After such a chaotic year last season thanks to our own management, two of our three encounters with Bologna were fraught with controversy. Facing off with the club who were the benefactors of a conspiracy to ban all of our fans for the Coppa Italia final, not to mention some very shady refereeing, while wearing the coccarda tricolore patch this year was triggering, to say the least. And given our circumstances and recent performances, I had no idea what to expect for this match. However, at the end of the day, Milan served up a 3-0 win over Bologna in their house in a dominant performance that was one of the least stressful Allegri matches of the year. And I must admit, revenge is best served cold.
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| Revenge is best served so very, very cold. |
Bologna took a couple of early shots, but it was Loftus-Cheek who had the first shot on target. Bologna wanted a penalty in just the 11th minute for a foul by Gabbia on Rabiot's former sparring partner, Rowe, but Manganiello rightfully said there was nowhere near enough contact, something confirmed by a quick VAR review.
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| Celebrating Loftus-Cheek's goal, just 13 more to fill Allegri's quota. |
Odgaard fouled Rabiot, then Fofana's header went wide (as if anyone expected it to go in, he is cursed.) But in the 20th minute, magic happened, because after Nkunku's shot was saved, the ball came back out for Loftus-Cheek, who finished it off to make it 1-0 Milan.
Fifteen minutes later, Ravaglia fouled Nkunku in the box, which was an obvious penalty, and Manganiello awarded it, which was confirmed by VAR. Nkunku himself stepped up to take the penalty, and sent Ravaglia the wrong way to convert the penalty. Cue the epic red balloon celebration for Nkunku's son. Now it was 2-0 Milan. And that was before halftime.
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| Best celebration around. |
The second half kicked off with the same level of dominance, when Rabiot intercepted a Bologna pass, chested the ball, dribbled it in, and just sent it screaming into the back of the net. 3-0 Milan. A brilliant solo goal, a dominating performance from him that saw him given the Serie A Player of the Match award, too.
Bologna would go on to earn all three yellow cards, and to attempt a number of shots, even if Maignan only had to make two actual saves the entire match. Allegri subbed on Tomori and Ricci for Athekame and Loftus-Cheek in the 67th. In the 72nd minute, Bologna wanted a handball on De Winter, but it was rightfully not given.
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| So cold. |
Then Allegri brought on Füllkrug's big guns for Nkunku, and Jashari for the incredible, unstoppable Modrić. In the 81st, Füllkrug had a one vs. one with Ravaglia after Jashari sent a great ball in for him, but Ravaglia saved it. That was actually something that felt like it happened several times throughout the match to Milan, which would have been far more frustrating without the three goals.
In the 83rd minute, Estupiñan replaced Bartesaghi, which gave Allegri the opportunity to be incredibly frustrated with the Ecuadorian, as fans have often been this season. I had some hopes for him, despite the fact that we all knew he would never fill Theo's shoes, but the fact that Bartesaghi took his starting spot has to be frustrating for him, even if it earned the young Italian a spot in Gattuso's Italian National Team dinner this past week in Milano, preparatory to a potential future callup.
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| There's a reason he won the Ballon d'Or, he can do anything. |
Füllkrug, still playing with a broken toe, had a great shot saved by Ravagliua in the 89th, although it was also likely to have been offside. It was just more evidence of how much Milan dominated this match, even if Bologna actually had 54% possession. It was a blissfully unrecognizable match from Allegri's Milan.
After being robbed of the Coppa Italia trophy and having to face Bologna wearing those patches, it was so delicious to win like this. And also, not to have to sit on the edge of our seats all match, waiting for Milan to "absorb the pressure" just to score one goal more than our opponent, or perhaps only draw against a lesser side. Instead, this was perhaps Milan's best performance of the season, with some actual proper, attacking football in there for good measure. A performance that was clinical, relentless, and cool as you like. And to do it against Bologna, in their house, after everything they did last season.... it's 100% true when they say that revenge is best served cold.