When you consider that Sassuolo has oft been Milan's Kryptonite team, one wonders if the team wore their lead suits to protect them in the Coppa Italia Round of 16 match or something. Because Sassuolo had almost no effect on Milan at all, allowing the Rossoneri to defeat them like a Superhero takes down a Super villain. With Milan destroying Sassuolo 6-1, they progress to the Coppa Italia Quarterfinals in February, where they will face either Super villains Sampdoria or Roma in a single elimination match. After their Superhero performances in the Derby, against Real Madrid in the Champions League, and then against Empoli on Saturday, it was fun to watch another convincing performance from SuperMilan.
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| SuperMilan. |
To be fair, Fabio Grosso did rest many of his best players to give chances to his younger players. So Milan were facing a Serie B's B team, not the more powerful Kryptonite we are used to facing, or even the in-form Serie B league leaders we were prepared to see. And he even said afterward that the Coppa Italia was not a priority for them. Clearly, his focus is on getting Sassuolo back to Serie A. That kind of ruins some of the narrative here, but the match was still very enjoyable to watch... for Milan fans.
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| A great night to be a Milan fan. |
Satalino, Sassuolo's goalkeeper, had to save a shot from Loftus-Cheek in just the second minute. Then Tammy Abraham scored a goal in the eighth minute, but it was disallowed due to being offside. It only took until the twelfth minute, though, for it to start raining goals. And when it rained, it poured.
First, Chukwueze, on his 50th appearance for Milan, took a long pass from Reijnders, took his shot, it rebounded off the far post, and on his second shot, he made no mistake. 1-0 Milan to get the match off to a flying start.
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| It's a bird...it's a plane...it's Super Chukwueze! |
Just five minutes later, as Rafa Leão was being tackled, he laid the ball out into the path of Reijnders, who, from well outside the box and sent a rocket of a shot flying past a helpless Satalino. 2-0 Milan, and a goal and an assist for the Dutch midfielder in this match already.
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| Scoring is becoming his superpower. |
The goal storm continued four minutes later as Tammy Abraham unselfishly sent the ball into the path of the oncoming Chukwueze, who once again just coolly slotted it past the keeper for a brace. 3-0 Milan.
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| All of us were Tammy in that moment. |
As if that were not enough, two minutes later, Loftus-Cheek sent a nice easy ball forward for the speeding Leão, who smashed it into the back of the net from the top of the box. 4-0 Milan in just the 23rd minute.
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| This superhero doesn't even need a cape. |
Whether by design or not, Milan eased up a bit, and Mulattieri had a header that went over for Sassuolo. Tammy Abraham took a shot that went just wide, and Loftus-Cheek had a header that also went just wide. in the 42nd minute, Sportiello first made a save, then Antiste scored, but it was ruled as offside, so the score remained 4-0 for Milan.
At halftime, Fonseca boldly made four substitutions. Two were precautionary, as both Sportiello and Loftus-Cheek reportedly had some small issues, so Torriani and Pulisic replaced them. Okafor also replaced Leão, because obviously, we can't have him playing regularly, and Musah replaced Fofana, who Fonseca has said he could not afford to rest. Whatever, I really can't with this man. I understand these substitutions to a degree, but it's what he has said and done in the past that fills me with rage.
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| That's my captain. |
In the 50th minute, Pavlović thought he would try his luck with a shot, but Mulattieri collided with his face while shooting, so his shot went over. Musah had a shot saved, and then in the 56th minute, Pulisic took a shot that rebounded off the post. Tomori tried to tap it in, but the ball went out instead of in, however Captain Calabria was there to clean up the mess, and finally got it into the back of the net. 5-0 Milan.
Unfortunately, Milan were unable to keep a clean sheet, as Sassuolo finally got their goal from Mulattieri, who beat the young Torriani at the near post. 5-1 for Milan. But never fear, Tammy Abraham was there. just two minutes later, Milan ruthlessly retaliated as Okafor sent a nice cross in, and Abraham sent it just past the sliding body of Satalino. 6-1 Milan.
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| Tammy Abraham had something to prove. |
Fonseca used his final sub in the 65th minute, replacing Reijnders with the young Bartesaghi, who took quite a knock just five minutes later. He was able to continue, though, and was obviously still on the pitch to see Terracciano make an absurdly naïve challenge on Antiste ten minutes later. He was rewarded with Milan's singular yellow card in this match. Torriani was called upon to make one save, from a Volpato shot, but the goal would not have counted anyway, as he was offside.
That was it. A ruthless defeat of a whimpering Sassuolo side who barely put up a fight. Still, it made Milan look like Superheroes, particularly given how they have been performing. It was great, too, to be able to have some players who don't get as much time regularly to get some minutes without sacrificing the match or even the performance. Absolutely thrilled for Chukwueze's brace and rightfully being named MVP, it should give him more confidence, which is all he lacks.
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| Milan present and future heroes? |
And the decisive scoreline should help the mentality of the entire team, actually. Particularly as we face our annual threat of a Christmas massacre at the hands of a currently unstoppable Atalanta on Friday. At least for one day, the players could really feel like heroes. At least in this match, they looked like SuperMilan.
This post inspired by the music of David Bowie's "Heroes"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
11:15 PM
Rating:
