This has not been a happy year for Italian football. The men’s national team failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, while Serie A clubs endured one humiliation after another in Uefa competition.

Inter went from Champions League finalists to elimination in the playoff round by Bodø/Glimt, while Juventus conceded seven goals to Galatasaray. They both did better than last year’s Scudetto winners, Napoli, who failed to even get through the group stage. At least Atalanta rescued Italy from having no representatives in the last 16 for the first time in almost 40 years when they overturned a two-goal deficit against Borussia Dortmund. And then they got walloped 10-2 on aggregate by Bayern Munich.

Things were not much better in the Europa League, where Bologna knocked out Roma only to lose 7-1 across two legs with Aston Villa. Fiorentina were 4-0 down in their Europa Conference League quarter-final with Crystal Palace before they pulled a couple of goals back to make the tie look closer than it truly was.

There has been ugliness, too, on the domestic stage. An otherwise gripping Derby d’Italia in February was overshadowed by Alessandro Bastoni exaggerating contact to get Pierre Kalulu sent off, then shamelessly celebrating the success of his deception. When the Inter player got a red card in Italy’s World Cup qualifying playoff defeat to Bosnia, some of his own compatriots called it karma.

All this before we even mention the refereeing scandal that led the designator of match officials for Italy’s top two divisions to suspend himself from duties in April. Or the mess of the penultimate round, when an entirely foreseeable scheduling clash between the Rome derby and finals of the Italian Open tennis tournament somehow did not get resolved until a few days before those events were set to take place – after courts and politicians got involved.

The football itself felt austere at times. There were 922 goals in Serie A this season – 2.43 per game, the league’s lowest average since 1993-94. On one especially grim weekend in October, only nine were scored across as many games.

Still, there were flecks of gold to be found in muddy waters. Sometimes even big fat nuggets. Inter rebounded from that Bodø defeat, not to mention the residual exhaustion of the catastrophic end to their 2024-25 campaign, when they went for four trophies and won none of them, to claim their first domestic double since 2010.

Their gamble on Christian Chivu was richly rewarded. There were plenty of sceptics when the Nerazzurri named a man with only 13 games of senior management experience to replace Simone Inzaghi, and even more after Inter lost two of their first three under his leadership. Yet by the end his team made it look easy. While the rest of the league scratched around for goals, Inter piled up 89 of them.

Serie A’s next most prolific side, Como, only got to 65. Not bad, still, for a team who were playing in the fourth tier as recently as 2019.

Como’s story divides opinion. They ended this season qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in their history. More than that, they did it playing some of the most compelling, entertaining football in the division, showcasing the individual talents of some brilliant young players and continuing to develop a clear tactical identity under Cesc Fàbregas.

Yet theirs is hardly a true underdog story. Como’s rapid rise has been fuelled by generous spending by billionaire owners and achieved with a squad of almost exclusively foreign players. Only one Italian, the journeyman defender Edoardo Goldaniga, took the field for them in Serie A this season. He made two appearances, both off the bench, for a total of 14 minutes played.

A symptom of Italian football’s current woes, or part of the cause? Over the last 20 years, the percentage of minutes played by non-Italian footballers in Serie A has shifted from about 30% to closer to 70%.

That is a bigger conversation, for another day. But while we’re discussing foreign players in Serie A, in this English-language column, we might also note that this was another year when the number of British players furthering their careers in the Italian top-flight continued to grow.

The most surprising was Jamie Vardy, who arrived to glorious chaos when he signed for Cremonese in September. The fans who greeted him at Milan’s Linate airport begged him to “take us to Europe”. One got him to sign a tattoo of his own face. Vardy celebrated his first Serie A goal with a cartwheel into a backflip, and went on to bag six more, but in the end the Grigiorossi were relegated.

Kieron Bowie joined Verona from Hibernian in January, scoring four times in 14 appearances, but like Vardy could not save his new team from the drop. His fellow Scot Lennon Miller made 24 appearances in his debut season with Udinese at 19 years old. England’s Keinan Davis has been with the same Friulian club for three years now, but this season scored 10 goals for the first time in his career.

There are enough Britons in Serie A now, indeed, that I dare not sidetrack this column further by trying to provide updates on all of them. The most impactful, of course, was Scott McTominay again, who scored 10 goals from midfield and did more than anyone to make sure that Napoli – in a season complicated hugely by injuries – finished second.

Roma joined them in the top four. Who would have predicted before the season began that Gian Piero Gasperini – whose appointment was openly opposed by some supporters who resented him for antagonising them while at Atalanta – would survive a power struggle with Claudio Ranieri?

He did brilliantly to pull his team out of a spring slump, aided by the prolific form of January signing Donyell Malen. But Roma and Como both also benefited from late-season collapses by Juventus and Milan. A shocking result for the latter club, especially, in a year when they had gone with the safe choice of Massimiliano Allegri as manager and were not distracted by European football.

Still, fans will always have those EVERY TOUCH videos of Luka Modric to look back on. That sounds facetious, but it isn’t. In another disappointing season for the Rossoneri, which has ended with Allegri and several directors losing their jobs, the Croatian’s understated elegance and furious competitiveness even at 40 years old was a treat to see in Serie A.

As usual, there were stories worth following throughout the division. Fiorentina, European qualifiers the previous season, were dead last with one win from 17 games by the end of December, but turned things around after firing Stefano Pioli as manager and bringing in Paolo Vanoli. Genoa had a similar turnaround, and played some very entertaining football, as they replaced Patrick Vieira with Daniele De Rossi.

Giovanni Simeone went on a tear for Torino, reaching double figures for the first time since his memorable 2021-22 campaign with Verona. Udinese landed their first top-half finish in more than a decade.

I could go on, but really what I need to do is stop stalling and get to the bit that you all really came for, the end-of-season Bandini awards.

Goal of the season

10) Look, the goalkeeper can do better here, but Vitinha gets extra points for winning back the possession he had lost in this move before absolutely wellying it from 30 yards.

9) Genoa scored a bunch of lovely goals this season, but I have a soft spot for this one as well: a backheeled finish by the 18-year-old Jeff Ekhator against Napoli at the Maradona after some lovely combination work with another of those Serie A Englishmen, Brooke Norton-Cuffy.

8) One of Allegri’s first innovations at Milan was to line up Christian Pulisic, and later Rafael Leão, at centre-forward. Maybe he should have tried Strahinja Pavlovic.

7) At what moment in this half-pitch dribble does Semih Kilicsoy realise he doesn’t need to pass the ball any more, and can just score by himself instead?

6) Mandatory annual overhead kick section: Federico Bonazzoli, Federico Bonazzoli and Fe … Oh wait, sorry, this one is Jonathan Rowe!

5) Choose your own adventure! Nico Paz scores against Lazio with free-kick into the top corner OR a shot into the bottom corner from Martin Baturina’s backheeled assist. So we’re clear, he doesn’t only do these things against Lazio.

4) Francisco Conceição with a rocket against Roma.

3) Vasilije Adzic’s 91st-minute winner to seal this season’s first Derby d’Italia was so good that Serie A rereleased it in slow-motion.

2) Just an absurdly precise first-time finish by Piotr Zielinski from Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner.

1) Without wanting to fall into cliche, I honestly think that if someone scored this Michael Folorunsho goal in a video game, their opponent may start complaining about how unrealistic it was.

Most pleasant stroll

Petar Sucic, through the Fiorentina defence.

Most toxic ex

Rolando Mandragora just keeps showing up looking his absolute best to ruin Juventus’s days.

Assist of the season

Paz against Lazio (again) spinning his man in midfield before casually releasing Tasos Douvikas with an on-the-floor through ball that runs half the length of the pitch.

Player of the season

You could make a strong case for several candidates. I’ve already mentioned McTominay hitting double figures, and at least a couple of his strikes – against Genoa and Inter – could have snuck into the goal of the season list. More than that, though, it is hard to overstate how much he put the Partenopei on his shoulders during protracted injury crises.

Last year McTominay had Romelu Lukaku, Frank Anguissa and for half a season even Khvicha Kvaratskhelia alongside him. The first of those was barely seen in a Napoli shirt this season, the second was available for less than half of their Serie A games and the latter is at Paris Saint-Germain. Kevin De Bruyne, the headline recruit last summer, was out for four-and-a-half months, too. Napoli might not have put up much of a title defence but without McTominay things would have been an awful lot worse.

Paz arguably had a better supporting cast at Como, but he still was the standout individual talent in Fàbregas’ team. When Francesco Totti says you’re the only young talent in the entire league that he’s interested in watching, you know you must be doing something right.

Lautaro Martínez was Serie A’s Capocannoniere with 17 goals despite being limited to just 27 starts. Malen probably can’t win this award, having only played in Serie A for half the season, but he did score 14 times in 18 appearances to finish joint-second in the scoring charts.

But Federico Dimarco was named as Serie A’s official MVP, and he gets my award too. His 18 assists were a league record, and seven goals from left wing-back are no joke either. In a season when Inter had to navigate their own share injuries and burnout, he was the one they could rely on: putting the crosses exactly where they needed to be for a rotating cast of centre-forwards.

Team of the season (3-4-1-2)

Mile Svilar (Roma); Jacobo Ramón (Como), Bremer (Juventus), Evan Ndicka (Roma); Marco Palestra (Cagliari), Scott McTominay (Napoli), Nicolò Barella (Inter), Federico Dimarco (Inter); Nico Paz (Como); Donyell Malen (Roma), Lautaro Martínez (Inter)

Manager of the season

A three-horse race for me. Chivu is the obvious choice, the first Inter manager to win Serie A at his first attempt since José Mourinho. Though he inherited a talented squad – by far the deepest in the division – his was not a straightforward task. Players were physically and emotionally shattered by the fruitless pursuit of four trophies last season, and he immediately had to lead them into a Club World Cup where tensions predictably spilled over.

By the end of June, Martínez – the club captain – was publicly calling out teammates as influential as Hakan Calhanoglu for a perceived lack of commitment. It was far from a given that Chivu would be able to restore a shared sense of purpose.

Still, though, his project was building on foundations laid by Inzaghi. Gasperini, at Roma, needed to break the mould, not just reinforce it. The Giallorossi had not qualified for the Champions League in seven years.

And yet, I am going to give the award to Fàbregas. Yes, Como have spent more than €200m on transfer fees over the last two years. And yes, honestly, I am one of those people who feels disappointed that this success story is happening with almost no Italian players. That may have to change next season, since eight of the places on each team’s squad list for Uefa competitions are reserved for homegrown talent.

But even with all his advantages, Fàbregas has done an exceptional job of nurturing talent – not just Paz but also the likes of Jacobo Ramón, Lucas Da Cunha, Máximo Perrone and Martin Baturina. All in their early 20s yet confident enough in his systems to go to places like San Siro and the Maradona aspiring not only to win but to dictate how the game is played.

It hasn’t always worked. They lost their first meeting with the Nerazzurri 4-0. At times the gap between Como’s ability to control play and the fact of losing games seemed to be pushing Fàbregas close to breaking point. “How am I supposed to explain to the lads how we lost this game,” he said after a 3-1 defeat by Milan in January. “We made 700 passes to their 200.”

In the end, though, his approach was validated. Como qualified for the Champions League. A more cynical Milan did not.

Save of the season

Perhaps there were more technically difficult saves, but Mike Maignan knowing exactly where Calhanoglu likes to hit his penalties, daring him to do it by standing to the opposite side of the goal, then making the stop to win the Derby della Madonnina felt like a scene from a movie. Especially when you remember that no Serie A goalkeeper had saved a Calhanoglu spot-kick in 28 previous attempts.

Game of the season

For the second year in a row, it’s a Derby d’Italia. After last season’s unhinged 4-4 draw, this time we had to settle for a more modest 4-3 scoreline as Juventus defeated Inter in October. Mercifully, the two teams made up for this reduction in the overall number of goals by making sure that most of them were absolute worldies.

Adzić’s winner was the pick of the bunch, but even the day’s least aesthetic strikes came with a juicy subplot. Marcus Thuram barely celebrated after heading Inter into their first lead of the game in the 76th minute. His younger brother, Khéphren, showed no such reticence when equalising again with an almost identical goal moments later – gesturing at their surname on his back and mimicking his brother’s trademark salute.

In injury time, as both teams waited for confirmation Adzić’s goal would stand, Marcus was noticed by the TV cameras smiling as he chatted to Khéphren – an unguarded moment of fraternal affection that lots of people got quite upset about. There was far greater outrage to come in the return game, of course, when Bastoni dived to get Kalulu sent off and Inter won 3-2.

Honourable mention: I’m not saying this was the second-best game of the season, but Genoa coming back from 2-0 down to beat Bologna was one of those easily-forgotten gems that bears revisiting. Lukasz Skorupski’s red card was a turning point, and Federico Ravaglia was disastrous replacing him, but all of Genoa’s goals were screamers.

Most conflicted

Simeone, on loan at Torino from Napoli, didn’t just refuse to celebrate his winning goal against his parent club, but looked genuinely distraught.

Worst at counting

“One word. Only one word: I’m so fucking proud of you” – Fábregas after Como’s win over Juventus in October.

Greatest wind-up merchant

Yerry Mina might need a lifetime achievement award in this category, but he brought us another memorable moment in November when he wound up Álvaro Morata so much that the Spaniard asked to be subbed off to save himself from doing something stupid. Morata had just been baited into a booking when the Cagliari defender jogged across his path off the ball to provoke a collision. Mina gave an extraordinary interview after the game, saying: “I go hard on every ball. I don’t give a fuck if it’s my mum, my wife or my daughter. I’m going hard for every ball … it’s a match within the match against the attacker.”

Greatest culinary scandal

Four years after Weston McKennie appalled Giorgio Chiellini in an Amazon Prime documentary by saying that he likes to put ranch dressing on pizza, Jonathan David brought fresh horror to the Juventus changing room. Amid reports – widely denied by teammates – that the Canadian was being left off the invite list for squad socials, the team’s manager, Luciano Spalletti, told a press conference with immaculate deadpan delivery: “[They] did well not to take [David] to dinner. The first time they invited him he grated parmesan on pasta with clams, so they didn’t ask him again after that.”

Most confused

The introduction of ref cams in Serie A has been a joy, bringing us a wealth of quietly hilarious little moments we would otherwise have missed. Among them: Antonio Vergara, the Napoli academy graduate born in Frattaminore, interrupting the match official Maurizio Mariani’s attempt to speak to him in broken English to explain that he is Italian.

Quote of the season

“When you’re in this position it’s right to dream. We know those don’t often come true, but it’s beautiful to experience them … Let’s pretend to wake up, but instead go back to sleep and keep it going a little while longer.” – while the managers of Milan, Napoli, Juventus and even Inter bored us by repeatedly insisting that their priorities were Champions League qualification, hats off to Gasperini for understanding, during a brief moment when Roma topped the table, that you don’t always have to be the thief of joy.