Coppa Italia Final • Milan vs. Juve: Death By Silvio

For years, as Milan struggled, people pointed the blame in every possible direction. And yet with one idiotic and inexplicable move, the blame finally pointed 100% at the proper source: Silvio Berlusconi. While some, like his crony and puppet Brocchi still try to target the players or the quality of the squad or whatever, it all points back to the selfish, delusional, megalomaniac billionaire. Everyone could see that with Mihajlovic, this team stood a chance against this Juve team, even if we got the easy road to the final. But Silvio just couldn’t hold out even six more games, and without even Galliani’s blessing, he pulled the plug on what was the best Milan effort for rebuilding in four years. Like death by Silvio.

When Silvio lost control of the mentality of the team, he had to bring in another drone

As if that one Zamparini-esque move wasn’t enough, Silvio has been going on and on about how horribly Milan played under Mihajlovic, and how much better they’ve played under Brocchi, who has done everything Silvio has asked him to. Only Silvio is the only one who sees things that way. The reality is quite the opposite. One would think that a man who thinks yelling “Hip hip hoora!” as a pep talk would understand the changes in mentality that this team went through this season, but no. In fact, just yesterday, he said the team was playing “embarrassingly” and that if they didn’t play better, he would withhold their wages. Not only that, but he dared them to sue him, citing that a civil case could take eight years to resolve. No one knows that better than him.

But how is that motivating? Romagnoli had already mentioned that the team fear everything about Juve. Playing with fear is not how people win. And now the players have to fear their very livelihood and possibly their safety with such delusions of grandeur and power from their club’s owner. My guess is that after that video was shown, every agent of every player was called or texted almost immediately. Who could focus on preparing for a big match when someone is threatening them like that?

Pretty sure it's gonna look a lot like that for 90 minutes

Meanwhile, Juve are celebrating their fifth consecutive Scudetto following their 5-0 rout of Sampdoria, the last team Mihajlovic left. Anyone who doesn’t think that man makes a difference in a team need only look that far back to see that he absolutely does. We all know that Allegri makes a difference, too, even if it didn’t go as well for us under… wait for it… Silvio’s management. But when given champions and all of the actual support without the circus-like atmosphere of Silvio’s Milan, the Allegri Effect™ has only limited powers. I have a hard time thinking given the current situations at both clubs that Allegri’s powers will have anything remotely close to the destructive effect that Silvio’s powers will.

Allegri will be missing Bonucci to suspension, as well as Marchisio, Caceres, and Khedira to injuries. Normally, I’d say that those losses would give Milan a bit more of a chance, but I don’t expect that missing them will change the game given the dire circumstances around Milan right now. And it’s not as if missing a few players derailed their season in the league anyway. Our biggest hope might be if Allegri fields a bizarre starting eleven or subs a key player off like he did in the Champions League vs. Bayern or something. But even then, Milan are our own worst enemy, it’s not like we would be able to take advantage of it. Well, there’s always Rocchi, too, he could help us. But I’m not even sure having him as the ref will be enough.

Not sure if he will be able to do enough for Milan this time

As for Silvio Brocchi, he will be missing his entire squad’s morale. It’s been largely missing since Mihajlovic was suddenly sacked after the last time we faced Juve. I expect that Silvio’s unseemly threats yesterday killed whatever was left of the team’s morale. But physically, he will be missing Ely, Menez, Abate, and Antonelli. Niang is still trying to be fit in time, but it is unknown at this writing whether or not he’ll be able to play. When you look at the list of injuries, the most impactful are Abate and Antonelli. Without any midfield to speak of, Abate & Antonelli have been crucial of late, and I’m not sure we have anyone ready to step in and replace them.

As if the rumors of selling the club, Silvio’s blatant disregard for anyone but himself, and the sacking of a coach many players loved so much (except for Diego Lopez) weren’t enough to minimize the chances for Milan fans, U.S. fans will likely have to stream the Coppa Italia final. So fitting to have to endure the search for any stream in the first place, then have it jump and cut out at all of the good parts… just like watching Milan has been this past four years. But at least Silvio went to Milan today to remind the guys that he needed his 29th trophy in 30 years… even if he wasn’t going to pay their wages. Or even show up for the game. Hip hip hoora. That should go over really well. Just accept our fate now and spare yourself the streaming issues… it’s going to be death by Silvio.

This match inspired by the music of The Clash’s “Death or Glory”

Coppa Italia Final

Milan vs. Juventus

Saturday, May 21 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)

Stadio Olimpico, Rome