Some say that Milan missed an opportunity by not scoring
away to Lazio. Others think Milan did well to not concede a goal. But the truth
is that Milan have left the result to 90 minutes at the San Siro and given up
the gift that is the away goal. We did not take advantage of Lazio’s injury
crisis, either. We also showed that we are not as strong as we thought, as
losing a starter to injury was like deflating a balloon in terms of our level
of play. It’s not about optimism or pessimism, in this two leg semifinal, we
literally left the cup half empty.
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| Objects in image may not be as awesome as they seem |
The first half looked to be as tough as or perhaps even more
tough than expected, but Milan were holding their own and seemed to be building
confidence. That is until the 19th minute, when Kessie took a knock to his
thigh that left him needing treatment. All of the magic spray and tape wasn’t
enough, though, as he was finally subbed off ten minutes later for Calhanoglu.
That was perhaps the defining moment of the game, as with
Laxalt and Borini starting in lieu of Rodriguez and Calhanoglu, losing Kessie
just proved to be too much. People who have criticize Kessie recently were
silenced as they witnessed what is like when you don’t know a good thing until
it’s gone. Luckily reports say Kessie should be available for Sassuolo on
Saturday. At least Paqueta stepped it up and had some nice defensive play,
including a very nice tackle in the 31st.
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| Dealbreaker |
I’m not sure which was more disconcerting, that our defense
was suddenly so shaky, or that we had no shots at all in the first half and
very few at all in the second half. Piatek was starved and got absolutely no
service. I think he may have taken one shot the whole game. Lazio had plenty of
shots, and had they had a full squad, they likely would have converted one or
more on us. Certainly this match showed we are not as strong as we thought.
The game was also very physical, with Orsato taking a no
nonsense approach to reffing. That worked for us in the 55th when Correa went
down easily in the box, and against us in the 78th when Patric only saw yellow
for an incredibly dangerous tackle on Borini. And Milan tempers were also
tested, such as when Gigio was booked for dissent in the 80th because he was
angry at a very late offside call. Biglia got a “warm” welcome back to his
former club, being whistled and jeered by all of the Lazio faithful after being
subbed on for the last ten minutes.
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| This draw hurt more than its should have |
On Sunday, Castillejo had a man of the match appearance for
Milan as a sub, and it seemed like that gap between our bench and our starting
eleven was finally closing. It also seemed that our mentality and style of play
were also strong enough to overcome an injury or two and/or some squad
rotation. But with Suso still struggling with his groin injury, Kessie going
down, and Gattuso rotating two starters against an injury ravaged Lazio that
had lost three games in a row, Milan showed that we are not as strong as we
hoped. We missed gifted opportunities and left it all hanging in the balance
for our home leg in April. This cup was definitely half empty.
This post inspired by the music of X
Ambassadors’ “Unsteady”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 26
Milan vs. Sassuolo
Saturday, March 2
• 18:00 CET (12noon EST)