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Yesterday, we analyzed how the New York Red Bulls would perform if they were placed in Ligue 1 based in their performance in the 2015 regular season. In our second of five parts, we will now check out Serie A. I personally am not a fan of this league. Maybe it's the American in me; I can't stand all of the diving and drama. That said, it is a very good league, one of the best in Europe, with some fantastic teams.
To review, we will analyze RBNY's past season (1.76 ppg) and compare it to how a full season would look if they were placed in Serie A. Like Ligue 1, Serie A plays a 38-game schedule compared to MLS' 34-game one. Once again, we need to bump RBNY up to the 67-point reference and compare that to the average of the last five Serie A seasons (2010-11 through 2014-15). Now, how would the Red Bulls have performed in Italy?
| Season | Red Bulls Finish | Team(s) 1 Spot Above | Team(s) 1 Spot Below |
| 2010-2011 | 4th Place | Napoli (70 pts) | Udinese & Lazio (66 pts) |
| 2011-2012 | 3rd Place | AC Milan (80 pts) | Udinese (64 pts) |
| 2012-2013 | 5th Place | Fiorentina (70 pts) | Udinese (66 pts) |
| 2013-2014 | 4th Place | Napoli (78 pts) | Fiorentina (65 pts) |
| 2014-2015 | 4th Place | Lazio (69 pts) | Fiorentina (64 pts) |
Pretty consistent results, averaging in a 4th place finish, which would once again put the Red Bulls on the borderline of either directly qualifying for Europa League or giving them the opportunity to qualify for Champions League via the play-off round. They would have a very difficult time to surpass Juventus (83.6 ppg average) or AC Milan (78 ppg average) in the table, but due to fairly inconsistent finishes by most of their would-be opponents, the Red Bulls may have a good chance to do well each season in Serie A. Success? Probably.
In Serie A, the Red Bulls would be equivalent to Udinese or Fiorentina.
In the last two completed seasons, AS Roma (77.5 ppg average) finished second in the table to Juventus. On July 31, 2013, the MLS All-Stars lost to Michael Bradley's AS Roma 3-1 in Kansas City. LA Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez scored in the 91st minute to avoid a shutout for MLS. The home side was captained by none other than RBNY striker, Thierry Henry.
Next stop: Spain's La Liga