Tonight, Mihajlovic described this match as his greatest joy
as a coach, because convincing Derby wins like this go down in history. And he
is right, he will now forever be part of Milan history. He also beat his good
friend, who got himself sent off and is likely facing a ban, but didn’t even
get his starting eleven right. That had to feel amazing. But I don’t know who
felt the most amazing… the players for pulling off such an amazing win, the
fans for waiting so long for such a beautiful win, or Mihajlovic for righting
the ship well enough to achieve this amazing victory over our hated rivals. If
I didn’t know any better, I’d say that we’ve all reached nirvana.
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| A state of perfect happiness |
Nirvana is defined as a state of perfect happiness; an ideal
place. And that is certainly where I am right now. This in spite of the fact
that Damato did a very poor job as a ref. He was not only not prepared for a
derby, he was never prepared to control the match in any way in the first
place. He overlooked lots of fouls completely, which only helped things get
worse, then made a random tight call like for a handball or something. Inter
were upset because they felt they deserved a penalty, and Mancini apparently
told the ref “You should be ashamed of yourself. Ashamed.” That got him sent
off early in the second half, but as a parting gift, he showed Milan fans his
middle finger while exiting. Which is incredibly hypocritical after publicly
criticizing Sarri just ten days ago when he did something stupid in the heat of
the moment. And also likely to get him a ban. Also, the replays show that the
only shame on this one was for him.
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| Their lame coreo, " I watch you and I take consolation, you are more beautiful than a dream" was worse than their team |
The Curva Sud started out with a protest, “30 years later we're in the same condition.
A club that has lost its way, without ambition. A mediocre team without
champions.” But the very team they criticized made them look moronic with a
game that was simply unforgettable. The Curva’s poor timing of criticism will
be forgotten, though, I’m sure, by their brilliant coreografia, which reminded Inter fans of a historic derby win in
1984. At the time, Milan hadn’t won a derby in five years, and Mark Hately’s
powerful header over Collovati for the win was what the Curva chose to depict
this time around. Which turned out to be prophetic, as Alex opened up the
scoring with a ridiculously similar header in the 35th, after a beautiful cross
by Honda. 1-0 Milan
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| Alex's goal next to Hately's goal in 1984 |
Approximately 77,000 fans were on hand to witness not only
Mancini’s pathetic lack of sportsmanship, but the moment that for me proved
that Karma really does exist. After not getting their earlier penalty, Icardi
won a very questionable penalty for being in the same half of the pitch as Alex
in the 69th. But Karma said no. You can steal your friend’s wife
and brag about it and post pictures of your friend’s kids online without
permission and generally be the lowest form of scum on the earth, but it stops
here. You do not get this penalty, not today. And so Icardi hit the post,
and Milan kept a clean sheet, and the universe was temporarily right again.
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| It was his daughter's birthday, of course he scored with his first shot |
But Karma was not done there. Just in case all of the Inter
fans who were there did not get the memo, three minutes later Bacca scored a
goal from a Niang assist. 2-0 Milan. And while all of us were still screaming
and celebrating, Niang hit one home himself in the 77th to make it 3-0 Milan.
My lasagna was delicious, but nothing could prepare me for the incredible treat
this match was turning out to be. So after a bunch of subs and a yellow card,
finally the whistle blew. Milan had won the Derby. In style. And Inter really
only had themselves to blame.
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| Jesus is watching you Niang... because that's all he could do |
But let’s not let that take away from some incredible
performances. Bacca and Niang were starved for service most of the match, but
still found a way to make it all happen. Honda was undeniably brilliant, even
by the standards of social media haters. Bonaventura didn’t get his name on the
scoresheet, but took a beating of immense proportions and still defended and
created chances and generally worked incredibly hard. Mihajlovic compared Kuco
to a tank, and he truly was epic today, so many plays he just forced through,
it was incredibl. The entire back line did exactly what they were supposed to
do, and both Romagnoli and Alex made clearance after important clearance, much
to the chagrin of all of Inter’s attackers.
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| Donnarumma was amped, and rightly so, he was brilliant |
And then there was the 16 year old Donnarumma. He was so
pumped for this, you could see it from the moment he entered the pitch. He did
everything right, including get all ball on the play with Eder that Inter
questioned. He bossed his back line and commended them when they did something
well. He jumped and shouted and rejoiced when Icardi missed his penalty almost
as much as he did when his team scored their goals. I think my MOTM has to be
Mihajlovic, but Donnarumma would be a close second with pretty much the rest of
the team in a tight third. It was amazing to have everyone play so well and
give it their all against a team that is better than us on paper and higher
than us on the table, and with a ref who was simply unpredictable in his calls
tonight. I’m still smiling in disbelief.
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| Under fire just a few weeks ago, now a part of Milan history forever |
Mihajlovic said in his postmatch remarks, “We who understand football see the training
session and know when there’s something in the air, when players needed only a
tiny step forward to soar.” He absolutely got that right, and tonight our “mediocre team without champions”
certainly did soar. As did the hearts of every Milanista everywhere. After so
many years of pain and suffering, for tonight, we were gifted this singular
look at nirvana.
This post inspired by the music of
Nirvana
Our next match is
Palermo vs. Milan
Wednesday, February 3 • 20:45 CET (2:45pm EST)
Stay
tuned for an all new Milan Obsession Podcast!!