In Allegri's prematch press conference, he used the phrase "zitti e buoni," which basically means "shut up and be good." And while Maignan was outstanding, voted MVP in fact, and others had some highlights to their performances, I am not sure the team got the "be good" part of that message, as in playing well. The 1-1 draw with Roma was disappointing for sure. Worse still, with Andrea Colombo as the referee, the players were calmer and more level-headed than he was, with two of the four yellows he gave (only to Milan players, of course) supposedly being for "behavior" rather than fouls. There is a history with him, of course, that goes way back, but even more recently, he has shown that he not only has an agenda against Milan, but is also a terrible referee. However, our players mistook "zitti e buoni" as more of "shut up and take it."
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| De Winter was a hero, but can't have felt as great about his first goal with the result like that. |
The match, Tomori's 200th for Milan, kicked off immediately, with Maignan being forced into action in the very first minute. Roma were hell-bent on getting a goal in the first half, but Maignan stood between them and their plan, with Modrić playing defender as well, making some great tackles and clearances. Saelemaekers, perhaps rushed back from injury too quickly, was also booed by the fans of the team he gave his heart and soul to last season. Ungrateful wretches, I honestly wish Roma had lost just for Saelemaekers' vindication.
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| He didn't deserve the whistles, he was loyal and served Roma with all his heart last season. |
As Maignan's Player of the Match performance was ramping up with saves on Koné, Malen, and finally a huge point blank save on Çelik just before the half, referee Andrea Colombo was further solidifying his place in Milan history as on of the worst, most biased refs ever. If you don't remember him, perhaps a couple of his other matches he reffed for Milan will jog your memory:
Milan 1, Inter 2, April 2024, when Inter won their "20th" Scudetto, he let Theo and Dumfries fight, making zero effort to de-escalate the situation, until he felt they had done enough to earn red cards, then sent them both off. He also sent Calabria off for shoving Frattesi, but not Sommer & Mkhitaryan, who both attacked him after the Frattesi incident. And Calabria received a two match ban, too. All in all, he handed out five yellow cards and three red cards in that match.
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| Maignan went straight into hero mode. |
Monza 4, Milan 2, February 2024, gifted Monza a penalty kick, sent off Jović for putting his hands up to block Izzo after he had just shoved Jović. Izzo could have been sent off any number of times but was never cautioned in this match. Colombo's total was four yellows, one red for this match. And I'm not defending Milan's performances in these matches necessarily, but once there are wrongful penalties or penalties not given, and red cards, then it is impossible to know what could have happened.
Most notably, however, Colombo was suspended in 2018 after a Primavera match involving Milan and Chievo. At the end of the match, he sent off Paolo Maldini and player Andrea Conti. However, they appealed the resulting suspensions, citing "derogatory and offensive behavior toward several Milan Primavera players." After a full investigation and going through the Federal Court of Appeals, Maldini's suspension was overturned, and it was referee Colombo who was suspended for two months due to his "inappropriate remarks of a derogatory an provocative nature, in particular towards the players Alessandro Sala, Daniel Maldini, Ricardo Tonini, Frank Cédric Tsadjout, and Marco Romano Frigerio."
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| Some people say they got off on the wrong foot, but Colombo has a long history with Milan. |
While some people made a big deal of a video from ahead of this match showing an exchange between Colombo and Maignan, claiming that was what caused later tensions in the match, it is important to understand that while Maignan in that exchange was literally the one asking to for calm, Colombo is the one who has a history of derogatory and provocative behavior toward players. Specifically Milan players. And while sure, Milan were late... again, and fined €15,000 for it, too, it does not justify any of Colombo's behaviors on the night. One of his most important jobs is to keep things calm and de-escalate tensions, not inflame things.
Saelemaekers was subbed off at the half, obviously he should not have played, and Athekame replaced him. But there was a shift in Milan's focus, intent, and play in the second half, as we often see this season. That resulted in Rabiot making a shot that Svilar tipped to send just wide in the 50th minute. Right after that, Svilar was down after he put his body on the line, and Rabiot's cleats made contract with the goalkeeper's face after he connected with the ball. Ouch.
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| How was Rabiot the calmer of the two between he and the referee? |
But here is where Colombo lost the plot. Instead of coming out, checking on Svilar, who was down with a head injury, he instead raced over and got in Rabiot's face, blocking him from checking on Svilar and apologizing to him, as was the appropriate thing to do. He did not just show Rabiot a yellow card, he manhandled the player and was screaming in his face, blocking him from simply being sportsmanlike. And after he was done riling up the Roma players against Rabiot and showing Rabiot what a big, strong man he was, he finally went to check to see if Svilar was even still alive. Absolutely disgraceful behavior for a referee. The polar opposite of what he should have done.
Once he got his big man testosterone flowing, he handed Athekame a yellow card for a shirt pull on Wesley just a few minutes later. And I don't have a problem with that yellow, it was deserved. It's all the other offenses he did not call, even for other Milan players, in the first half and later on that make me angry. So blatant were his lack of calls, shortly thereafter, he whistled Cristante for a bad foul on Modrić, and Cristante acted like it was the end of the world, he could not believe Colombo had blown the whistle against him. Cristante was a former Milan player, he knew that now that he was on the opposite team, he should not be getting calls against him.
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| That time Modrić was shown a yellow for getting fouled hard and he became a meme. |
It was in the 62nd minute, however, that magic happened. Modrić took a short corner, then got the ball back to send in a perfect assist for De Winter, who headed home his very first Milan goal. 1-0 Milan! This was especially impressive, as there had been talk of Allegri bringing Pavlović back after his face had been ripped open and stitched back up. But clearly, Allegri was inspired to stick with De Winter for at least one more match, and it paid off.
A few minutes later, Füllkrug, playing with a broken toe, replaced Leão, who is still playing with inflammation in his muscles; and Pulisic, who has a couple of niggling health issues now, replace Nkunku, who had simply not been able to make an impact in this one. Then, in the 70th minute, Colombo struck again. This time, he stood there and watched as Robinio Vaz absolutely slammed into Modrić with his elbow into the Croatian's back. But the second Modrić turned around to tell Vaz that was not okay, Colombo came racing in, his tiny little man syndrome throbbing with testosterone, getting in Modrić's face to show him a yellow card... for getting fouled. Pathetic. While it made for a funny meme when Modrić demonstrated his Italian skills with his hands, it was shocking and glaringly inappropriate refereeing.
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| After Bartesaghi's 2nd unfortunate handball penalty conceded this year, maybe he should cut his arms off? |
Things went from pathetic to worse when just a couple of minutes later, Colombo whistled Bartesaghi for a handball after Çelik kicked the ball onto the defender's outstretched arm. Maignan was quoted postmatch as saying, "What was Bartesaghi supposed to do? Cut off his arm?" Which only made me think of The Black Knight, which at least brought some comic relief to the situation. However, once it was settled that it was a penalty, the way Colombo behaved was shocking and completely wrong for a referee, and I cannot believe he is not suspended for this alone.
Maignan was waiting next to the goal. Without asking him to come to the line, without gesturing, or anything, Colombo raced over, that throbbing testosterone poised to spray all over everything again, and was screaming at Maignan, actually putting his hands on the goalkeeper at the same time, to which Maignan waved him away. And for that, Colombo gave him a yellow card. Like he literally created a yellow card for Maignan. Despicable. The referee is literally supposed to remain calm and emotionless, and to diffuse any tensions, not create them.
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| The battle was fought on the pitch, in the air, and in the referee's book. |
This was Milan's seventh penalty awarded against us, the most penalties against of any team in the league. Maignan faced off against Pellegrini, who I believe had a perfect penalty record for Roma, and he actually got his fingers to the ball once Pellegrini kicked, but it was just out of reach. And so it was 1-1 all. Kind of a cheap goal, even if Roma had played better than Milan for much of the match. It was Milan who actually scored from the run of play.
Also, keep in mind that Maignan's yellow card was Milan's fourth of the match, two of which were given for "behavior." Of those, one of which was completely wrong, he should have carded Vaz, the Roma player. And of the two that were rightfully yellow cards, he also instigated some fake drama, perhaps to try to get Rabiot sent off? Luckily, at least, Rabiot was calm like a referee should be, and simply trying to check on the player with the head injury. Like the referee should have been doing.
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| Our bench is os thin, Allegri is ready to sub on. |
Lofttus-Cheek replaced Ricci in the 79th, and then Pellegrini's shot went gratefully just wide. Füllkrug was fouled hard by Ghilardi, again, no card. I guess the testerone was in a refractory period? Tomori tackled Wesley, and then a few minutes later, Roma asked for another handball, this time on Pulisic. But luckily, again, Colombo was too tired, or maybe had a headache, so he said no. Milan had one last chance in stoppage time, Füllkrug's header, which went over.
Maignan had six saves against Roma in order for us to keep the draw, he has been so crucial for our season. But no one could save us from Colombo's tiny man syndrome. As Allegri had asked ahead of the match, the players did shut up. I don't know if you could say that they were "good," behaviorally. And definitely not from a football perspective, it was another match of suffering for the fans through Allegri's tactics of "absorbing the pressure" and then striking on the counter.
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| Colombo cannot take this team spirit away from us. |
One goal was not enough, but in his words, a draw is better than a loss. (Someone should tell him that you actually do need wins to win trophies.) Milan now have eight draws this season, more than any other team in Serie A. Not only is that a lot of dropped points, it's brutal football. Yet Milan are also undefeated in 21 league matches, best run in Europe. So, we as fans, like he players with Colombo, just have to shut up and take it.
This post inspired by the music of The Marias' "Hush"