In 90 minutes, we destroyed their naïve, arrogant treble dreams. We dominated and shut them out, keeping a clean sheet and also forcing Inter to accept a season where they were winless against us. Five times. After pillaging their Supercoppa in January, we plundered all hopes of The Other Inzaghi™ and his FC Bankrupt side reaching another Coppa Italia final, let alone winning another trophy. While Schadenfreude is delicious, though, Milan are through to the final. We have qualified for the Supercoppa next year, which earned us €11 million this year for winning. We still have the chance at Europa League next year if we win the Coppa Italia, which would also be our second trophy of the season (and Inter have yet to win any.) Plus, Milano is red. Like for the whole season it's been red. Winning 3-0 over our city rivals, 4-1 on aggregate in the Semifinals of the Coppa Italia definitely has its rewards. To the victor go the spoils.
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| The Finalists. |
In the first half, Inter put up a fight. As in Bisseck constantly mauled Rafa Leão to the point that Leão may need to get a restraining order. But if Inter wanted to give away free kicks, I guess that was their game plan. They did their best to create chances and looked dangerous. But, for instance, in the 21st minute, Gabbia made a great block on Lautaro Martinez, only for Dimarco to come in and make not one but two shots, with Maignan making a double save on him. All of this would not have mattered, though, as Lautaro Martínez was actually offside to begin with.
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| Inter tried to keep up in the first half. |
Inter's best opportunity was a minute or so later, when Dimarco sent a dangerous shot from distance that actually hit the top of the crossbar. That was followed up with Lautaro Martínez sending a shot over the crossbar ten minutes later, they were definitely not clinical. Milan, on the other hand, scored with their first shot on target. In the 36th minute, Álex Jiménez sent in a perfect cross, and Jović headed it home to open the scoring. 1-0 Milan. Although the stadium was full of Interisti, the small section of Milan Curva Sud fans could be heard singing all night long, especially after the first goal.
It officially became a Derby when Tomori and Bastoni started mixing it up in the 38th minute after fighting for position on an Inter corner, but Doveri was able to smooth that over quickly. Bisseck sent a chance wide, and a couple of minutes later, Fofana accidentally clipped Mkhitaryan's arm with his boot after he went down while tussling for the ball. The Inter player tried to enact revenge with a shot from distance shortly thereafter, but it went over. Bisseck had a shot that was saved to end the first half.
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| The first one. |
After halftime, Milan were done messing around. In the 49th minute, after a Theo Hernández corner, Jović was in front of goal when the ball was deflected into his path, and he just tapped it in. 2-0 Milan. Jiménez followed that up with a nice chance of his own, but it went wide. Frustrated, The Other Inzaghi™ made four changes in the 53rd, with some players he had been trying to rest. But it did not slow Milan down.
Arnautović elbowed Pavlović in the face in the 55th minute, then Mkhitaryan's shot went wide. However, leading up to that Gabbia awkwardly headed a ball clear, and seemed to injure his neck. So, after treatment, Thiaw was introduced in the 59th to replace the injured Gabbia. After Lautaro Martínez's header was saved, Maignan made a showstopping incredible save in de Vrij in the 68th minute. A massive save, absolutely brilliant. Maignan was down for a minute afterward, with concerns that he had injured himself, but he was able to play on.
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| Leaving a wake of destruction. |
Impressively, especially for a Derby, there was only one yellow card in the match, and that went to The Turkish Traitor™ for a foul on Reijnders in the 70th minute. Miraculously, none of our players were carded, which means that none of the three players who were carrying yellow cards into this match will miss the final. Conceicão brought on Tammy Abraham and Loftus-Cheek for Jović and Pulisic in the 78th minute. In the 85th, Reijnders scored with an assist from Leão to make it 3-0 Milan. YES. Now it felt like this was really happening.
Conceição brought on João Félix for Reijnders, then Bartesaghi for Theo Hernández. It is of note that Bartesaghi had been pulled by Conceição from Milan Futuro, who were in Umbria for their match vs. Gubbio, so had travelled back to Milano for this match. This seems to have been as a result of Walker not making the bench after late fitness tests ruled him out. So I was happy that Bartesaghi at least got a few minutes for all his troubles in getting back to Milano.
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| The third goal to seal the win. |
The Other Inzaghi™ forever lives in the shadow of his older brother, Pippo, who is a legendary player with two Champions League trophies amongst so many others. The Other Inzaghi™ has tried to compensate with a more successful managerial career, but instead has established himself as an incredibly unlikeable cartoonish villain. His facial expressions alone during this match were better than a trophy, because he is just such a poor loser. Worse still, if you saw him immediately after the match, going up to Milan players like Maignan and getting in their faces complaining about who knows what, I have zero sympathy for that kind of man or manager.
After his pitch invading antics went unpunished in the first leg, the media have turned the spotlight on him once again for berating the fourth official and demanding no stoppage time. The claim is that Doveri did not have the right to end the match without stoppage time, and that Inzaghi should have been sent off for screaming at the fourth official. The red card would have been delicious, but he is protected by the Marotta League, so I will just have to enjoy the rest of my Schadenfreude about Milan crushing his soulless dreams. People are so excited that he congratulated Milan in his postmatch press conference, but actions speak louder than words.
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| All the feels. |
So, at the end of 90 minutes, when the final whistle blew, the Milan players and bench erupted with joy. After such a tumultuous season, this victory was especially sweet. A number of these players had suffered some of the historic six consecutive Derby losses under Pioli that cut so deeply. Notably, this Derby win fell one day after the anniversary of Inter's cardboard star party Derby, which was a Milan home Derby that Inter won. Keeping Inter winless in five Derbies this season, ruining their chances at a treble, and crushing them 3-0 in front of their fans was not nearly the same, but it was healing.
Another bit of news that came to light the same day offered some validation to our players after all they had suffered with Fonseca. It turns out, he is also having problems with his star players at Lyon. So he had problems at Roma, then Milan, now Lyon. It was never about our players. All the gaslighting he did of them, all the grief they got in the media for not respecting a man who never respected them... his track record vindicates their images, even if so many still believe all the drama and lies he spread about them.
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| Sweet, sweet vindication. |
Conceição, too, has been disrespected in the media, and by many fans as well. In stark contrast to Fonseca's tell-all press conferences, Conceição keeps a tight lid on everything under his watch, as evidenced by Maignan's statement in his remarks, "what is said in the dressing room stays there." In contrast to his predecessor, Conceição protects his players, and has been criticized more recently for "complaining" about the fact the constant media rumors about future managers is destabilizing to the players and the team, something Pioli also pointed out.
So it had to feel good when reporters were gushing over him in the postmatch press conference, finally offering him not only respect, but praise, calling this match a "masterpiece." But, although he had taunted Inzaghi about the Supercoppa win, saying that Milan would win two trophies when Inzaghi first brought up the treble a while back, this time, he was humbly quick to remind them that "I am the same coach as I was two days ago, it's not that everything is beautiful or everything is ugly. We need to find balance also on an emotional level, not just as a team." I would also like the media to find some emotional balance. It gets exhausting.
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| Conceição immediately earned the respect of the players, why does no one else respect him? |
The manager also wisely said, "I have my feet on the ground. We have not won anything." And, true to that sentiment, rather than the celebration with the cigar and the dancing in the dressing room when they won the Supercoppa trophy in January, he celebrated this victory by jogging around Milanello. And while the press are already back to talking about his successors and making snide remarks about him calling them out for their disrespect, he at least has one more thing to brag about in his short tenure here. He has faced Inter four times and is undefeated, outscoring them eight to four.
While they don't deserve it, management should be quite happy with him as well. In addition to the €11 million he brought in for the Supercoppa win, it is estimated that Milan has already earned approximately €4.6 million for qualifying for the Coppa Italia Final. Should he pull off the win, that figure could jump to approximately €7.1 million in prize money.
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| Captain Maignan with another massive save. Renew him already. |
My guess is that this group of football ignorant clowns in charge of this club will sack him at the end of the season on the technicality that he did not achieve the desired goal of Champions League qualification. But they will look foolish if he wins two trophies in four months and earns the club over €18 million in prize money while still making Europa League. Not that looking foolish has been a problem for them, but Conceição is actually a very good coach and an even better human being, and they are unlikely to hire anyone better for this moment.
Speaking of this moment, this season may have disappointed in so many ways, but no one will ever be able to take this win away from us. After the 1-1 draw in the first leg, Milan passed the DNA test to show Inter and the world who we really are. Despite this being the Chinese "Year of the Snake," that seems to have backfired on them since they let their Chinese owner go bankrupt while they hang on to all the players he bought them, trying to continue their win-on-credit plan. It's about time that Milan serve them up a little bit of Karma again. One might even call it Karmalicious.
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| To the victor go the spoils. |
As for Milan, this win gives us a modicum of pride after a shameful year, sitting in ninth place in the league after so many management missteps. Milano is red again, having won three of the five Derbies this year, and drawn the other two. We are in the Coppa Italia final next month, with Supercoppa qualification and a chance at Europa League qualification. And we did it all with confidence, too. Both sides had three shots on target. Inter failed to score, with Maignan making three saves, while Milan scored every single shot they had on target. That is clinical. That is domination. That is victory. And to the victor go the spoils.
Gubbio Triumph 3-2 Over Milan Futuro
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| Camarda celebrates his first professional brace (even if they were both penalties.) |
Milan Futuro's run of three straight wins came to a painful halt on Wednesday in their 3-2 loss away to Gubbio. The match was originally scheduled for Monday, but rescheduled after the loss of Pope Francis. With the team having already traveled, they remained in the area, training at Perugia's stadium. The match itself was also available for free on FIFA+, and the full match is still available to watch there. Or you can view highlights as usual on the Serie C YouTube Channel.
We did not have to wait long to see how this match would go, as Gubbio took the lead through a goal by Tommasini in just the eighth minute. However, Gubbio's very physical style of play meant they conceded a penalty, which Camarda converted in the 22nd minute, bringing the score level at 1-1. In the 30th minute, Gubbio scored from a corner in a goal that was officially given as an own goal by Coubiş, so now it was 2-1 Gubbio at halftime.
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| Oddo signed on for just ten matches, now he's got to prepare for two more. |
In the 50th minute, the home side scored again with a header from Di Massimo to make it 3-1. All three goals conceded by Futuro came from corner kicks. Once again, in the 79th minute, Gubbio conceded another penalty, and Camarda fearlessly converted again to bring it to 3-2 for Gubbio. I loved that he was the one who scored, because there was a banner displayed by the home side protesting B teams that included "No to modern football." Who better to remind them of who and what a B team is than a 17 year-old phenom who has spent much of his season with Milan's first team in Serie A?
They may have won the match, but without B teams, Italian football continues to become a relic of the past. So no, B teams are not going away. With only one league match left, Milan Futuro are now destined to play in the dreaded Playouts to try to avoid relegation. In 17th place in another league, they would just have avoided relegation, but Serie C spices things up with a two-legged Playout system in which the teams from 16-20th play one another to determine which teams are relegated. Those Playouts will be May 10th and 17th.
This post inspired by the music of Remember Monday's "What The Hell Just Happened?"
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Serie A Week 35
Campionato Primavera 1 Week 35
Reviewed by Elaine
on
8:00 AM
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