Sunday’s nil-nil draw reiterated something that has been
going on for a while now amongst Milan fans. Many seem to be ill-tempered,
impatient, and football-illiterate “fans.” The week before, when Milan won, a
Milan fan literally stabbed someone outside the stadium in Bologna, fighting
for the jersey of a player who won. This week, they are “out of patience” with
Maldini and Boban (again) because of a very unlucky draw. They don’t necessarily
respond to the performances, or any heroics within the match. They seem to just
check their phones, see the final score, and then overreact one way or another.
It seems like it is a results-dependent response.
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| Maybe the gold letters were just too heavy for them? |
Sunday’s match was hard fought. In ways, the two teams were equal, such as sharing possession exactly 50 percent each. But Milan took 23 shots and had nine on target, including Theo Hernandez’s goal in the 31st, which was called off due to a handball call on Kessie. That was one of several unlucky ref calls. Given the contact, the call was in that grey area of “interpretation” and really could have gone either way. Except when the VAR team convinced Manganiello to review it, you had to know which way it would go. Another handball call in the 42nd also went against us, without a call for Magnanelli.
Milan were also unlucky in that Pegolo had a great match in
goal, saving everything. It was a very strong performance from Milan, one of
those that probably even left Sassuolo scratching their heads, wondering how
Milan didn’t win it. Certainly, Milan never would have had so many shots on
goal or come so close to winning this match at the beginning of this season. Or
the last half of last season, either. It truly was one of those matches where
we were unlucky not to take full points. Also, it was a draw, not a loss.
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| Mr. Unlucky |
However, many Milan fans reacted as if Sacchi’s Milan had
lost a Champions League final against some lower table Bulgarian squad or
something. There was no discussion about the actual football. No recognition of
the progress this team had made. Not even any whining about the refs or concern about missing Hernandez and Paqueta against Atalanta next week. No,
straight to “we’re out of patience” and “(fill in anyone from ownership to
management to players) out.” No mention of the 30 plus Milan Legends who were
there for the match, including actual legends like Altafini and Rivera. Just everyone
get out, that was their message.
The fans’ response to matches has been increasingly independent
of what has actually happened on the pitch. It’s
not even that we have been traumatized anymore. The fans are no longer
here for football, or even AC Milan. They target certain players for unknown reasons, even when they have a good game or are not even playing. I actually have no idea why these types of
fans still call themselves fans. Stabbing a fellow fan over a jersey is not
something Milan fans of prior generations would ever do. The attacks on social
media, the boycotting everything the club does, even when it is positive, the
trashing of legends Maldini and Boban who haven’t even been in their positions
for six months… none of this ever has anything to do with football or AC Milan
or even reality, actually.
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| "Now our fans are going to crucify us and make more death threats" |
As a fan of the club for so long who watched other teams
like Juve & Inter have fan bases that were like this (but maybe not even as
bad as these Milan fans?) it is so painful to watch these people call
themselves fans of my club. They are no longer commenting on what actually
happens in terms of football, but rather have their own motivations and zero
morality anymore. Think about it. One week we win, they are so “happy” they
stab each other for a jersey of their heroic players, the next week, we draw –
not lose, draw – and they want everyone at the club out. At best they are some
kind of sociopaths who have lost the plot of the beautiful game and our
amazing, storied club. Tragically, too many “fans” live Milan only through a
results-dependent response.
This post inspired by the music of The
Smiths’ “Still Ill”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 17
Atalanta vs. Milan
Sunday, December
22 • 12:30 CET (6:30am EST)