Milan’s season was such a season of change after so many
years of decline. Maldini came back, and at times, it seemed that his return
alone would be enough. But it wasn’t. Despite his leadership, despite improving
the squad, despite the passion of all of the players and the fans, we fell one
point short of returning to the Champions League this season. One point. It
just seems like no matter how hard we try to claw our way back, it is never
enough.
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| They've given so much, but it's still never enough |
The game was really a reflection of our season. It had high
points and times where we did barely enough to keep going and there were mistakes
that were made. There were injuries, of course, and the football that still wasn’t
great, there were tactics that were still questionable after all this time. At
the final whistle, we had done enough today against SPAL, but still ended up
short of our goal for the season.
Kessie had apparently looked at his stats this week and
realized that he wasn’t quite satisfied with them this season. First he got the
assist on Calhanoglu’s screamer of a goal in the 18th. 1-0 Milan. Then he
scored a goal of his own in the 23rd. 2-0 Milan. Finally, he took the penalty
in the 66th and converted that, too. His tally was two goals and an assist for
this one match, perhaps some of the haters will be silenced. (Haha, who am I
kidding? They can’t even count that high, but they’ll still hate.)
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| The dynamic duo tonight |
As if to silence the media rumors of a possible exit, or
perhaps just to prove what people say about him, that he is not great with his
feet, Gigio injured his thigh trying to distribute the ball and had to be
subbed off in the 21st. Makes you wonder if we could have kept the clean sheet
had he not been injured. Just not quite enough. Also, Borini came off injured
in the 80th. He injured himself doing whatever it was that he does, I guess. A
perfect reflection of our season.
We did concede two goals unnecessarily. The first was a
Vicari header in the 28th. I really think Gigio would have stopped it. The
second goal was from Fares in the 53rd, not sure it was stoppable, but should
have been preventable had the team been as focused as they should have been.
Still, we finally got a ref call in our final match with the slightly
questionable penalty for the foul on Piatek in the box. That was the thing that
pulled us through and gave us the three points. We deserved the win, but just
barely.
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| Maybe he injured himself rolling around trying to get a call |
The part that got lost was that it was Abate’s last game for
Milan, and apparently Zapata’s, too. Also likely Bakayoko’s last match and
possibly more, but the other two have been with Milan for much longer and will
stay in our hearts and memories, both good and bad, for much longer. All of
those players who are exiting summarize perfectly the Milan curse: they were
all good in their own ways, but just never quite enough.
The rumor mill has already been going full force talking
about who is leaving and who is staying, and they’ve barely even touched on the
players yet. Strong and repeated rumors of an exit of Leonardo as well as
Gattuso, as well as lesser rumors about pretty much everyone else in
management. At some point, we need to find some stability from top to bottom,
but with FFP decisions looming in the next few weeks, it just feels like the
merry go round keeps spinning and the changes will never be enough.
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| Just one more ounce of grinta before today was all we needed |
We earned a Europa League spot, we will compete there for
the third straight year. That is if UEFA don’t ban us. We missed Champions
League by just one point. One match, one lineup, one tactical decision, one
injury, one suspension, one shot not hitting the post, one goal not conceded, one
player having a bad game. Just one. But the verdict feels perfect for a team
whose mentality has been stretched and then regressed and then stretched again.
We are still that team that can’t put together 90 solid minutes for more than a
game or two, and as such deserve our fate. It seems that no matter what we do,
it’s never enough.
This post inspired by the music of The
Cure’s “Never Enough”