This match started with “Black like your fear” in a coreo
that was as menacing as it was self-serving to the Curva Sud Ultras. The
caption was where the hypocrisy lay, it read “I never left you.” I can remember
quite a few times the Ultras left the team when they needed them most. And
times when they protested against them, threatened them, turned their backs on
them, etc. An A+ for the artwork, but a big fat F for authenticity. But that
was just the beginning of the night, things went from bad to worse and ended
with a new take on “Red like the fire.”
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| Beautiful irony |
Milan were brave, but as anticipated, Juve were just too
strong. Mandzukic opened up the scoring with a headed goal in the eighth
minute. 1-0 Juve. After that there were other shots from Dybala, Ronaldo, and
others, most of which went wide or were saved by a confident Gigio. Milan would
only have five shots total, with two on target, not a surprise we didn’t get on
the scoreboard. In the 30th minute, Zapata saved a free kick with his face. It
was not the only time that he sacrificed his head for the team on this night,
either.
But the drama in the first half came after Benatia had
already been carded for a foul on Bakayoko, then five minutes later handled the
ball in the box. At first Mazzoleni wasn’t going to give the penalty, but after
a VAR review, Milan were awarded the kick. Higuain decided to take it, he so
desperately wanted to score against the team that discarded him for an alleged
rapist. But the problem with his thinking was that he was shooting against his
former teammate, Szczesny, who was thus easily able to guess which way and save
the penalty kick. So no goal for Milan, despite Benatia’s gift.
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| Too predictable against an ex-teammate |
The second half started and Milan were more fierce, pinning
Juve back a bit, but still not enough. Gattuso subbed early, too, although not saving
a sub for the injured Cutrone, who was limping right away after coming on. He
toughed it out, but the subs didn’t make enough impact anyway. Juve’s second
goal came from the “always professional” Ronaldo, his first at the San Siro.
2-0 Juve. Laxalt made a big error to give the ball straight to Cancelo, who
then shot, and Ronaldo scored on the rebound. Whatever, it could have been
worse.
But the game couldn’t just end with us dejectedly walking
back to the dressing room. In the 83rd, Mazzoleni adjudicated Higuain to have
committed a foul on Benatia. Being shown the yellow, Higuain abused the ref.
And Ronaldo. And Chiellini. And Szczesny. But before he raged at his
ex-teammates, he was shown the red, and Romagnoli, seven years younger, played
his role as captain amazingly. The fiery Argentinian finally left the pitch,
but as he headed to the dressing room, he had tears in his eyes. And I can’t
blame him. I am certain this is not how he envisioned his first meeting with
his ex-club, the team
who care more about winning than the people who win for it.
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| Playing with fire |
The match that started with coreo that could have been
planned by Juve fans, but only executed by Milan fans, ended in a ball of
flames. Higuain will miss Lazio, the team that is now ahead of us on the table.
And he could very well be handed a longer ban, depending on what he said to Mazzoleni.
The league are really cracking down on blasphemy this year, for example. At
least hopefully, there are no new injuries, and our players can recover a bit
over the international break. But Higuain will need to sort out his emotions,
both with taking a penalty against his former club and his reaction to being
carded. Until he does, Milan will also see red like the fire.
This post inspired by the music of The
Cult “Fire Woman”