Serie A sides often rely on veteran players but in the case of Inter Milan, their failure to refresh a crumbling squad looks likely to cost manager Claudio Ranieri his job, writes ITV Football's James Appell.
There must be something in the water in Lombardy.
AC Milan have long been famous for keeping players going into their late thirties - think Clarence Seedorf, still running Milan's midfield at 35, or Paolo Maldini, who was still playing Champions League football at the San Siro aged 41.
Though less heralded, Milan's city rivals Internazionale have a similar ability to preserve their ageing pros. Being able to coax season after season out of 38-year-old Javier Zanetti or 35-year-old Ivan Cordoba is quite a feat.
Inter's old guard continue to perform - nine of their starting eleven for the 2010 Champions League final win over Bayern Munich remain regulars at the club. Yet as the nerazzuri prepare to take on Marseille on Wednesday in the Champions League last 16, their squad's longevity is beginning to be seen more as a curse than a blessing.
At stake at the San Siro is not just a place in the Champions League quarter-finals but also, if rumours are to be believed, Claudio Ranieri's job as Inter manager. Without a win since 22nd January, a sequence of five defeats in six matches, Ranieri looks certain to be fired at the conclusion of this season - but the end could come even sooner if his side fail to beat Marseille.
But while many are quick to blame the manager - particularly, Chelsea fans will wryly note, for his tinkering, a habit he has not kicked - Inter's problems run deeper. Ranieri is just the latest manager in a line stretching back to 2010 and the departure of Jose Mourinho who has tried, and largely failed, to arrest Inter's decline.
To explain how a side that won a Champions League, Scudetto and Coppa Italia treble just eighteen months ago has slipped to seventh in Serie A, you might take a look at Inter's ageing squad, a symphony of creaking limbs.
Inter claimed an unusual Champions League record when they faced Lille in the group stages in November. Ranieri fielded the oldest starting eleven ever to feature in the competition, with a combined age of 347 and an average age of 31 and a half.
Ranieri's back four and goalkeeper clocked up an astonishing 171 years between them. That defence, featuring Javier Zanetti, Christian Chivu, Lucio and Walter Samuel, are still commanding on paper, but as a collective they are on the wane.
The club's transfer policy has hardly aided matters. After Samuel Eto'o (a relative spring chicken at 30), Goran Pandev (28) and Mario Balotelli (21) were offloaded from the Champions League-winning squad, in has come another long-in-the-tooth superstar, 32-year-old Diego Forlan, who carries the weight of goalscoring responsibility on his shoulders.
Two injuries, restricting Forlan to just 10 appearances and just a single goal since arriving in Milan, suggest that age may be catching up on the Uruguayan. In his absence Inter have struggled for goals - they have failed to score in five of their last six Serie A matches, and in the other, 32-year-old Diego Milito scored four times against Palermo. They still only drew that game.
"You can’t underestimate the value of experience," Ranieri said after the Lille game. "Think of it as an old guard."
Unfortunately for Ranieri, the dividing line between "experienced" and "past it" is highly nuanced in football. Indeed, he might look at Inter's neighbours Milan for a stark reminder that age isn't always synonymous with beauty. Just two years ago their side, containing Marek Jankulovski (32), Massimo Abrosini (32), David Beckham (34) and Filippo Inzaghi (36) limped out of the Champions League after a 4-0 defeat at Manchester United. Last week, with a more youthful side - almost a year younger in average age - they inflicted a similar result on Arsenal.
If Inter are to recapture the glory days of two seasons ago, it won't just be the manager who will have to move on, but some of the elder statesmen too.
Watch Marseille v Internazionale live on ITV1HD, ITV1 and ITV.com on Wednesday 22nd February at 7.30pm
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