Milan 0, Bologna 0: Unfinished

You know your performance was not ideal when what you wore was more memorable than how you played, and neither were good memories. Milan's new fourth kit was on display tonight, or at least what there was of it, and it definitely seemed to distract even the players from the football. To be fair, the Bologna players were basically playing for their coach's life, and credit to them, they played quite well. But the new Milan kits were somewhat symbolic of Milan's game, as both were unfinished.

Yes, Arnautović probably is laughing at those awful kits

Milan came out firing and did not stop, with 33 shots in all. Skorupski had seven saves, but Maignan was also called into action four times as well. It just seemed that Milan was so excited to have over 68,000 fans at the San Siro again, they kept launching balls into the stands.

The only one who looked good tonight

Another narrative going into this match was the potential for a referee disaster because Marinelli was a relatively inexperienced referee in Serie A. With the race so tight at the top of the league and Milan having missed so many points due to referee errors this season, it's no wonder that this would be a concern. So both in the 17th and the 23rd, it was not a surprise that Milan players were asking for handball calls that never came (which should not have.) Marinelli answered back with two whistles for actual handballs on Milan players very shortly thereafter. That ended any controversy.

He was good, but Skorupski was better

One of Bologna's best chances came from the top of the box from Barrow in the 26th, but Maignan was able to tip it over. Milan got closer as halftime got closer, with Theo Hernández's shot going just wide, then Giroud having not one, but two headers saved by Skorupski. Dijks finally got Marinelli to pull out a yellow card for completely body checking Brahim Díaz in the 40th.

Rebić replaced Messias at the half, and Leão switched to the right side. For a while, the Croatian brought a calmness and composure to the left side that had been missing and really helped to create more chances. Then he nearly got carded for pushing a Bologna player, and the Rebić we knew and loved was back. 

Calm, cool, and then agitated

Pioli brought on Ibrahimović, Kessié, and Florenzi – all of his experience – to try to close out the match. But Ibrahimović only opened up he and Medel's faces with a nasty clash of heads that ended the Chilean's night on the pitch and served up eight minutes of stoppage time that was needed to bandage both players. During that stoppage time, Orsolini earned only the second yellow of the match for a bad and unnecessary foul on Maignan. But no one was able to break the deadlock, it ended nil-nil.

 

For 12th place Bologna, the point at the San Siro was like a victory. Certainly, it made Mihaijlović happy in his hospital room. But for Pioli, who had been awarded his Coach of the Month award for March ahead of this, his 100th Serie A match, the inability to close out this match demonstrated a growing concern that Milan fans have. They have concerns about this team's ability to actually pull off first place. Despite all of the success off the pitch as well, we have to remember that this Milan project is still a work in progress. 

Unstoppable, but also unsuccessful at scoring since his return

On a weekend when Napoli and Inter were expected to potentially drop points, but did not, and Milan were expected to widen their lead at the top, but instead decreased it to only one point, Milan fans despaired at the loss of points in the grand scheme of things. To be fair, though, Milan fans are the only ones who expect Milan to win the title. Our team is outperforming themselves by cost, experience, age, and more compared to the other teams fighting for top four. We have relied on heart and grinta to get this far, and if we wind up short of first place, we will still be ahead of expectations. Like those hideous kits the players were forced to wear tonight, maybe our project is simply still unfinished. 

This post inspired by the music of She Wants Revenge

Our next match is

Serie A Week 32

Torino vs. Milan

Sunday, April 10 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)