Last year, we took out the reigning Champions League
Champions in a resounding 1-0 defeat in a preseason friendly in the US. So it
is not surprising that they would want to avenge the horrible atrocity that is
losing a summer preseason friendly tonight. And avenge they did. Either that,
or they wanted to help us avoid the emotional trauma of facing off against our
beloved Ancelotti and Kaká, now both of Real Madrid, in the final game. Whichever
way it was, the scoreline does not tell the full story on this one. Because
payback is a friendly.
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| Payback is sometimes not as bad as it seems... |
There were certainly times that Chelsea had us on the ropes.
Mourinho’s starting lineup was probably at least half his B team players, but
still they were very dangerous. Allegri, on the other hand, started his best 11 that
he had available. Still, it was a great match, with chances for both sides. The
difference was that Chelsea’s shots were primarily either stopped or went just
wide, whereas Milan’s shots were mostly Robinhoed™ by the likes of Kevin Prince
Boateng and Sulley Muntari. And in the end, they were able to convert two, whereas we were held scoreless.
In the 18th minute, Ivanovic received a yellow for a bad
foul on Balotelli, one that likely would not have been given in Serie A. It was
nice to see a good decision from a ref for Balotelli. But it was De Bruyne who
put the Blues up in the 29th with a nice goal. 1-0 Chelsea. Urby, who was
running up and down and making nice crosses, had problems with defensive
positioning and could probably be considered culpable for the goal. And the other event of
note in the first half was a card for the birthday boy. Yes, Antonini saw
yellow for a dumb foul in the 41st.
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| The match was largely evenly fought. with Chelsea's advantage exaggerated by the scoreline |
At the half, Mourinho, apparently not convinced enough (or
more likely wanting to give some time to more of his starters,) made seven
substitutions. Why not? Allegri, ever the conservative tactician, with
unlimited subs, only made two changes: Petagna on for Balotelli and Zaccardo on
for Antonini. Our captain, Montolivo had a couple of memorable moments with a
very dangerous high kick that he was lucky not to get a card for. Then he, too,
Robinhoed a shot in the 55th.
Mourinho’s first team subs seemed to really be pressing us, but Milan
held strong. In the 56th, Niang came on for El Shaarawy and Nocerino came on
for Montolivo, much to the delight of my horrific commentators, who were absolutely certain that
Nocerino is a very talented
midfielder. I was thrilled for players like Niang and Petagna to be given the chance to face off against a team like Chelsea with a decent amount of playing time, what a great experience for them. The game went back and forth, but Milan held their own. In the 68th
Silvestre made a tactical tackle that earned him a yellow card. In the 69th,
Poli came on for Emanuelson, and Constant came on for Zapata.
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| Urby did his best to make it two in a row, but in the end it wasn't quite enough |
In the 76th, Kingsley Boateng came on for Kevin Prince
Boateng, Pacifico came on for Silvestre, and Cristante came on for De Jong. What
seemed so encouraging to me was that despite Allegri having subbed nine of his
eleven starters, the team played as well as or better with so many young
players as we did with some of our more experienced ones. And it was only a
temporary lack of judgment that saw us concede a late goal by Schurrle. 2-0 Chelsea. Imagine what we could have done without our current injuries? But I thought Allegri did very well and his subs made some kind of sense. Most importantly, he gave lots of people playing time and valuable experience.
We weren’t perfect, but I thought we played better than some
of our other friendlies. Especially when you consider the cost and difference
in quality of the two squads. I was very, very encouraged by our play. Even our
makeshift defense held its own for much of the match. If only our crosses had been
a little better and our finishing not so other-worldly, the score could have
very easily been different. And the fact that our young players held their own
against what was probably Chelsea's starting lineup in the second half shows that
we are not to be overlooked. We certainly didn't win tonight, but it was a very
entertaining match to watch, Milan do not need to be ashamed of our performance. And we did prove that payback is not always what they say it is. Sometimes,
it’s just a friendly.
This post inspired by the music of
the Foo Fighters
Our next match is
International Champions Cup Finals
Third Place Match
LA Galaxy vs. Milan
Wednesday, August 7 • 6:30pm EDT