Atalanta 1, Milan 3: Family Affair

They say children hurt their parents, and I can attest to that. I know I hurt my parents and my children have certainly hurt me. But this situation was a little bit different, in that Milan’s goalscorers were both Atalanta youth products, playing back home in Bergamo. Oh, and of course Inzaghi spent a year at Atalanta, too. But I don’t know how much they hurt their former club, as Atalanta were firmly in 17th place, with no hope of moving up or down based on this result. it made for an interesting conundrum for the vociferous Atalanta fans, who in the end did seem to applaud Bonaventura as he was subbed off.

A brace for Jack tonight, he was fantastic on his return to his former club

Atalanta started off with a lot of determination, pressuring the Milan defense and forcing a big save from the captain, Abbiati, in the 8th minute and Denis hitting the crossbar in the 18th. But it was Baselli, perhaps a future member of the Milan family, who scored in the 21st. 1-0 Atalanta. Mexes did his best to retaliate in the 32nd by whipping his ever-tanned head in to take a shot, but a brilliant goal line clearance denied the serial red card man.

Pazzini earned the penalty, and almost scored in the run of play, too

It was Pazzini, who is like Velcro to the defenders, who drew the foul in the box in the 35th and was awarded the penalty. Pinzani, who was reffing Milan for the first time, had not gotten the memo that the money had run out at Milan and that it was no longer in vogue to award a penalty for them, warranted or not, pointed to the spot. Pazzini stepped up, beat Sportiello, and scored his 101st Serie A goal. 1-1 all. He also restrained himself from celebrating against his former club with a single fist pump (and no injuries, either, like Ibra did.) This goal was important in another way, as he is likely to be on his way out of Milan as he is out of contract.

Touching moments throughout the night, a hint of impending goodbyes

Just two minutes later, amidst a comedy of errors, Bonaventura scored. It started with El Shaarawy, who took a shot, next was Honda, who fell (was pulled down?), then Pazzini tried to take the rebound but hit the post, and finally lucky Jack put it in. 2-1 Milan. Bonaventura is one of the few players to come to Milan via our revolving door transfer market who has really impressed beyond expectations, we have been really lucky to have him.

Abbiati had another big save in the 57th minute, though the stats show only one shot on target for Atalanta, they took 16, so he was busy enough. Milan in comparison only took nine shots, but five of them were on target. That includes Bonaventura’s tap in after another comedy of errors in the 80th. 3-1 Milan.

Di Molfetta with Mastalli, 2 of the 4 Primavera players who got their debuts this month

After subbing Poli on for El Shaarawy in the 68th, Inzaghi gave two more Primavera players their first team debuts. First was Calabria on for De Sciglio in the 83rd, and then Di Molfetta for Bonaventura in the 90th. I heard a lot of complaints and sarcastic comments all season but especially today about Inzaghi not giving youth players time, but the fact of the matter is that he gave more time to youth players this season than Allegri did in 3.5 years. And I believe that Inzaghi was right to wait until there was some consistency in the squad and also for the Curva to have stopped with their ridiculous and childish boycotts to give the players the best chance for success.

I just can't...

The hardest part of this game hasn’t even happened yet. With Inzaghi set to be sacked the Milan way, with Berlusconi and Galliani both making public statements before dropping the axe, and with many players out of contract or otherwise moving on, this was the last match for a number of people. Leave it to the dysfunctional family that is Milan to not allow the players a proper goodbye from the fans. But to do anything else would be to have their act together and have things sorted out by this point to do so. At least the team sent them off properly, with a 3-1 win and welcoming in the newest Milan players. So a lot of emotion, a little drama, but something to smile about, too. Perfect for a family affair.

This post inspired by the music of Morrissey’s “Break up the Family”

Stay tuned for a special End of the Season Milan Obsession Podcast!