Anyone who watched Milan play on Thursday knew that barring some
intervention from a superhero or other worldly power, Lazio would be taking all
three points tonight. I mean of course, we all wanted Milan to win. Even the
guys really seemed to want it. They played much better than Thursday’s “victory”
(although
that was a very low bar,) but Lazio were in much better form. A Lazio
victory was in the cards.
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| More united |
After proving that we were Suso dependent, Suso was out with
an injury for this match, and Pioli chose Castillejo to deputize for him once
again. His performance was so much improved, he got a couple of chances and
almost even had an assist before he left the pitch in tears, also injured, and
replaced by Rebic in the 35th minute. Rebic immediately had a header just wide,
but Pioli was proven prescient in his choices, as Castillejo had offered a lot
more than Rebic before he went off injured.
Milan were looking dangerous, but Immobile forced Gigio into
a very early save and then hit the crossbar before he headed in his 100th Serie
A goal in the 25th minute. 1-0 Lazio. Not to be outdone, Piatek answered back
by scoring a goal in the 28th off of Bastos’ chest, which the league then
credited to Bastos. Whatever. It was 1-1 all. The first half was not complete
without an exquisite corner from Calhanoglu in the 39th, which Strakosha
managed to save, but that fact had to be proven by Goal Line Technology (GLT.)
A couple of inches, and this would have been a different game.
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| Bad luck, good performance |
I can honestly not say enough about Theo Hernandez and what
he has brought to this team. So many chances created, assists, shots, and even
goals. And as if that and his blistering pace and amazing ball control were not
enough, he drew the fouls for three of the five yellow cards handed to Lazio tonight.
Because they can’t stop him, so they just foul him. He is a very bright spot in
this very dim time at Milan.
The second half was filled with errors on both sides, but
the intensity picked up and so did the chances. Milan took 12 shots, with Lazio
having taken only eight, but it was Correa’s goal that was the nail in the
coffin for Milan in the 83rd. 2-1 Lazio. In the meantime, there were brilliant
Gigio saves, and Romagnoli defending for two, with Musacchio out. Romagnoli
even nearly scored in the 58th minute, but his header hit the top of the net. Bennacer
showed improvement already, even he is still young, he played really well. We
had our chances, Calhanoglu’s free kicks are getting ridiculously closer and
closer, it feels like he’s just going to explode with goals from free kicks one
of these days. Only it can’t come soon enough.
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| A focused captain |
This one was in the cards, though. As in Calvarese had a
busy night, handing out eight yellow cards. It is well known that Lazio are “physical,”
to put it nicely, but it turns out Milan have some tough guys, too. Not that
Krunic shoving his forearm into his opponent’s face didn’t feel a little
satisfactory here at home, but it didn’t do anything to help us win the match. At
least we stopped bleeding red cards like under Giampaolo, the discipline is
definitely improving. The performance over all was much better than Thursday’s
performance, too, even if the results were inverted. I would write something
optimistic here, but we face Juventus next week, and frankly, it doesn’t matter
how much our performance improved, we are very unlikely to win that one, too.
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| Brilliant shot, he deserves the credit |
Everyone made a big deal of the 30 year league record that
Lazio snapped by winning at the San Siro, but they beat us at home in the Coppa
Italia in April of this year, too, it’s not like you couldn’t see this coming.
There were other Coppa victories, too. But anyone who dances on the grave of a
club that has gone through so many ownership, management, coaching and even
player changes these past few years is only mocking themselves. Like a bunch of
high school kids celebrating taking a five year-old’s lunch money. This was no
surprise result, no record to be celebrated. This one was in the cards.
This post inspired by the music of Pat
Benatar’s “Hell Is For Children”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 12
Juventus vs. Milan
Sunday, November
10 • 20:45 CET (2:45pm EST)