Underdogs are top dogs in Italy

Nothing appears to halt the appetite of Italy's top clubs for trying to spend their way to success but after six games of the Serie A season the exponents of the chequebook route to glory are being given some food for thought.

While the millionaires of Roma, AC Milan, Juventus and Lazio struggle to get into gear, Serie A newcomers Chievo, representing a tiny suburb of Verona, are second in the standings.

Expensive foreign strikers such as Lazio's Hernan Crespo and Roma's Gabriel Batistuta struggle to find the net while a 34-year-old journeyman, Piacenza's Dario Hubner, is the league's top scorer with seven goals.

Add in the impressive starts of third-placed Bologna and sixth-placed Lecce and this is beginning to look like the year of the underdog in Italy.

The success of Chievo has captured the hearts of an Italian football public which was ready for some romance after the scandals of racism, doping and false passports which dogged last season's campaign.

Chievo has a population of just 2,700, making them the smallest community ever to have a top-flight team in Italy. The club entered Serie C2, Italy's fourth professional division, only in 1986 leaving behind their tiny, ramshackle, Bottagisio ground, cramped between a canal and a river, to share Verona's Bentegodi stadium -- a venue for the 1990 World Cup finals.

CAKE BUSINESS

Details of their annual budget have not been made public but Italian media reports have suggested that the entire wage bill could be less than Roma captain Francesco Totti's annual salary and the squad certainly cost less in transfer fees than Lazio's Spanish international midfielder Gaizka Mendieta.

The contrast between Chievo, a true family club, and their big rivals is perfectly illustrated by their president.

The 33-year-old Luca Campedelli, whose father Luigi built the club with the wealth generated by the family's cake business, is the youngest club chief in Serie A.

His withdrawn, almost shy, appearances on television are the antithesis of the grandiose statements issued by many club presidents and his calm influence is felt throughout the club.

Despite winning four of their opening games and sitting just a point behind leaders Inter, Chievo are desperate to keep their feet on the ground. After Sunday's spirited 2-2 draw at Brescia, coach Luigi Del Neri was asked about the team's occupation of the second place in the standings.

"It doesn't interest me at all," said Del Neri, "We need to get the points we need to avoid relegation as soon as possible and nothing else matters. There are no other aims in our heads".

BARGAIN BUY

Chievo's impressive strike pairing of Massimo Marazzini and Simone Perotta were bought this summer for a combined fee of $3 million, less than a tenth of the fee Milan paid to Juventus for Filippo Inzaghi.

But perhaps the best bargain of the summer was the $2.5 million Piacenza paid to Brescia for the prolific Hubner. Hubner has spent the bulk of his career in Serie B where he was a consistent scorer for Cesena and then later Brescia, without ever attracting the attention of the big clubs.

Finally last season, heading into the twilight of his career, he got his chance in the top flight and scored 17 goals in 31 games for Brescia.

But Brescia clearly thought his best days were gone and offloaded him to Piacenza -- where he has promptly scored seven times in six outings.

Hubner, who has worked his way up from the semi-professional ranks, says his current form is simply an expression of gratitude to Piacenza.

"They turned to me at 34 years of age and I am happy that I am so far able to repay their faith in me," said the striker after scoring twice in Sunday's draw at Parma.

Modesty seems to be back in fashion in Italy.