THE 1982 World Cup finals was one of my earliest football memories. After a ropey start Italy won the tournament with slightly more style than they were given credit for.
Or maybe it was simply my childish bias at the time.
I loved the Italians.
How could you not fall in love with that deep ocean-blue jersey?
Or Marco Tardelli bearing his Italian soul to the world after scoring the goal that sunk West Germany in the final?
How could you not love the stylish wing play of Bruno Conti?
And Antonio Cabrini? And Fiorentina’s wonderfully two-footed playmaker Giancarlo Antognoni?
And unflappable libero Gaetano Scirea?
I even had a grudging admiration for Claudio Gentile's ruthless efficiency at the back.
At the time I didn't quite understand the damaging influence of 'Catenaccio' and how its inherent negativity prompted Fifa to eventually ban the back pass to the goalkeeper.
I thought Italy were pure class.
That's why I was in awe of Giovanni Trapattoni when he became Republic of Ireland manager in 2008.
The highly decorated coach was one of Catenaccio's loyal practitioners.
Trapattoni didn't give a damn about the aesthetics of the game.
He used to tell Irish reporters at almost every press conference that if you wanted to see a show, go to the opera; if you wanted a result, go and watch football.
The only thing that mattered to 'Trap' was the result.
Comfortably in his 70s, Trapattoni was an egomaniac in the nicest possible way.
He would often remind us of the famous players he'd coached at Juventus back in the 70s and 80s.
He was a dogmatic old soul.
He came to Ireland with one simple prescription for the Republic of Ireland - and he wasn't going to stray from it because, well, he knew better.
He was a 4-4-2 man. Always was. Always would be. And that was one of his problems: his unwillingness to countenance change. His ego wouldn't allow him.
After one particular 2010 World Cup Qualifier where the Irish were again over-run and out-numbered in midfield, I sheepishly asked the legendary 'Trap' would he consider playing with one up front and bolster his midfield with an extra player in the next game.
There was derision written all over his face. Football was changing and poor 'Trap' and his dysfunctional Irish team were being left behind.
More and more teams flooded the midfield sector. Most managers believed if they could establish supremacy in the middle of the field they were halfway to victory.
Possession was the name of the game. Some of the best coaches in the world experimented with 3-5-2 and 4-2-3-1.
It made teams more fluid without them losing the defensive solidity that 4-4-2 virtually guaranteed.
The 4-4-2 formation is deemed outmoded in many parts of Europe - but it remains relevant in the modern-day Italian League.
On Wednesday night, Juventus fully justified their place in this season’s Champions League final after beating Real Madrid 3-2 on aggregate.
Real may have rued missed chances in Turin last week but they didn't deserve to go through the other night at the Bernabeu and were unlucky to hold Juve to a 1-1 draw on the night.
Juventus came up trumps with 4-4-2, although Carlos Tevez regularly dropped deep to add a bit of tactical flexibility to the Italians' gameplan.
The system worked so well because Real played with a three-man midfield, with no defensive screen.
Toni Kroos played as Real’s deep-lying central midfielder but his shortcomings were evident during Wednesday night’s second leg.
The German is a wonderful footballer who has every pass in the book but his expressed apathy to defending effectively cost Real a place in next month’s Champions League final against eternal rivals Barcelona.
Undoubtedly, Kross should have been goal-side when Madrid reject Alvaro Morata pounced in the second half to score Juve’s equaliser.
And in the 70th minute, Kross abdicated responsibility again by ignoring Claudio Marchisio’s run from deep, only for Madrid ‘keeper Iker Casillas to deny the Italian international a certain goal.
New manager Max Allegri had big shoes to fill at the beginning of the season when Antonio Conte shocked the Old Lady by running off with the Italian national team.
Conte is charismatic and a brilliant motivator. Indeed, he's the closest thing Italy has to Pep Guardiola.
Conte, the player, was a worker-bee. A no-frills midfielder with an insatiable appetite for hard work. But Conte really found his vocation when he took charge of the famous Turin club. He also ditched Juventus's tried and trusted 4-4-2.
He would win three Italian titles by predominantly playing 3-5-2. Few of their Serie A rivals managed to solve the puzzle that Conte set.
However, Juventus had less joy with the formation in Europe, probably because the side lacked quality in certain areas, particularly in the full-back positions.
What 3-5-2 did was bring out the best in Italy’s mercurial deep-lying playmaker Andrea Pirlo. Conte, cleverly, protected Pirlo’s lack of legs by putting runners – Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio - either side of him.
Pirlo was devastatingly brilliant in Conte’s 3-5-2 and was the main reason why the Old Lady returned to the summit of Italian football.
With Conte gone, Allegri has restored the trusty 4-4-2 system to Juventus. Only it’s not as trusty as it used to be.
Juventus topped the pile again in Serie A this season – but if they have designs on upsetting Barcelona in the Champions League final on June 6, Allegri must go with 3-5-2.
The Juventus manager's 4-4-2 would leave Pirlo exposed in the final, and Barca would pass through the Italians with relative ease.
Playing a 3-5-2 is an entirely proposition with some excellent fail-safes.
Playing three central defenders – Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli – instead of two closes off central channels to Luis Suarez while playing a narrow midfield three gives Pirlo every chance of exerting more influence on the final.
Of course, in-form Barcelona will take some stopping no matter what tactical conundrum they encounter in Berlin. But with 3-5-2, the Old Lady is not without hope.
