Theatrics, protests, tactical maneuvering, stoppages: our league doesn’t prepare players for the kind of soccer played around the world today. And if Italy’s best dribbler is a fullback…

Intensity is like shallots—it goes into every recipe. As soon as Italian soccer stumbles, the word “intensity” shoots to the top of the trending topics. It’s to blame. For everything. Even climate change. “We lack intensity.” Yesterday, however, the CIES Football Observatory provided data allowing us to discuss it in a slightly less vague way. It defined the concept of a sprint: a speed of 25 km/h maintained for at least 0.7 seconds.

Then it compiled a ranking of European leagues where the most meters are covered in sprints. This is what intensity is: sustained fast running. In first place is the Premier League with 199.6 meters. Next are the Dutch league (193.7 m) and the Swiss league (190 m). Italy? Outside the top 10, trailing even France, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Germany, and Turkey. Serie A, full of theatrics, protests, tactical maneuvering, and constant stoppages, does not train players for sustained sprints. So, if Norway picks up the pace, the Azzurri find themselves like Sinner’s opponents—a monster of intensity: overwhelmed, unable to keep up with a high tempo. It happens to our clubs in cup competitions, too. If Roma, which has a squad inferior to many, is ahead, it’s because Gasp has already instilled the intensity of Atalanta, the most revolutionary Italian team of the last 10 years. You never see revolutionaries walking. An opponent: you either dribble past him or outrun him. The player with the most successful dribbles is a fullback (Palestra, 17), far behind Yamal (33) and Mbappé (30). We don’t know how to sprint or dribble. The playoffs aren’t an insult to our history, but a true reflection of it.