Going into this match, we knew it would be very difficult.
We were missing seven players to illness, injury, or suspension. And really,
Ibrahimovic counts as more than one of those players, so we were already
climbing an uphill battle. People discount Verona, but they came into this
match only two points behind us, so it was always going to be tough. Milan
were lucky to hold on.
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| Brilliance from a set piece |
Milan started by being pinned back by Verona, with a great
save by Gigio in the fourth minute, then the goal by Faraoni in the 13th
minute. 1-0 Verona. That seemed to be the wake-up call that Milan needed,
though, and they fought back, relentlessly attacking Silvestri and his Borini-esque
bleached hair.
Much to the disappointment of the Calhanoglu
haters, he scored from a free kick in the 29th minute, making it three
goals in two games for him. 1-1 all. Of course, he can do nothing right for
Milan fans, so the fact that he’s got five goals on the season, one less than
our leading scorer, makes no difference. Some fans appreciated his goal, though, it's been a while since he scored from a set piece.
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| Our first look at the young Belgian |
Nothing else that Milan could do could make a difference,
either. With 26 shots, only seven were on target, and although we managed 60
percent possession, that familiar lack of finishing is what doomed us to
sharing a point. Even when Amrabat was sent off in the 68th minute for a nasty
foul on Castillejo, which required a VAR review, Milan couldn’t take advantage
of having an extra man for the last twenty minutes.
Pioli’s subs were spot on, great timing, and the best he
had, given his much-depleted squad. Paqueta got almost 30 minutes, then
Saelemaekers got to make his Milan debut in the 77th minute. Both sides hit the
post at least once, there were a few chances for Verona, but mostly Milan
pinned them back after Verona went down to ten men. Borini was as ineffective
against us as he was for us, even though he only got twenty minutes.
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| The future of Milan? |
The most notable moment of this match came in the third
minute of stoppage time: Daniel Maldini made his Milan debut. Although he was
only on the pitch for two minutes, and despite the fact that Milan could not
produce the three points he was worthy of, the momentous occasion that was the
third Maldini to wear the Milan shirt was by far the best thing to take from
this match. Let’s hope that it was just the first of many glorious appearances
for the club.
The match fell short of expectations, but expectations
needed to be lowered with so many players missing. We can only look forward to
the massive match ahead of us next week in the Derby, and hope that most
everyone recovers and are ready to fight back. For today, it was all we could
do to hold on.
This post inspired by the music of X
Ambassadors’ “Unsteady”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 23
il Derby della
Madonnina
Inter vs. AC Milan
Sunday, February 9
• 20:45 CET (2:45pm EST)