Milan vs. Juventus is typically a match worth watching. But not this one. On a San Siro pitch that was poor before the six matches played in the past ten days, the most remarkable thing about this match was Ibrahimović aggravating his Achille's injury because of that pitch. Allegri's negative football sucked the life out of our game and also the life out of fans worldwide who made the error of watching. So Milan dropped to third on the table, tied on 49 points with Napoli, but behind them on goal differential. Even if we technically earned a point, this match felt pointless.
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| What was even the point? |
There really isn't much to say after a match like this. Milan took 14 shots in all, with four on target, Juventus took eight with zero shots on target. There was an appeal for a penalty in the fourth minute for a foul on Calabria in the box, but Di Bello was too scared to make such a call so early. It didn't stop him from handing out yellow cards like candy at first, but then refraining because there were just so many fouls. Not a great game for him, but nothing truly egregious.
Chances came from Leão and Calabria in the first half, then Leão again, Theo Hernández, and a Giroud header from a nice Saelemaekers cross in the second half. Szczesny had the four saves, the others went wide. Also entertaining was when Saelemaekers nutmegged De Sciglio. That's really basically it.
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| That's entertainment |
Other than Ibrahimovic's injury, of course. Because the San Siro pitch was already poor, then there were games played on January 12th, 13th, 17th, 19th, 22nd, and now the 23rd, the pitch had more pock marks than a teenager's acne-riddled face. Ibrahimović had to be subbed off in the 28th for Giroud, and is now in doubt for the Derby. I was really looking forward to a February Derby with Ibrahimović but without Lukaku this year. Now it looks like we will miss the god of Milano.
Even if they are planning to address the pitch over the international break, it's too little, too late for Milan, who played the second match both times when the San Siro was used back to back by both Inter and Milan in a 24 hour period in the past ten days, something that had never even been done once before. Milan seriously cannot catch a break this year.
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| "Stronger than injustice or adversity, we are Milan and no one will ever stop us" (except Allegri's anti-football) |
Drawing Juventus again this season was frustrating, because Milan were clearly better. But we did not do enough to earn the three points, and now our fate is our own. Sure, Juventus stay seven points behind us, but Napoli leapfrogged us and Inter have four points on us, plus a game in hand. After last week's refereeing debacle, Di Bello looked more than adequate, but Milan were only adequate at best. Which made this game seem pointless.
This post inspired by the music of Garbage's "Empty"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
10:45 PM
Rating:
