With precious few games left, and Fiorentina meeting us
point for point in the race for Champions League qualification, this game had a
certain do or die quality to it. Allegri’s press conference was a lot more like
the ones he held prior to mid-November, and it was clear that he was feeling
the pressure (even if it was not clear as to whether or not he knew what to do
about it.) The score perhaps does not show just how close we came to an
opposite result, but in the end, we did get the result, and that is the most
important thing. So we live to play another day, our Champions League dreams
still alive.
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| A brace for the poacher, who saved the day |
To be fair, this team was not built for Champions League
qualification. And with all of the epic fails and incredible luck we had this
season, it’s still amazing to me that we are where we are. I am truly grateful,
but being so close makes it so much more stressful to think we could lose third
place after all we’ve been through this year.
Imagine my anxiety when, despite having added Balotelli in
January, we made the same mistakes we’ve made all year long. We managed 69%
possession, we’ve done well that way all season long. But we took thirty-eight shots, with only 13 on
goal. That’s thirty-eight shots. So
much for our accuracy and efficiency in front of goal we’d been maintaining. We
were back to the point and shoot, missile launch mentality that says if you
take enough shots, one of them is going to go in. It gets the job done, but
it’s not pretty, and is particularly discouraging if we’ve played so much
better. Of course, Catania parking a bus full of elephants is partially
responsible for the astonishing shot count, but still, we are better than that.
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| Montolivo... the calm amidst the storm |
But for me, the part that was the most infuriating were the set
pieces. Milan had thirteen chances to
score from a corner. That’s thirteen
corners, the closest chance probably in the 57th when Nocerino took the corner
and Montolivo’s header was ever so close, but it's simply incredible that we just can’t seem to
score from set pieces. However, that is nothing compared to the epic fail that
is our conceding on set pieces, specifically headers. So in the 30th when Lodi
took a free kick, it was no surprise that an ex-Milan player of 6 months and
one appearance (Nicola Legrottaglie) headed the ball into the back of the net.
1-0 Catania.
Our defense, who were seemingly missing on the night, then
completely fell apart, nearly risking another goal from Gomez in the 31st,
courtesy of an error by the fabulous Bonera. They pulled it together enough to
keep Catania back on their bus, but the unlikely hero in Flamini came through
with a goal in the 44th to equalize. 1-1. Add in a yellow for De Sciglio for a
naively timed tackle in the 9th, and two yellows for Catania, and it was a half.
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| Anything Boateng can't do, Flamini can do better |
Our shooting frenzy was interrupted once more in the 65th
with another defensive failure, we are lucky that Catania had only 7 shots with
3 on goal, it’s impossible to imagine a Bonera-led defense and Amelia as our
keeper keeping out any other shots on target. My announcer kept saying
“Nocerino sbaglia,” or Nocerino mistake, but he had a screaming shot on goal saved, and some other good moments, too.
Either way, Allegri, in a rash departure from his traditional habits, subbed
Nocerino off in the 67th, right after Catania’s second goal and brought on
Pazzini. Which proved to be the game changer. Who knew, Allegri, that a sub
could impact the result of a game? (except for all of us fans) But in the 74th, it did just that. After a
Balotelli shot that was punched out, Pazzini pounded in the rebound, 2-2. Then
again in the 77th, a great El Shaarawy shot was punched out by the incredible
Frison, only to see Pazzini strike on the rebound once again. 3-2 Milan. That’s
when the cards really started flying. Balotelli had earned one for dissent in
the 72nd when he wanted a foul called and didn’t get it. Then Flamini and
Barrientos were mixing it up. So the ref gave them each a card. And a Catania
assistant coach also got sent off at this point. Flamini looked to be earning
himself another Flamini Special™, but he managed to stay on the pitch for the
whole match.
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| Not one, but two goals for Pazzini |
Muntari came on for El Shaarawy in the 80th, then Niang got
a couple of minutes after subbing on for Boateng in the 88th. Finally, in the
91st, Balotelli took a little foul just in the corner of the box, and the ref
awarded his efforts with a penalty kick. He, of course took it, and converted
it to make the scoreline look a little better than we played: 4-2 Milan. In
all, Catania were guilty of 23 fouls, Milan only 9, and there were 8 yellow
cards – 5 for Catania and 3 for Milan, which shows the desperation and
defensive attitude they took on the night. Certainly, they frustrated
Balotelli. But we got the 3 points, that was the important part.
El Shaarawy was a bright spot. With probably 3 defenders on
average keeping track of Balotelli, and Nocerino behind him, El Shaarawy had a
lot more room, and was like a machine gun, he likely had half of our 38 shots
on his own tonight, and no one troubled Frison more. Boateng wasn’t quite as
awful up front, but would have still been better in the midfield, we missed him
there. Pazzini came on to show Allegri that every team needs a poacher. Both of
his goals were cleaning up rebounds, but the score will simply show that he
scored 2 goals.
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| He drew the penalty earned that crowned a mediocre performance and a fantastic result |
Nocerino may not have been great, but he was far more
dynamic than Muntari. De Sciglio showed his youth a bit, but he is like a
sponge, and getting a yellow card like that seemed to make him up his game and he will certainly have learned from that.
Montolivo was his usual incredible self, although playing a little farther
forward definitely cut into our defense. And Abate… well his crosses had
another off night, and so did he, really.
However the most disturbing part was that so many of our
lessons from this season have not been learned. It is so frustrating, and it
nearly cost us the game, which would put Fiorentina in the driver’s seat for third
place. Much too close for comfort for me, personally. But maybe the win will
give them confidence. And we will have Zapata back next week, and we can only
hope Abbiati, too. Torino won’t make it easy, but we can pull it off, I think.
Our lessons went unlearned, but we live to play another day. Let’s hope our
luck continues and we can achieve what was unthinkable earlier this season:
Champions League qualification.
This post inspired my the music of
the Toy Dolls’ “Nellie the Elephant”
Our next match is
Milan vs. Torino
Sunday, May 5 • 15:00 CEST (9am EDT)