Venezia has the only stadium in Serie A that is only accessible via water taxi (boat.) Which gives them a unique home advantage, for the players from opposition teams who get motion sickness or are not used to traveling by boat. But it also gives players the coolest arrival look. And perhaps looking cool helped with Milan's confidence, because Venezia, despite their position on the table, have caused some problems for the biggest of teams this season. So, despite the fact that Milan pulled off a 2-0 win away, this match was not just a relaxing afternoon in Venice.
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| We are all Gabbia right now. |
Pulisic opened up the scoring in just the fifth minute, with a great assist from Fofana. 1-0 Milan. This was honestly so important in this match, because Venezia were relentless, and without being up a goal, this match could have gone sideways at any given minute. Nicolussi Cavaglia, Zerbin, and Yeboah all took chances, but gratefully, they all missed. And while Leão and Tammy Abraham also created dangerous chances, Yeboah thought he had the equalizer in the 34th minute – the whole stadium did – until it was disallowed after a VAR review and SAOT showed it was offside.
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| We cannot take for granted how immense Pulisic has been again this season. |
Pulisic also scored a goal in the 43rd minute, but it was also offside. The match was very physical as well, with worrying knocks to a couple of our players. Pulisic went down in the 30th minute after having knocked knees with another player, while Theo was down in the 36th minute with a blow that had fans concerned as well. Nicolussi Caviglia closed out stoppage time with a shot on target, but Maignan saved the day, as usual.
The second half was more eventful, including for referee Manganiello. Venezia were unhappy with at least one of his calls, but there were many times he could have made different decisions. For example, Leão was fouled in the box in the 51st minute again, and no penalty given. Referees been incredibly stingy with penalties for contact in the box (despite Serie A being the league with one of the highest numbers of penalties for handballs, for example.) But I am pretty sure the only way Milan will ever be awarded a penalty for a foul on Rafa Leão ever again is if he is taken off the field in a body bag. The same prejudices that see him constantly maligned in the Italian media seem to also see him also unfairly reffed on the pitch.
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| Please don't give him a penalty post mortem. |
Manganiello had a chance to award a penalty for a handball on Venezia in the 54th minute, but he declined, and VAR did not intervene. Because clearly, they have been instructed not to award penalties for Milan. The call Venezia wanted was a penalty in the 56th minute, when Pavlović seemed to foul Yeboah in the area. But that was also not given, and the AIA publicly confirmed it was the correct call on the show "Open VAR."
In the 64th minute, Conceição subbed on Santi Gimenez for Tammy Abraham. (I will remind you at this point that his substitutions nearly always make a difference in matches.) Then in the 70th minute, Álex Jiménez was injured, so he replaced him with Kyle Walker, wearing a protective sleeve over the elbow he recently fractured; and Loftus-Cheek replaced Rafa Leão. Santi Gimenez sent a header just wide, he was already making an impact.
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| The moment of magic. |
Finally, in the 87th minute, Conceição replaced Pulisic and Fofana with João Félix and Terracciano. Zerbin threatened, but his shot went wide. Finally, in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Reijnders sent the perfect ball forward, and Santi Gimenez took it on the volley and chipped it over the keeper for a beautiful goal. 2-0 Milan. He has been overly criticized for not scoring for a while, despite only having been at the club for four months. But his eye for goal and his hunger to score demonstrate that he is the real deal. This was a great way to end the match.
Conceição has also been prematurely judged and unfairly criticized. However, after defeating Inter in the Coppa Italia Semifinals, the conversation is changing significantly. For example, fans outside Milanello have since cheered him as he left Milanello, chanting, "Sérgio, Sérgio, Sérgio!" Still, the media ask him about his job, and he rightly answers them that it is not about him. As he said after the Inter win, he is the same person as he was before the win, even if the media spoke as if he was some unqualified hack from an inferior country until he won that match, and now they seem to have regained respect for him. That is on them. Conceição is absolutely qualified, and has been working nonstop to transform this Milan team since he arrived four months ago.
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| Nice to see some smiles again at the end of a match. |
With eight teams competing for the top four places in Serie A, Milan have solidified their destiny outside of a Champions League spot this season, still sitting in ninth place. So, with such a disappointing season, most fans are focused on that Coppa Italia Final coming up, putting all their hopes into qualifying for the Europa League through a win there. But what some may have missed was that Milan won two matches in a row – confidently. With this one coming against a tricky Venezia side in their house. And other than the Atalanta match, look like a whole new team now that Conceição has had some time to work with them. So, while fans are distracted by a big match, they may have missed the significance of an afternoon in Venice.
Milan Futuro Come Back to Draw 1-1 with Vis Pesaro
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| Alesi earns the points in torrential rain. |
In their final match of the Serie C season, Milan Futuro drew 1-1 with sixth place Vis Pesaro. Typical of much of their season, conceded the first goal in the 49th minute. In a recent change of form, they fought back with a screamer of a goal from Alesi in the 89th minute during a huge downpour. Nava was also massive once again in goal. While they were not able to take all three points, they did manage to take a point. Match highlights are available on the Serie C YouTube Channel.
Having replaced Daniele Bonera with only ten matches left, Massimo Oddo's side finished the season with three wins, three draws, and four losses, which saw Futuro finish 18th in Serie C. Those results meant Milan Futuro was unable to escape the relegation zone or even avoid the Serie C Playouts, which was already decided after their loss last week. Due to the fact that SPAL won their final match, they will have home advantage in the tie, which is a double advantage. This means not only will the second leg be played on their home pitch, in the event of a draw at the end of 120 minutes, they will automatically win and escape relegation due to having finished above Milan Futuro in the regular season.
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| Nava's heroics kept Futuro in the match. |
The Playouts will be at 20:00 CEST on May 10th at the Stadio Felice Chinetti, Milan Futuro's home stadium. The second leg will be at the same time the following week in Ferrara at SPAL's home stadium. Neither Camarda nor Álex Jiménez will be available for those matches, as the rules state that players who have played at least one match in Serie A must have also played at least 25 matches with their Serie C team. Given the number of times Camarda and Jiménez were called up for the first team instead of Futuro, they will not be available for Massimo Oddo in the Playouts.
The season was a huge disappointment for Milan fans, and an epic failure from Ibrahimović and his friend Jovan Kirovski, whom he entrusted to oversee it. People made excuses for the players being young or the team being new, but Atalanta's U23 team in just their second season place eighth in their group. Juve's NextGen, who were also the bottom of their group early in the season, just like Futuro, made a change of managers in November, and finished ninth in their group. Milan Futuro began the season with the most valuable team in all of Serie C because of their incredibly young talents, and have absolutely failed in the development of their young players, in addition to risking relegation to Serie D. Just another example of the complete failure of this horrific owner and management.
Milan Primavera Return to Winning Ways With a 2-0 Win Over Lazio
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| Liberali did that. |
After a poor run of form, Guidi's boys returned to form with a decisive 2-0 win over Lazio Primavera on Monday. This, despite missing his starting goalkeeper, Longoni, as well as Maximilian Ibrahimović, Duțu, Bakoune, and Pereira to injury, Comotto suspended, and having seen Victor Eletu move up to the Futuro squad. Paloschi opened the scoring in stoppage time of the first half with a great header from a free kick. After singlehandedly dribbling through the defense, Liberali secured the win with a brilliant goal from a crazy angle in the 71st minute. Brief highlights of the match are available. This match was important in a competitive table with multiple teams competing for a Scudetto playoff spot. Milan Primavera moved back up to seventh place on the table, just one point behind sixth place. There are three matches left for them to break back into the top six.
This post inspired by the music of Zoë Më's "Voyage"
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Serie A Week 35
Reviewed by Elaine
on
11:15 PM
Rating:
