After slinking away from the San Siro last week having
played a poor game and conceding two goals, it was good to leave Emirates
stadium with our heads held high, despite being knocked out of the Europa
League. How does a team leave a two-leg tie with their heads held high despite
losing 5-1 on aggregate? Why don’t you ask Danny Welbeck. Or Jonas Eriksson,
for that matter. But then again, neither of them seem to know anything about
dignity.
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| "I could be in the Champions League Quarterfinals facing Real Madrid..." |
Let me first be clear that I am not one of those people who
believes that we might have gone through without the comedic stylings of Mr.
Eriksson. We were already two goals down, and if our mentality wasn’t even strong
enough to endure some creative refereeing, it certainly wasn’t strong enough to
keep Arsenal off the board legally and score two more goals. Certainly, Arsenal
didn’t need any help from the referee, but I guess Mr. Eriksson didn’t get that
memo.
There were a number of egregious errors in reffing, the most
egregious was obviously giving Arsenal a penalty in the 39th. It seems that
Welbeck was so astounded by Rodriguez’s beauty, he couldn’t even stay on his
feet. Ironic, too, that Silva was not given a penalty despite non-imaginary contact
in the box in the 58th, and then Suso was booked for diving just three minutes
later, again with the non-imaginary kind of contact. There were questions about
am Arsenal handball in the box in the 40th minute, but at least the criteria of intent
is a subjective call. I don’t like to complain too much about referees, but
what did Milan ever do to Eriksson?
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| "How many fingers am I holding up, ref?" |
Calhanoglu almost singlehandedly gave us our dignity back in
the 35th with a screamer of a goal from distance, it was amazing. 1-0 Milan. Eriksson’s
Welbeck’s penalty in the 39th tied the game up. 1-1 all. From there, Milan
lost some mentality, which is unfortunate, but is also on us. Experience
teaches players to not get mad, rather get even when injustice is served. And
while we continued to fight, we were also clearly upset about the incident.
Montolivo aside, the team fought well and Gattuso’s subs
were well timed and well chosen. The much maligned Kalinic came on and his
first touch of the ball was a header on goal which Ospina saved. Borini played
much better in his new right back role, even if we still desperately miss
Conti. And Abate. And Calabria. Our mentality was worn down so much that by the
71st, it even impacted Gigio. After a number of great saves throughout the
match, Xhaka’s shot from distance took a nasty bounce, and though Gigio parried
it, the ball instead bounced and deflected into the net. 2-1 Arsenal. In the 86th, it was Gigio again the hero, parried a shot away point blank, only to have
Welbeck come in and poach the rebound to make it 3-1 Arsenal.
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| Quality and dignity |
If you listen to the podcast or read every post, you’ll know
I never wanted the Europa League this year. So I am relieved that we are
finally only in two competitions. The timing is great to be able to have fewer
injuries, less exhaustion, and more focus on aiming for the fourth spot in
Serie A. After hosting Arsenal last week at the San Siro, I was worried we
would leave Emirates stadium as a sad football meme, with more people talking
once again about how far Milan have fallen from glory. But Welbeck took care of
the sad meme part, with an assist from Arsenal’s latest signing, Jonas Eriksson. Too bad for the rest of their team, they played well to end a slump in form and move on to the next round. And Milan didn't do enough without all of the controversy. So all anyone is talking about is THE DIVE.
Which is fine by me. Milan fought to the end playing against all odds, and
Calhanoglu’s goal alone showed we have quality again. That was more than enough
for me. Maybe we exited the Europa League before some people wanted to, but at
least we left with our dignity.
This post inspired by the music of U2’s
“Pride (In the Name of Love)”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 29
Milan vs. Chievo
Sunday, March 18 •
15:00 CET (10am EDT)