Look, I'm not saying that Milan dropping points was directly Terracciano's fault. But, Milan had successfully held Juve off for 88 minutes when Filippo Terracciano was subbed on. Less then three minutes later, we conceded. Coincidence? I think not. Milan had the win in the bag. But in stoppage time, Juve literally let the cats (Gatti) out of the bag, and Milan had to settle for the 1-1 draw to the Old Lady and only one point. People can blame whomever or whatever they want, and sure, Juve were better for much of the match. But as for me, I'm definitely putting the blame for Milan coming home with only one point on the Terracciano Effect™.
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| Our youngest player on the pitch scored, but young Terracciano's presence alone helped us drop points. |
Juventus, to their credit, were classy enough to pay tribute to Baresi ahead of the match. And a few of their fans, too, in particular, remembered when Milan played Juve in 1990, five years after the horrific Heysel tragedy, and Baresi laid 39 roses in front of their Curva to honor the lives lost. Their banner to specifically thank him was poignant and beautiful.
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| One good deed deserves another. |
After the somewhat surprising courtesies, kickoff happened, and the young Alajbegović took a shot in just the second minute that went just wide. In fact, Juventus controlled the first 25 minutes at least, with Maignan making a fantastic save on Nico Gonzalez in the 12th minute. Rabiot's answer a minute later was also off target. In the 25th minute, Maignan parried a shot away, and luckily, Locatelli was not able to capitalize on the rebound. Maignan made another fantastic save on Francesco Conceição late in the first half, and Alajbegović ended the half the same way as he started it – with a shot that was wide.
The second half was even more worrying, when, ten minutes in, Conceição hit the post, their closest chance to scoring thus far. Like clockwork, Amorim sent in the subs in the 61st minute. Loftus-Cheek replaced Saelemaekers, Alphadjo Cissè replaced Moreira, who had made his debut, and Chukwueze replaced Rabiot, who was frustratingly unable to punish his former side.
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| Juve's young new addition this season proved to be a challenge for Milan's defense. |
Juve players wanted a penalty in the 65th minute for a foul that Gila made, but Mariani did not give it, nor did VAR intervene. Five minutes later, Alphadjo Cissè, who had looked dangerous since entering the pitch, scored from a Chukwueze cross. Even more impressive that he went around our former Locatelli and nutmegged our ex-, Kalulu, to do it. 1-0 Milan. This was particularly significant, given that Milan had not scored against Juve in the league for three years. Finally. And he earned an unusual record: the youngest player to have scored in his first two away matches.
However, after the second cooling break, Juventus debuted their new 6'6" (198cm) German striker, Woltemade. While he definitely will need to acclimate to Serie A, he still started causing problems for Milan. That included Estupiñan earning his token yellow card, this one for fouling our former Kalulu. There was a thing between Ramos and Locatelli where the latter was reminded by Ramos of what an ungrateful moron he is for a) being a lifelong Juve fan and b) leaving Milan how and when he did. I support these "reminders" 100%.
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| His second goal of the season, linking up with Chukwueze again. |
In the 82nd, Jashari replaced Modrić, and Juve started to get desperate. Koopmeiners had a shot blocked. Woltemade sent a shot over. But then came the most head-scratching decision from Amorim: he put Filippo Terracciano on the pitch, replacing Gila. Suddenly, Maignan was under nonstop fire. (To be fair, Spalletti's fresh subs who came on at the same time probably also had something to do with that, including freaking Gatti, but I am not writing this to be fair.)
Kolo Muani's header was blocked. Locatelli's shot was wide (obviously.) Jérémie Boga sent a powerful shot in that caused Maignan to bobble the ball a bit, but he still saved it. In the 92nd minute, former Juve NextGen player-turned-Milan-defender De Winter gave a special Serie A welcome to Woltemade and was rewarde with a yellow card for it. And from that foul, Juve were awarded a set piece. (Can you tell where this is going?)
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| Modrić's skills are still levels above a player 10"(25cm) taller than him |
So, yeah, from that set piece, Koopmeiners sent the ball in, and Gatti headed it past a helpless Maignan. Which clearly would not have happened if Terracciano was not on the pitch. But seriously, why Terracciano and not Tomori? Was Amorim just being spiteful, trying to continue to freeze Tomori out by giving Terracciano five minutes instead? Because maybe Tomori would have blocked Kooopmeiners, who knows?
And Amorim has spoken about rewarding players who work hard in practice. By that measure, the groundskeeper should get minutes. I'm sure Terracciano is very good in practice, works very hard, and does everything he's asked. Because even he knows he doesn't belong here. He never did. He was brought in for €4.5 million from Verona at the end of a January transfer market as a warm body, and mainly because his father had played with Pioli as a player (this was during Pioli's final season.) And we overpaid. He literally caused a penalty in his first two minutes on the pitch in his very first match. And things never got better, that's why he was on the foreverloan program.
Moreira was able to make his debut, as a starter, too.
Why we have players of his caliber in the squad is a nightmare scenario in the first place. But Amorim throwing him on when we were barely hanging on to a 1-0 lead by a very thin thread was just irresponsible. And things got worse, too, because a few minutes later, Cissè was in attack at the other end, and was fouled by Gatti in the box. Supposedly, he was offside, which is why no penalty was given, because that happened first. But not only did VAR not intervene on that call, after Gatti was literally roughing him up while he was on the ground, Mariani gave both players yellow cards. No VAR review.
I mean, we've had players carded who never even made contact, plenty whose contact was clearly unintentional and efforts made to prevent it. Now, Gatti gets to maliciously hit him repeatedly while down, off the ball, and not only does he only get a yellow, but Cissè gets carded, too? This was absurd. And Mariani had just received the best Serie A referee of the year at the Gran Gala del Calcio awards, too. So if he's the best, pulling stunts like this, what about the lower level referees? That's just not okay.
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| Our captain made four saves, at least two of them massive, and still, we dropped points. |
Milan cannot afford to have players like Filippo Terracciano on the bench, because Amorim will play them. And next time, he might be the definitive cause for dropping points, who knows? It's just one nightmare after another with this owner, and who cares if Gerald Cardinale spent €80 million on Ramos if that meant we kept Terracciano, Musah, and Estupiñan as our weakest links. It's like playing chicken with the refs and our results. Put out all our quality players, then put a single Terracciano on the pitch, and see how long it takes for him to get a red card, cause a penalty, or concede a goal. In his first match, it only took two minutes. This time, it was three minutes. I call it the Terracciano Effect™.
Verona Primavera vs. Milan Primavera
Saturday, September 12 • 13:00 CEST (7am EDT)
This match is not being televised in the U.S.
Pro Palazzolo 1913 vs. Milan Futuro
Saturday, September 12 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)
This match is not being televised in the U.S.
Lazio vs. Milan
Saturday, September 12 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)
In the U.S., this match can be streamed in Spanish on Telemundo or Peacock,
Reviewed by Elaine
on
Rating:
