Milan 1, Lazio 2: In the Cards

Anyone who watched Milan play on Thursday knew that barring some intervention from a superhero or other worldly power, Lazio would be taking all three points tonight. I mean of course, we all wanted Milan to win. Even the guys really seemed to want it. They played much better than Thursday’s “victory” (although that was a very low bar,) but Lazio were in much better form. A Lazio victory was in the cards.

More united

After proving that we were Suso dependent, Suso was out with an injury for this match, and Pioli chose Castillejo to deputize for him once again. His performance was so much improved, he got a couple of chances and almost even had an assist before he left the pitch in tears, also injured, and replaced by Rebic in the 35th minute. Rebic immediately had a header just wide, but Pioli was proven prescient in his choices, as Castillejo had offered a lot more than Rebic before he went off injured.

Milan were looking dangerous, but Immobile forced Gigio into a very early save and then hit the crossbar before he headed in his 100th Serie A goal in the 25th minute. 1-0 Lazio. Not to be outdone, Piatek answered back by scoring a goal in the 28th off of Bastos’ chest, which the league then credited to Bastos. Whatever. It was 1-1 all. The first half was not complete without an exquisite corner from Calhanoglu in the 39th, which Strakosha managed to save, but that fact had to be proven by Goal Line Technology (GLT.) A couple of inches, and this would have been a different game.

Bad luck, good performance

I can honestly not say enough about Theo Hernandez and what he has brought to this team. So many chances created, assists, shots, and even goals. And as if that and his blistering pace and amazing ball control were not enough, he drew the fouls for three of the five yellow cards handed to Lazio tonight. Because they can’t stop him, so they just foul him. He is a very bright spot in this very dim time at Milan.

The second half was filled with errors on both sides, but the intensity picked up and so did the chances. Milan took 12 shots, with Lazio having taken only eight, but it was Correa’s goal that was the nail in the coffin for Milan in the 83rd. 2-1 Lazio. In the meantime, there were brilliant Gigio saves, and Romagnoli defending for two, with Musacchio out. Romagnoli even nearly scored in the 58th minute, but his header hit the top of the net. Bennacer showed improvement already, even he is still young, he played really well. We had our chances, Calhanoglu’s free kicks are getting ridiculously closer and closer, it feels like he’s just going to explode with goals from free kicks one of these days. Only it can’t come soon enough.

A focused captain

This one was in the cards, though. As in Calvarese had a busy night, handing out eight yellow cards. It is well known that Lazio are “physical,” to put it nicely, but it turns out Milan have some tough guys, too. Not that Krunic shoving his forearm into his opponent’s face didn’t feel a little satisfactory here at home, but it didn’t do anything to help us win the match. At least we stopped bleeding red cards like under Giampaolo, the discipline is definitely improving. The performance over all was much better than Thursday’s performance, too, even if the results were inverted. I would write something optimistic here, but we face Juventus next week, and frankly, it doesn’t matter how much our performance improved, we are very unlikely to win that one, too.

Brilliant shot, he deserves the credit

Everyone made a big deal of the 30 year league record that Lazio snapped by winning at the San Siro, but they beat us at home in the Coppa Italia in April of this year, too, it’s not like you couldn’t see this coming. There were other Coppa victories, too. But anyone who dances on the grave of a club that has gone through so many ownership, management, coaching and even player changes these past few years is only mocking themselves. Like a bunch of high school kids celebrating taking a five year-old’s lunch money. This was no surprise result, no record to be celebrated. This one was in the cards.

This post inspired by the music of Pat Benatar’s “Hell Is For Children”

Our next match is

Serie A Week 12

Juventus vs. Milan

Sunday, November 10 • 20:45 CET (2:45pm EST)