Allegri may have finally found a cure for the small team syndrome Milan have been dealing with this season. And that cure was a giant, muscle-bound German striker who was willing to play with a broken toe, even after being robbed of €500,000 in valuables only a few days before. While I certainly prepared for the worst against a relegation-threatened side, and most of the match was pretty dreadful football, Lecce were missing players to injury and were unable to score. So, Milan finally got a 1-0 win over Lecce, not dropping points to a team in danger of relegation. And even though plenty of players put effort in, it was "Lücke," ironically the one who filled in our gap, who made the difference. You could say that the plan was Füll-proof.
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| A Füll-proof way to earn three points. |
As unlucky as Milan have been with injuries to attackers, Lecce were perhaps worse off. They only managed three recorded shots in this match, with zero shots on target. Milan, meanwhile, took 20 shots, with only six on target, only managing to score the singular goal. And those efforts started early, including a goal in the 10th minute from Leão that was called back as he was offside.
Chances continued for Milan, but so did violence. Stulić, Lecce's only healthy striker, seemed to suffer a groin injury less than 20 minutes in, and Saelemaekers just hacked our former loanee, Sottil to the ground. But no call from the referee, Zufferli. However, De Winter was carded for fouling Ramadani just a minute later. Tomori also had a rough tackle on Sottil.
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| Saelemaekers had a fantastic match |
Falcone was called into action for a shot from Pulisic, and Saelemaekers took a shot that actually was blocked when it hit Leão. Who says he never defends? Then it was mostly a number of fouls by Milan players on Lecce players, actually, none of which earned cards (but perhaps should have.)
The second half started off with more chances, only this time, more were on target. Like Ricci's shot in the 57th, which forced Falcone into a great save. Or Pulisic's shot in the 62nd that forced an even better save. In the 72nd minute, Allegri brought Füllkrug on for Pulisic and replaced Ricci with Loftus-Cheek. After Falcone had yet another big save, it was time for a solution.
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| That's why he wears the number nine. |
Gabbia sent a great long ball forward. Saelemaekers, running out of space, made an exquisite cross in, and Füllkrug showed us why he wears the number nine with an amazing volley which Falcone had no way of stopping. 1-0 Milan. His first goal in the red and black, and the celebrations were even more epic. He was obviously Serie A's Player of the Match as well as Milan's Man of the Match.
Athekame replaced Saelemaekers in the 80th, who had pulled up with what looked like a muscle injury. He had been brilliant in addition to the incredible assist. In the 87th, Modrić replaced Jashari and Nkunku replaced Leäo. Milan did not stop, they continued to push for a second goal, but it was Maleh who got the last shot in the match for Lecce, and luckily, his shot was deflected.
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| Maignan was literally carrying the team on his back. |
While Milan redeemed themselves in the second half, creating more accurate shots, they still struggled against a relegation-threatened side. The team were united and celebrated a much bigger win, having conquered one demon. Many feel that Milan played better in this match, but it felt to me like Lecce simply did not challenge as much. Their defending was obviously quite strong, but once Füllkrug came on, Allegri's plan to win became Füll-proof.
This post inspired by the music of Garbage's "Radical"