ROME – No Italian teams have qualified for the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League after Atletico Madrid beat Inter Milan 3-2 on penalties on Wednesday night.

 Out of the top five leagues in Europe, Serie A is the only league to not have any teams advance in the knockout stages of the tournament.

 Inter drew with Atletico 2-2 on aggregate, however fell at the final hurdle of penalties in a surprising loss that did not reflect their strong domestic performances. A close penalty shootout finished 3-2. 

 Napoli and Lazio both crashed out of the round of 16 after two disastrous seasons in the domestic league, currently in seventh and ninth place respectively – a shadow of the respective first and second place they claimed last season. Barcelona beat Napoli 4-2 on aggregate and Bayern Munich beat Lazio 3-1 on aggregate.

 AC Milan, the other Italian team in the Champions League this season, failed to make it past the group stages and dropped down into the Europa League. The Italian teams in the Europa League, Atalanta, Roma and Milan all play in the second leg of the round of 16 on Thursday evening. The three teams go into the second leg with strong first leg performances behind them.  

 This Italian failure in the top cross-European league reflects poor domestic seasons and the general state of Italian football this year.

 UEFA are investigating the behaviour of Napoli’s president Aurelio De Laurentiis after an outburst on the eve of Napoli’s loss to Barcelona. Maurizio Sarri, Lazio's manager, resigned on Wednesday evening after defeat to Bayern and a poor domestic performance. De Laurentiis commented on Sarri’s resignation calling him a “loser”, although he took no responsibility for Napoli’s disappointing season.

 Other issues have reared their heads in Serie A this season, multiple managers resigning or being sacked, including Lecce’s coach who was fired for headbutting an opposition player. Napoli are currently on their fourth manager of the season. 

 Juventus has found itself embroiled in the middle of a scandal involving missing wills and arguments over ownership of the club as the Agnelli family fight with each other. AC Milan’s offices were searched by police on Tuesday as part of a probe into the sale of the club, in which the current CEO and former manager allegedly withheld information of the sale from the Italian football federation. This could see the club be docked points.

 The hope for a relatively strong Italian performance in the cross-European league now falls to the clubs in the Europa League and the Conference League.