strength in depth than last season and could put that to use in some of their earlier league phase fixtures. We’re looking at you, Kairat. Just be thankful they’re playing the Kazakh side at home, rather than travelling near the Chinese border and back.

Fixtures: Ajax (A), Slavia Praha (H), Union St. Gilloise (A), Kairat (H), Atletico Madrid (A), Liverpool (H), Arsenal (H), Dortmund (A)

Prediction: The last four fixtures are hectic, so Inter better have some points on the board before then or they mightn’t even make it out of the group. They should reach the play-off round but after that, it’s a lottery. This isn’t Inzaghi’s Inter and that doesn’t seem like a good thing. If they can find some of that 2024/25 form again, they might still have enough to reach a quarter-final.

Atalanta

A new era in Bergamo as Gian Piero Gasperini leaves for Roma after nine years in charge. They have reached the Champions League once again and will be keen to make up for blowing a favourable draw against Club Brugge in the play-off round.

We’re not sold on Ivan Juric’s new look side just yet and this could well be a year of transition for the club after losing Mateo Retegui to Saudi Arabia and failing to sell Ademola Lookman, who spent most of the summer in a huff and training by himself in Portugal.

Fixtures: PSG (A), Club Brugge (H), Slavia Praha (H), Marseille (A), Frankfurt (A), Chelsea (H), Athletic Club (H), Union St. Gilloise (A)

Prediction: Two winnable home matches early on should help their chances of progression. Only PSG looks like an insurmountable away fixture also. Expect them to reach the play-off at which point the luck of the draw could see them through to the last 16, but no further.

Juventus

Recent struggles prompted a realignment in Juve’s expectations but there’s a feeling that they’ve gone under the radar this summer. Adding Jonathan David, Lois Openda and Edon Zhegrova to the attack should make them a dangerous proposition and the return from injury of titanic defender Bremer is better than any new signing.

Igor Tudor steadied the ship after Thiago Motta’s less than stellar six months in charge, taking them to the Champions League with a final day win against relegated Venezia. Tudor has taken the revolutionary approach of playing footballers in their best positions, something that might just make Juve a difficult match for anyone in Europe this season.

Fixtures: Dortmund (H), Villarreal (A), Real Madrid (A), Sporting CP (H), Bodo/Glimt (A), Pafos (H), Benfica (H), Monaco (A)

Prediction: This is not the Juventus that reached two Champions League finals in the past decade, but there is still a sense of might about them. Bar their trip to Madrid, they should be targeting points from each and every match in this group. Playing in Bodø at the end of November should be fun. Just ask Jose Mourinho.

Roma

Another year in the Europa League. It has almost become a continental purgatory as they search for a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2018/19. They might just make it this year under Gian Piero Gasperini, but a good showing in the Europa League is in everyone’s best interests as Italy attempt to recapture the fifth Champions League spot they lost for this season.

Gasperini has put his faith in young striker Evan Ferguson, but retained Artem Dovbyk after failing to agree a deadline day swap with Milan for Santi Gimenez. Gasp’s intense playing style means Roma will need to use the full range of their squad depth for these eight Europa League ties.

Fixtures: Nice (A), Lille (H), Viktoria Plzen (H), Rangers (A), Midtjylland (H), Celtic (A), Stuttgart (H), Panathinaikos (A)

Prediction: There’s nothing stopping Roma from progressing straight to the last 16. Nice and Stuttgart should pose some challenges, but they are one of the better sides in the competition. Two trips to Glasgow could be fun. If they show up in this league phase, there’s no reason they can’t make a real tilt at lifting some silverware, depending on how things are going domestically.

Bologna

Last season’s Coppa Italia winners qualify for the Europa League one year on from their first Champions League campaign in more than sixty years. Vincenzo Italiano took Fiorentina to consecutive Conference League finals before leaving for Bologna and will likely lean on that experience this season.

They have greater squad depth than this time last year and they’ll need it. The Bologna project relies on the team reaching Europe each year, allowing them to attract new talent they can sell on for multiples of profit, so it’ll be interesting to see on which fronts Italiano chooses to fight. They were a truly dangerous cup side last year in domestic competition, highlighted by reaching the final where they beat Milan to claim a first trophy since 1974.

Fixtures: Aston Villa (A), Freiburg (H), FCSB (A), Brann (H), Salzburg (H), Celta Vigo (A), Celtic (H), M. Tel Aviv (A)

Prediction: There’s no tougher place to begin than at Villa Park but it gets easier after that. Bologna have to target a top eight finish and direct route into the last 16. If they can achieve it, they might just get a chance to lean on that Coppa Italia experience.

Fiorentina

Groundhog Day! Fiorentina are in the Conference League for the fourth year running. The competition has only been around for five. Their three attempts so far have been: runner-up, runner-up, semi-final. With Stefano Pioli returning to his old club and ownership recruiting some more attacking firepower, they have to consider themselves favourites along with Crystal Palace.

This season’s Serie A is set to be one of the most competitive in a long time and the top half of the table could be truly robust. So why not go for it in this competition, Fiorentina? Fourth time lucky?

Fixtures: Sigma Olomuc (H), Rapid Wien (A), Mainz (A), AEK Athens (H), Dynamo Kyiv (H), Lausanne (A)

Prediction: A tough away trip to Mainz but a set of fixtures they will expect to take enough points from to avoid the play-off round. If they can avoid Crystal Palace (and maybe Strasbourg) then surely they’ve got to fancy themselves to reach a third final? It wouldn’t be right if Fiorentina don’t finally win a trophy.