Presenter James Richardson and James Horncastle, two of BT Sport’s European Football experts, were speaking ahead of their appearance on The European Football Show, live on BT Sport.

Forza Italian Football writer George Rinaldi was given the privilege to meet James Richardson and guests down at the BT Sport Studios on Sunday.

The main question was the perception of Italian Football in the media and amongst football fans in England, and whether it is still seen to be negative, defensive and somewhat boring.

”Juventus v Roma in September shows it not to be true, and the same goes for Juventus against AC Milan on Saturday,” Horncastle told Forza Italian Football.

”If you follow Serie A regularly, you will see games played at the highest intensity just like in England, Spain and Germany.

”It’s an easy stereotype for people to fall into, especially when discussing players at the end of their career coming from the Premier League to Italy because it will suit them – the slow pace, the slow tempo.

“Well, Ashley Cole and Nemanja Vidic are both on the bench for their respective clubs. They haven’t been able to adapt. People have to move on from these generic stereotypes.”

Richardson was also on hand to give his view on the situation and says there is a negative image of Italian football but it is due to the fact that is was so good in the 90s.

”They set the bar so high 20 years ago as Italian football was so completely dominant,” he stated to Forza Italian Football. “The fact it was on Channel 4 and it was such a big thing, meant it was really the only football people saw in this country aside from the English game.

”It means it’s not difficult for people to say it’s not as good as it was. It shows, in certain company’s view, that there is a lack of knowledge. These commentators and reporters have probably not watched much Serie A.

“These people fall back on all the possible cliches they have to hand – the Eastern Europeans will be well drilled, the Brazilians will have flair, and the Italians will be defensive.

”However, if you talk to anyone in the street about Italian football, they will still have this perception of the game. Obviously it is not at the level of what it was in the 90s but what league is?”

Horncastle added: ”No teams, other than the Italians, were going to European Cup finals and dominating the game.”

”They were the teams breaking world transfer records and securing Ballon d’Or winners. It is the gold standard of football and I don’t believe you will have these same circumstances anywhere else, as there is such a spread of talent.

“Maradona at Napoli, Falcao at Roma, the three Dutchman at AC Milan, the three Germans at Inter. It made people more aware of a wide range of Italian clubs, as opposed to other leagues.

“More people are aware of clubs like Sampdoria, Fiorentina and Parma than other names across Europe.

”Yes, the Twitter culture has kept these perceptions though, as either something is good, or something is rubbish. You hear people saying how Italian football is still negative and not full of any talent, but the reality is if you go to any transfer rumour mill, it’s full of Serie A players – Strootman, Dybala, Pogba, Felipe Anderson.

“Italian football is not where it once was, but nowhere was ever like that before and I doubt anywhere will be again in the future.”

Behind The Scenes

The occasion also included a tour of the BT Studio and I paid witness to James Horncastle, Julien Laurens and Raphael Honigstein, who are BT Sport’s European football experts appear live on The European Football Show.

The European Football Show is live on BT Sport every Sunday, discussing all the best football action from around Europe. The insight of the guests, along with how well they get on with one another, makes the show a relaxed and enjoyable viewing experience.

BT Sport has exclusively live coverage from some of Europe’s top leagues including; Italy’s Serie A, the German Bundesliga, France’s Ligue 1 and Portugal’s Primeira Liga. BT Sport also shows top games from the FA Cup, UEFA Europa League, SPFL and 38 Barclays Premier League matches exclusively live.