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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!