With Sampdoria already out of the tournament before the groups were set that left only three Italian clubs to compete for the honor of the world’s best. Let’s take a look at the teams chances of advancing:
Inter: Last year’s defending champions are having a fairly rough go early on with the recent shock defeat to Inter and the probable chance the club will be forced to play a make tougher draw if they can’t pass Tottenham this week. With only 10 points in 5 games, Inter has been human at times this qualifier but are still in safe position. Rafa’s job security, on the other hand, is another story and if the coach doesn’t turn it around soon he could be looking yet again for a new destination.
AC Milan: Milan is similar to Inter in the fact that they are in comfortable position to advance to the knockout stages of the tournament, but are going to have to achieve wins down the road with a tougher schedule of matches due to being a second seed. Milan did survive the death group though, so that is some added confidence heading into the second round of the tournament.
Roma: Roma is the lone Serie A team that can miss out on the next round of the event, but in all likelihood they will survive as long as they achieve a draw. The squad has a 3 point edge on FC Basel, but they do have a worse goal differential overall. So if they lose they will miss out on the next round, but if they win or tie then they are into the next round.
