In the early morning of April 16, Beijing time, in the 33rd round of Serie A, AC Milan defeated Genoa 2-0 at home, and still led Inter Milan by 2 points in one more game, leading the table.
The city of Milan and the four teams of the Liguria region fought each other, and after Inter Milan took a victory from Spezia, the only thing in front of Milan was The Huashan Road. In the end, the Rossoneri gritted their teeth and brought back Milanello, a victory that had been missing for nearly a month, and continued to compete with their city rivals in the standings. Pioli's team is still not at their best, but with only the last 5 rounds left in the league, what is needed now is not convincing scenes, but players who settle the game.
Who is Mr. Key? Raphael Leon. In the 11th minute of the match, Kalulu sent a high-quality cross from the right side, the ball crossed the entire Griffin defense, and Leon at the far end took a step ahead of opposing defender Hefti and sent the ball into the far corner with a light left-foot volley. Milan's 222 minutes of no grain came to an end. This time is not long, but it appears in the sprint stage of the championship competition, which is particularly fatal. Leon himself also regained his goal-scoring feelings, and the media immediately began to take stock: the last time the Portuguese played for the team was against Udinese on February 25. Obviously, this season's outstanding performance has led to a significant increase in expectations of Leon. 5 games without a goal = a ball drought, which is clearly the standard for top strikers.
In fact, despite scoring key goals, Leon was still not at his best in this game. The Left side of the San Siro has not been able to witness him re-embark on the Hot Wheel, perhaps because of the physiological fatigue after playing non-stop for more than half a season, or perhaps the psychological pressure brought about by the delicate renewal situation: the renewal that seemed to be nailed down before has not yet been waited for the two sides to formally sign the contract. Leon's current contract will be only €1.5 million a year after tax until 2024, the club has offered a 5-year contract of 4.5 million after tax, but agent Mendes has recently blackmailed Milan with parisian interest. It is said that the Ligue 1 giants are valued at around 70 million euros for Leon and are willing to pay him an annual salary of 6 million.
With AC Milan's current business strategy, it is difficult to fully meet Mendes's salary requirements at the negotiating table, and the two sides will most likely give in one step and try to reach an agreement before the end of the season. The protracted lawsuit between Leon and former owner Sporting Lisbon, and the amount of compensation of up to 20 million euros (including legal fees), have also created some uncertainty about the player's way forward. A decisive hearing will take place on 17 May, a month later, when the final amount of compensation, as well as the proportion of the liability between the players and the Lille club, should be in a conclusion.
Young Leon had borne an excessively heavy mental burden for the original farce. Perhaps after the verdict finally settles, he can focus more on his performance on the pitch. Today, Milan need the best striker in the team this season to take on the responsibility of leading the team to the title. In the impression, Leon has never been a striker known for his efficiency, but he has surpassed the two centre-forwards Ibrahimovic and Giroud after this game, and enjoys the honor of Milan's league top scorer this season. Of course, Leon has scored 9 goals so far, which is still a big gap compared with other Serie A team's top scorers. Not a single striker has scored in double figures, reflecting Milan's tossing and turning in the front this season and the lack of absolute core.
Without Leon's flash of inspiration, AC Milan in this game is likely to fall into anxiety after not being able to open the situation immediately, as in the previous two games, and finally win another 0-0 in the chaos. As the youngest team in Serie A's first group, this Milan team is often more emotional on the pitch than other title contenders. Even after taking a one-goal lead, the team failed to kill the suspense as quickly as possible, with SalleBox and Giroud missing out on opportunities. The second goal didn't come until just before the finale: in the 87th minute, Rebic passed the ball to the back post, Messias' powerful left-footed shot was blocked by Cyrigu, and then the right-footed shot was finally successful. In the first half of the league, Messias scored his debut red and black Serie A goal on Genoa, and scored two goals. The Brazilian's Serie A goals this season have come in five, three of which were made against the Griffins.
Messias is perhaps the player who has struggled the most up front and been criticised in Milan's recent attacking woes, and the goal is more than just icing on the cake for him. Although the style of play and Pioli's tactical system do not quite match, the Brazilian winger from a humble background is still trying to get the club to choose a buyout at the end of the season. If things go as they wish, another possible place for Messias is Berlusconi's Monza. For the Milan team, Messias' goal is also a positive signal, the Brazilian has no one to defend before shooting two consecutive shots in the box - Pioli's team has finally regained its former housekeeping skills: disrupting the opponent's defensive system, but also relying on efficient vertical attack and rhythm changes.
Six clean sheets continue the dream of a title race, and the young Milan defence wins in the future
The crisis seems to have passed, and it seems to still be in the air, or it may never have existed. AC Milan's attacking and passing coordination are obviously not in the best form, but they began to struggle at this stage of the season, and Red and Black are by no means the only ones. Milan's weakness over several main opponents is the lack of a strong striker and the lack of variations on the offensive end, but thanks to the indestructible defense, Red and Black were able to not fall behind in the standings when the attack was blocked. After returning to victory against Genoa, Milan have scored just five goals in their last six league games, but have scored 14 points – still a pretty good percentage.
Although the number of goals conceded is still the most in the top four of the table, if you only look at 2022, AC Milan is definitely the best defensive team in Serie A. Interestingly, this result was achieved after the season was said after a serious injury to defender Simon Kyle. In this game, the Danes also returned to the Long-Lost San Siro, and the shape has changed from the jade-faced Langjun at the Paris Ballon d'Or Ceremony to the wild and unruly Vikings.
When Kyle was seriously injured, the replacement chosen for the Dane was actually Romagnoli, but the 21-year-old Kalulu quickly overtook the former with a consistent highlight performance. Today, Romagnoli has quite limited space in the team, Kyle is about to return, Maldini and Marsala are about to continue to play in the center-back position in the summer window, and the red and black can choose the captain to become almost insignificant. Just before the match against Genoa, news broke that Romagnoli and Lazio were close to agreeing to move freely to the Blue Hawks this summer.
Kalulu and Tomori form a centre-back duo of body, speed and technique. Of course, in the center of the defensive line, Kalulu is still a little less than his partner, but the younger Frenchman wins the all-rounder. In this match, Calabria was suddenly injured during the warm-up before the match, Gabia was substituted as a centre-back, and Kalulu rushed to the right. The result? Leon's opening goal was a precise cross from the Frenchman. From the world wave against Empoli to the perfect arc of the ball against the Griffins, Kalulu continues to show his talent on the offensive end.
In contrast, Gabia, who was in danger, ended up being the short board in Milan's defensive line. The opening goal came from Gabia's backfield, but in a defensive attack at the end of the first half, Milan's youth centre-back was easily dunked by Genoa midfielder Gardames, whose shots were of higher quality, Milan's pool would have been broken. Gabia left the field with cramps in the second half, Pioli made a surprise move, allowing Clunic to make a cameo at full-back, while Kalulu returned to the centre-back position and performed flawlessly.
Genoa under Bleusin was one of the most interesting teams in the second half of Serie A, but the German manager never completely solved the team's goal difficulties. Against a fire-defying opponent, Kalulu and Tomori's task this night was quite easy, genoa starting centre-forward Picoli's surname means "small" in Italian, and the Atalanta loanee, in front of Milan's two centre-backs, did look too small. Red and black old player Destro scored three goals against the old main player last season and came close to stealth after coming off the bench for this game.
Genoa's best chance of the game came from the last minute of the game: Gardames fired a free-kick from the left and Ernani headed straight for the bottom right corner of the goal with a powerful hammer in front of goal. The Brazilian was in Parma last season, facing Milan, who had completed the passing feat, and almost played the red and black nemesis again. Although the victory was not hindered, the highly competitive Menion still saved the city behind him with a wonderful flying body save.
After this campaign, Milan have saved their goal for six consecutive games, and the only red and black managers who achieved this feat before Pioli were Champions League champions Rocco (7 consecutive clean sheets in 1971-72) and Dynasty-era iron coach Capello (7 consecutive and 9 consecutive clean sheets in 1993-94). Pioli does not have the experience of Schnellinger and Rosato, nor the ace combination of Maldini, Baresi, Costa Kuta and Tassotti, and the biggest advantage of this red-black line is youth, and they have endless possibilities in front of them - in addition to Tomori and Kalulu, perhaps plus Botman, who may join this summer.
Wen | Shen Tianhao
Edit | Fat Cat