Italy and its league has always been more defensive. They were known for their defense. I guess that’s why.

But still, 35 goals back in the 60s & 70s, you’d think someone broke it since, even playing a bit defensive.

And interestingly, the second is Meazza, in the 30s, and the third is Piola in the 30s and 40s.

This is kind of mind blowing.

Defensive mentality is probably the biggest factor, as many have said.

Also, the abundance of great attacking players (particularly 10s) in the ‘90s and ‘00s meant that no player was really nailed into the starting XI.

Across that time period, some of the 10s have been Baggio, Zola, Mancini, Del Piero, Totti, Cassano, etc all sharing playing time at some point or another.

The early ‘90s saw some pretty good striker alternate for Italy up front, but I feel like none of them was generational.

The mid-to-late 90s saw the emergence of Vieri and Inzaghi, although they often had to coexist and share playing time, and therefore goals. Additionally, both of them have had much shorter international careers (49 and 57 caps) compared to strikers from other countries.

Balotelli was the new big thing in the early ‘10s, he was touted as the Italian top striker of the generation, destined to break Riva’s record, etc but we all know how that went.

And then generally after him, there hasn’t really been much quality. Immobile, Pellé, Zaza, Belotti, etc have all alternated with pretty disappointing results.

Totally surprising, also just Googled Immobile and he has only scored 17 goals for Italy. I mean they haven’t been at their best lately (except for 2021), but hasn’t Immobile been their starting striker for almost a decade now? The guy has had many club seasons with 20+ league goals.

maybe another factor is their trust in young players