The lunchtime games are never easy. For fans like me, they are at 3:30am, and sacrificing sleep is that much more painful if the performance or the results are poor. But that was not the case for this match. Although the players looked like they were struggling as hard as I struggled to get out of bed for this one, they pushed through and got the result. Because that's what the league leaders do, get results. With 24 matches unbeaten and playing away at the Stadio Friuli, this was one more for the road.
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| Celebrating never gets old |
The first half saw quite a few shots, but only the one goal. That goal was a brilliant Kessie strike, assisted by Ibrahimovic in just the 18th minute. 1-0 Milan. Udinese would finish with only nine shots and two on target for the whole match, but I think they had about five of those shots in this half.
Not a huge surprise, then that their goal came from a penalty. Just two minutes into the second half, Romagnoli was judged to have fouled Pussetto in the box. Di Bello only used the audio VAR check to determine that it was a penalty, but I think if he had looked at it personally, he might have still given the call. De Paul stepped up and converted the penalty to make it 1-1 all.
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| Kessie opens the scoring and the celebrating |
There were other calls for penalties, such as in the 56th when Musso took down Ibrahimovic in the box. It wasn't clear from my angle if Musso got the ball, but it seemed like Di Bello waited for the VAR booth before he resumed play. This is tricky, because watching at home, it is unclear whether or not VAR reviews the plays. It would be great for transparency if they would add a graphic to the feed when VAR is used, because they don't always show the ref listening in his earpiece, or even if he shows the VAR sign when making the call. This particular incident was waived off, as was the call Udinese wanted against Calhanoglu just four minutes later.
Lasagna was subbed on in the 72nd, a player who has caused Milan indigestion before, especially in the early games. But for an early run in on goal that Gigio managed well, he was not on the menu this time. It was Ibrahimovic who stole the show in the 83rd. After Rebic, coming back from his horrific elbow injury, sent the ball into the box, a defender tried to clear it, only for Ibrahimovic to take the overhead bicycle kick from the bounce and put it past Musso. 2-1 Milan.
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| Phenomenal |
This was a tough match, Udinese were a tough opponent, all credit to them. Pioli was right when he said they deserve more, but in this match, Milan's sheer willpower and hard work earned us the three points. The players have now played three matches in seven days, and it showed a little bit. But they are not giving up. It is an amazing time to be a Milan fan and watch this team grow with every performance. Even at 3:30am. This might not have been our prettiest of games, but that is what makes this win even better. It was a victory won with sweat and blood, one more for the road.
This post inspired by the music of Stacey Kent's "One For My Baby (And One More for the Road)"