Friday night, Milan fell into their usual sluggish, brutal grind as they took on newly promoted Venezia at the San Siro. While they managed to pull off the 2-0 win over the visitors, it was more like a trip to the dentist than the attacking, high pressing, enjoyable football we saw in the opening win away to Torino. Perhaps everyone was still choked up from the emotional Baresi tribute just ahead of the match. I don't play well with tears in my eyes, either. Or maybe they were stunned by the fact that for the first time in nearly two years, the Curva Sud were allowed to have banners and flags again. But more than likely, as I mentioned in the preview, they fell prey to Venezia's excellent defense and their hunger in attack, and fell into that newly promoted stupor.
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| Ramos scored the breakthrough goal that woke Milan out of their stupor. |
Let's start with the Franco Baresi tribute. For me, he was one of the reasons I fell in love with football, when he captained the 1994 Italian team in the World Cup and miraculously returned for the final after an early injury and surgery. He is also our "Eternal Captain," a man of integrity, leadership, and loyalty both on and off the pitch. While we have been honoring and mourning his passing all month, it hit much harder at the San Siro. The giant number 6 jersey in the middle of the pitch. His jersey placed in his seat next to Massaro, the tears of everyone. And while I am sure the team actually shook it off and had their minds on the match, I confess to tears here, and a somber opening to what was a bit of a torturous watch.
It was not for not trying. Ramos had a shot in just the first minute that went wide. He took a recorded eight shots himself (feels like there were even more,) with three on target. Alpha Cissè earned his Alpha nickname as he fouled Franjić in the 9th minute, taking the Venezia player out. Then Bella-Kotchap hacked down Ramos in the penalty area, who looked to be in a lot of pain, too. But the magical and amazing part was that with all the contact, there was no penalty call, no card, and no VAR review. I'm not even remotely embarrassed to say Marotta League anymore, it's just a foregone conclusion.
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| A striker who works hard, is fouled without complaining, and actually scores. Count me in. |
Maignan was called into action in the 19th minute to save an Akor Adams shot, and Ramos continued his target practice at the other end. Pavlović dribbled into the box in attack, but was stopped by fellow Serbian Filip Stanković. Yes, that 24 year-old son-of-an-Inter-player unfortunately had a great night in goal, stopping anything, everything, and everyone who came near him. Luckily, Pavlović was not injured.
In the 24th minute, Milan's defense reached peak disaster level when Yeboah attacked, nearly conceding a goal and making it impossible for Maignan, but the official Milan account posted it as a "great block from Pavlović." Gerald's disconnect from reality is spreading.
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| They did well, but there were also some scary moments. |
If you'll remember from the first match, we had a corner kick taken away by VAR with new rules that allow them to overturn the ref's call when he makes an error on who touched the ball last when it goes out. But, of course, when the error happened to Milan, did VAR overturn it in this match? Of course not. (Marotta League.) Busio headed it out, and Manganiello, the referee, gave Venezia the goal kick. I will believe that the system is not rigged when it stops being rigged.
Both sides continued to trade opportunities to shoot over the bar, Enrique "Kike" Pérez was down injured, and Chukwueze selfishly took a shot straight at the goalkeeper. Finally, in the 45th minute, Pavlović fouled Franjić quite hard, and the Venezia player landed badly on his shoulder and actually had to be subbed off before halftime. You hate to see injuries like that, I hope he is okay.
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| Push Theo and Leão out, and suddenly, Chukwueze becomes a star. Sad state of Milan. |
The second half started out with more of the same. Shots off target, more fouls, and even a couple of cards for Venezia (finally.) In perhaps the biggest surprise, the Milan player who came the closest to scoring was Musah, who hit the bar in the 55th. I thought hell might freeze over. Finally, Amorim put us out of our misery and changed the pace of the game by bringing on Saelemaekers for Loftus-Cheek and Rabiot for Alphadjo Cissè.
Milan were picking up momentum, but still shooting off target. Or getting caught offside, as Bartesaghi did in the 62nd minute. But Venezia were not backing down, and Akor Adams fired another dangerous shot in the 67th minute that was blocked. Finally, in the 69th minute, Ramos broke the deadlock after a pass from Saelemaeker. He dribbled in, nutmegged the Venezia defender, and scored his first Milan goal, a memorable one, too. 1-0 Milan. And, with such class, he also dedicated it to Baresi. Well done.
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| "O Pistoleiero" has officially come to town. |
Pavlović was a little overzealous, as he is known to be, and earned himself Milan's singular yellow card of the night. But Maignan was still having to make saves on Yeboah. Jashari subbed on for Modrić in the 74th minute, and less than 10 minutes later stomped on Lauberbachs's foot, but was not carded. In the 87th minute, Amorim replaced Bartesaghi with Estupinan, and Gila with Gabbia.
Then Jashari went dribbling in, and while Filip Stanković made the initial save on the 1v1, Halhal, running in to defend, knocked the rebound from that save into the back of his own net. 2-0 Milan. I still want to give credit to Jashari, though, that was fun to watch and it was a great run. 5 minutes later, Maignan was seen casually dribbling the ball around defenders, from his area nearly all the way to the center of the pitch. He's just so badass, I'm so happy he has stayed (so far.)
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| Yes, Jashari, you absoutely deserved credit for that. |
Ramos was awarded the Player of the Match by Serie A, which had to feel great for his first home match at the San Siro. He was also voted MVP by the Milan fans. I was thrilled for him, and for Milan, but is it sad that the best part of him scoring was that the toxic Milan fans will be appeased that our expensive striker actually scored? Sometimes, I wonder what this club is coming to. Having found out our Europa League opponents ahead of the match, which was actually a pretty tough draw, I saw the chasm between reality and those fans begin to widen even more after the win.
Truly, though, at the end of the match, Milan took all three points. Which is also a bit dangerous for the Milan fans who have jumped on the hype train to hell, because if they had truly watched this match, they would have seen the gigantic red flags as the team played very, very poorly for most of the match and struggled to be clinical enough against side who had played in Serie B last year and changed so many players this summer. Hopefully, this was a one-off, and Amorim will pull them out of their past ways, but despite the positive scoreline, Milan definitely had that newly promoted stupor.
This post inspired by the music of Stone Temple Pilot's "Plush"
Milan Futuro vs. ACD Sant'Angelo 1907
Saturday, August 29 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)
This match is not being televised in the U.S.
Cesena Primavera vs. Milan Primavera
Sunday, August 30 • 16:45 CEST (10:45am EDT)
This match is not being televised in the U.S.
Juventus vs. Milan
Sunday, September 6 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)
In the U.S., this match can be streamed in Spanish on Telemundo or Peacock,
Reviewed by Elaine
on
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