Milan Obsession

Milan are celebrating their 119th birthday having just crashed out of the Europa League and then being slapped with sanctions from UEFA. Not the birthday gifts we were hoping for, but at least not playing in the Europa League might help curb our injury crisis. It’s enough to give anyone the holiday blues.

I asked a simple question in my preview: Do you want it bad enough? And at the whistle, the answer was no, not quite. Amidst a hostile environment, our boys simply didn’t do enough to get through, even though all we had to do was lose by only one goal or better. The next round was in our hands, and we let Olympiacos take it from us. For that alone, they deserve to go through and Milan deserve to go home, despite having had to work so hard off the pitch to get here. But I don’t have a lot of criticism for the team, as we are still injury ravaged. And as for our grinta, we’ve seen it sputtering a lot lately. Maybe tonight in Athens, their tank was just on empty.

Milan have an excellent chance of making it through to the next round. Our opponent in this match isn’t Olympiacos as much as it is ourselves. A win or a draw against Olympiacos would guarantee us to go through, while even a 1-0 loss would still see us through. But Milan have become particularly good at shooting themselves in the foot when it matters most. So the question Gattuso should be asking is “Do you want it bad enough?”

It was written in the cards. Although I had entertained a hope that we could pull off the win, I should have known that Milan’s innate ability to choke when there is opportunity on the table would never allow us the three points. But at least we kept a clean sheet, there is always that. And one point is a point more than Inter took this week, so that is also good. Still, a nil-nil draw is never fun. It sucks when your team is drawing a blank.

Some matches don’t seem like much on the surface. Then you look at the table and look at the time in the season and other factors, and realize that this game could be very important in the big scheme of things. For example, Torino are showing signs of climbing up the table, and they are only four points behind us going into this match. Meanwhile, Milan would be only one point behind Inter with a win in this match. That’s one point behind third place, leaving Lazio a full three points behind us, too. That would be massive right now. Especially with our injuries and playing a team that does so well away. So maybe this game is bigger than you think.

Gattuso just celebrated his first year as Milan’s head coach, so of course his track record has been under the microscope. But with recent results and performances improving, the microscope is looking pretty favorably at him. Much of the attention this week is turning towards Milan’s new CEO, Ivan Gazidis. Certainly, there is always plenty to talk about at Milan.

I can’t remember a lunchtime game that I actually enjoyed. At 3:30am my time, I am usually just bleary eyed and frustrated by a lackluster performance and often a poor result. But not on this day. From kickoff, it was exciting and action-packed, and at the final whistle, it was a lunchtime delight.

Parma nearly didn’t make it back to Serie A this year. Then they did, but were going to have a five points deduction. Then that was overruled, too. Which is why they now sit in sixth place on the table only two points behind Milan. I mean why actually punish a storied club like Parma for matchfixing when they could be a storyline in Serie A? Because in Italy, anything goes.

This match was legendary. Not so much for Milan, though a look at the score would seem to indicate as much. No, this match was almost as shameful for Milan as it was legendary for Dudelange. You see, Dudelange had only scored one goal prior to this match in the Europa League Group Stage. But today, they scored four. At the San Siro. Unfortunately, two were own goals, but still. The stuff that legends are made of.