There is a lot of excitement about this Milan win, and a lot
of theories as to how the guys pulled it off. But my theory involves a great
new partnership announced this week between Milan and the awesome Diesel clothing
company. I
have previously argued that if a player looks good, he’ll play well, too.
And tonight, our players arrived at the San Siro looking amazing. I have made no
secret that I have long loved the Diesel brand, whose current slogan is “Be
Brave, Have Fun.” And that is exactly what the team did tonight. So I’m gonna
give credit for this one to Renzo Rosso & Company. Milan are powered by
Diesel.
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| The guys are already taking to the motto of "Be Brave, Have Fun" |
However, Sassuolo could claim the match was powered by
Guida, or “Giuda”, as they may like
to call him. Politano appealed for a couple of penalties in the 32nd. The first
was absolutely without merit, the second I cannot say for sure, having only
seen one angle. If Donnarumma did in fact push him, then maybe. It looked more
like Politano challenged our keeper, who had the ball, at least from my angle,
so not a penalty. But the penalty that Milan were given in the 68th was very,
very debatable. Niang was sandwiched between two Sassuolo players, physically drew
the foul, and Antei was awarded the yellow for Niang’s efforts. I would go so
far as to say that Niang has fully assimilated into Italian football, as it was
a very “furbo” move on his part.
Interestingly enough, VAR (Video Assisted Refereeing) was being tested on this
match tonight, but “offline,” not officially. I am pretty sure Di Francesco
would have loved to have had it live, as the penalty Niang earned absolutely
changed the momentum of the game.
From the ugly part of the match to the part that was maybe
not so ugly, Milan achieved 53% possession tonight. My very ill-informed
commentator used the word “dominated” in reference to Milan, especially in the
first half. Had he been here, I would have taken measures to prevent him from
continuing to speak, especially with his bastardization of all things Italian
as well as his ignorance about most everything, especially refereeing. But he
was not here, so I suffered. And Milan did not dominate anything, except
passing the ball laterally and back amongst the defenders. Like watching
curling, but in slow motion replay for hours. It was painful.
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| A great goal, seemingly coming out of nowhere |
But miraculously, out of all of that passing back, Gomez got
the wild idea to actually pass it forward, a play which resulted in a
Bonaventura goal in the ninth minute. 1-0 Milan. Just over a minute later, the
danger of all of that back passing was painfully revealed when Abate made a
successful cross and thus assist… to Politano for the Sassuolo goal. 1-1 all.
It was written in the stars that one of those horrible passes back would help
score an opposition goal (again.) Milan are still suffering from massive
defensive blunders, and from conceding almost immediately after scoring.
In the 23rd, Adjapong scored a goal that was called off for
a handball, and was thus given a yellow instead. Whatever Di Francesco says,
that was the right call for that offense. The rest of the half was interesting,
as Sassuolo played good football and Milan played their bizarre form of keep
away that is becoming all too familiar, randomly attempting opportunities,
while Donnarumma cleaned up when the midfield and defense failed to defend.
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| Di Francesco "So, how long are you planning on sitting on the bench tonight?" |
But it got interesting when Guida inexplicably blew the
whistle for the end of the half while Milan were on the counter. Typically, the
ref is supposed to wait until a play is complete, but not this time. The Milan
players were incensed, and swarmed the ref, as per their status quo. While this
is something Montella has said he would not tolerate, apparently he decided
that if he couldn’t beat them, he should join them. And so he did. He left his
technical area, went out on the pitch, protested vehemently, and was
subsequently sent off.
I don’t know if the guys were fired up because their coach
had been sent off, or what, but they came out playing very differently in the
second half. Most likely, it was because Adriano was subbed off for Niang.
Adriano had struggled on the wing, and Niang came on like he was Diesel fueled.
He seemed to be the catalyst, and the team that had sat back enjoying lazy
possession for the first 45 minutes were now attacking.
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| Catalyst. Gamechanger. Powered by Diesel. |
Interestingly, Montolivo had actually played much better
than usual in the first half (yes, you read that right.) But he started
meandering around again in the second half, and got a yellow card in the 51st
for a dumb late foul. The situation was exacerbated when our
former Acerbi, in the 54th remembered the always open gateway between
two Milan center backs, which he had once guarded. He took full advantage of
Paletta and Gomez’s naptime, and took a brilliant Pellegrini assist and
turned it into a goal, 2-1 Sassuolo. Two minutes later, Pellegrini danced
around Gomez for yet another goal, 3-1 Sassuolo. It was not looking good at all.
But in the 60th, a miracle occurred. Montolivo was subbed
off. Yes, he was fiercely whistled by his own fans, more of a vengeance
whistling, fueled by years of painful performances by the usurper of the
armband than whistling his kinda decent performance on this night. But he left
the pitch, and the 18 year old Locatelli replaced him. Whether this was
Montella’s idea, as he was seen two minutes prior communicating between his
glass door, or it was his assistant’s idea, I would love to know. But it was an
idea that Milan fans have dreamed of for years, hence the passionately angry
sendoff. It was also the catalyst to change the level of grinta on the pitch. Amazing how much changes when all ten outfield
players are running.
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| A miraculous revelation |
It was eight minutes after that in which Niang earned the
penalty by association, and the next minute, Bacca took that penalty and coolly
converted it. 3-2. In the 72nd, on a play from a corner, Locatelli scored his
debut goal with a rocket from outside the box, then celebrated as emotionally
as Pippo Inzaghi. 3-3 all. It was amazing, and the change in energy in our
players was physically palpable through the screen. Partially, I think, fans
felt it was redemption. After begging, screaming, crying, and even much less
proud things to try to get Montolivo benched or even subbed, here he was. And
the kid who replaced him showed why he should replace him. Many even named
Locatelli man of the match, even though he only played 30 minutes. Because he
showed what can happen when you trust in youth and you dare to dream.
The last twenty minutes were so intense. The yellows started
flowing for Sassuolo as they got frustrated, having given up their lead. In
fact, they were also tired from having played in the Europa League on Thursday,
and possibly still frustrated by that loss, too. Di Francesco made his subs,
but to no avail. And in fact, just five minutes after Locatelli scored, Milan
scored again from a play that also started from a corner. Such irony, since we
usually concede from corners. This time it was Papa Paletta, whose wife had
just given birth this week. He took a page out of Antonelli’s book from last
season, and got up very high and scored a brilliant header to make it 4-3
Milan. Sassuolo were still attacking, all credit to them, something they did
for all 90 minutes. But they were also incredibly frustrated, with Biondini
freaking out when the ref wouldn’t let him take his free kick quickly because
he had to put down the magic spray. Poli came on for Bacca. Whatever, I’m not
even touching that one. And Donnarumma came up big again to keep us ahead. The
ref blew the final whistle, and Milan won, 4-3. It felt like nothing short of a
miracle.
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| So it turns out that white men can jump. High. |
There was such joy and elation following this victory by
Milan fans. And how could we not be happy? Sassuolo’s record vs. Milan in Serie A before today was four wins and two
losses. They
are our Kryptonite. It took them missing a lot of players, especially
Berardi, for us to win, but we did it. Okay, there were some questionable
calls, and we really didn’t play that well. But on paper, we got three points,
and that is what will be remembered.
Unfortunately, our discipline issue went all the way to the
top, as Montella himself led by example. Will he get a ban for obviously
communicating from the stands? Who knows. On the pitch, we still made a lot of
the same mistakes and were punished directly for them. In fact, all of
Sassuolo’s goals were made by taking advantage of our dumb mistakes. But I
think the unspoken victory here was an unlikely changing of the guard. For a
“captain” who has entered far more poor performances in his four plus years at
Milan than good ones, and off the pitch has angered the fans past the point of
angry mobs with pitchforks, his subbing off was nothing short of a miracle. And
that Locatelli, at the tender age of 18, came on for him and scored such a
spectacular goal at the San Siro, while playing very well, too… miraculous simply
doesn’t describe the emotions. There are just no words.
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| Don't forget our golden boy (seriously, don't forget to vote for him for the Golden Boy award.) |
Milan got the win, perhaps with a little luck, but also with
a lot of grinta. Sassuolo definitely
outplayed us, and probably deserved something from the match. Sometimes that
happens. Even if Milan didn’t play their best, they did react to being down by
two goals and come back for the win. That is massive. It’s impossible to know
what would have happened if the correct ref calls had been made (or even what
they are, for that matter.) But we witnessed a miracle tonight. Despite so many
games of torture, it turns out that Montolivo can be subbed off. Dare we dream
that he might not start one day? That is possibly too much. But for now, we
will relish this match, the miracle of the sub, and the way the guys fought
back for all three points. That’s what happens when you’re powered by Diesel.
This
post inspired by the music of Panic at the Disco’s “Victorious”