I am so happy, I’m finding it hard to put into words just how
amazing this match was for me. In my home, my family know that my priorities
are family, football, and then chocolate (with
family just barely nudging out football.) There was a time that my children
thought I loved chocolate more than anything in the world, but they’re old
enough now to know that I would take good football over the most luscious,
divine, and perfect chocolate. And today’s match was better than chocolate in
every sense.
 |
| Look at all of those smiles |
First of all, obviously, we absolutely outplayed Perugia,
who hail from the
chocolate capital of Italy. Credit to them for playing, they could have
just sat back and defended, but they played honorably and fought for their
place in the competition. Even their captain, former Juventus player Lanzafame,
was honorable when he was sent off in the 64th for a second yellow, leaving his
team on ten men.
I can’t quite say the same for Milan after Perugia were down
to 10 men, as they took their foot off of the gas pedal a bit. Which is likely
down to the subs, as a partially fit Menez came on for the fantastic Honda in the 70th, Poli
replaced Bonaventura in the 75th, and Cerci replaced Adriano in the 81st. But
whether or not it was the personnel changes, fatigue, or a lapse in
concentration, we did not play as well after the sending off.
 |
| Warrior. |
But that is the only real negative from this game. How
refreshing is that to be able to say? Even better than dark chocolate with
almonds. But also better than chocolate were the first 64 minutes of the match.
The level of play was so much better than we have seen the past three years, I
thought I’d died and gone to chocolate football heaven. (Chocolate football heaven is an amazing place where everything is made
of chocolate and/or related to football, and there are never any terrible match streams to
deal with, ever.) It was truly the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in such a
long time, I am still smiling.
First, the goals. Honda opened it up in the 10th minute with
a fantastic goal and an assist by Antonelli. 1-0 Milan. Honda was incredible. Who knew
that he could play at the trequartista position so well, other than every manager
he ever played for before he came to Milan? And just to put an exclamation mark
on it, he also assisted Luiz Adriano’s first Milan goal in the 28th. 2-0 Milan. That goal had
an interesting effect on Adriano, because it seemed like he wanted to take out Perugia’s
keeper, Rosati, after that, with Rosati needing treatment twice for Adriano’s
overzealousness. Adriano was also the reason that Bacca had a spectacular goal
called off in the 39th, as the ref judged him to be blocking Rosati’s view. And
this after it was Bacca’s backheel that started the play for Adriano’s goal. Oh,
well, partnerships take time to build. I actually thought that I saw
improvement with their pairing, too.
 |
| OMG indeed |
But most exciting for me was the back four of De Sciglio,
Ely, Romagnoli, and Antonelli. With an average age of 22.75 years old, they
were simply amazing. All of them. And even if our youngest new defenders weren't tested as much as our old vagabond center backs have been, they were fantastic when called upon. I think Lopez may have actually been able to get some nap time in. But that was
because Mihajlovic has successfully implemented his ideas and tactics with this
squad. He has said from the beginning that the defensive phase begins in
attack, and this team carried that out for him tonight. They focused on
possession – not just any possession, attacking possession. It was almost if their most precious possessions in all of the world were in the goal, and all
of them, collectively would protect them by attacking the threat, not just sitting back and waiting to be attacked. It’s such a basic concept, and yet the last three
managers were unable to effectively communicate this to the players we had.
 |
| Better than we dreamed |
Of course, Mihajlovic has the best squad we’ve had in three
years, too. Skills and talent help a lot in executing ideas. But he has also
instilled in them the proper mentality, and my heart is filled with joy beneath
the Milan crest on my jersey tonight. Sure, we played a newly promoted Serie B
team, and they went down to ten men with 25 minutes left. But I saw eleven
warriors on the pitch, warriors who were fighting for the same cause. And for
the first time in three years, they made me believe that they would do anything
to win. For me. For all of the fans in the stadium, and for all of the fans in
the world. But mostly for the Milan shirt. Not for themselves, but for the shirt.
And this attitude, the beautiful football that they’ve brought with it, and the
convincing win where the result was never in question (even at their worst
moment)… all of those things are better than chocolate every day of the year.
This post was inspired by the most
beautiful football I’ve seen in the Milan shirt in years
Our next match is
Serie A Round 1
Fiorentina vs. Milan
Sunday August 23 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)