Hong Kong, May 23 (Xinhua) -- A three-goal away win, a planned three-pointer and an imposing victory have made AC Milan's 19th league title a natural success. With the final whistle of the game, ac Milan's long-simmering emotions were completely released at the Mape Tricolor Stadium. Happiness comes a little suddenly, even unexpectedly.
ON MAY 22, AC Milan player Giroud celebrates after the final round of the 2021-2022 Italian Football League. Xinhua News Agency
Let the hand of time be turned back to December 2019, the winter when the new crown epidemic has not yet erupted on a large scale, the sky of AC Milan has long been shrouded in dark clouds, and after being defeated 5-0 by Atlanta on the road, the team's momentum has fallen to the bottom.
Faced with this humiliating defeat that has gone down in the club's history, young goalkeeper Donnarumma was left in tears of sadness. At that time, AC Milan was in front of Juventus, who was still stable, Inter Milan, who were more and more capable of champions, and Atalanta, which was rapidly rising. The Rossoneri seemed to be in free fall, being thrown farther and farther in the standings.
The bowl of "firefighting coach" is difficult, and Pioli, who replaced Giampaolo in the middle of the road to coach the team, was like a suffocating stick, and after the game he bluntly said that the team needed to make changes. As it was said, a qualitative change quietly came, and the arrival of a person also made this rebirth and looked extraordinarily gorgeous.
Infographic: Juventus player De Ligt (left) and AC Milan player Pijante compete on November 10, 2019. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Alberto Lingria)
In the winter transfer window in early 2020, Ibrahimovic, who has played the remaining heat in the Major League Soccer, came to Milanello for the second time, and the outside world expects the Swede with his league championship attributes to save this faltering team again.
Many fans remember that in the summer of 2010, Ibrahimovic joined for the first time, allowing AC Milan, which was already in decline at that time, to win the Serie A championship after 7 years. The following season, AC Milan lost the title battle with Juventus, Ibrahimovic left for Paris, and his departure seemed to take away the last bit of AC Milan's vitality, the building quickly collapsed, the team was filled with a large number of role players, consecutive champions league failures, the word "giants" probably only exists in people's distant memories.
From 2010 to 2020, from 29 to 39 years old, time is changing, and the owner of the San Siro Stadium has never changed. Although the age is not confused, Ibrahimovic's "surplus value" is still valuable to this young AC Milan team, in addition to contributing a considerable number of goals, as the big brother of the dressing room, Ibrahimovic's strong personal aura also inspires the team. After the arrival of the "Tower of God", the team's record skyrocketed, and even played a cross-season 27 rounds of unbeaten, including a 2-goal deficit, and finally a 4-2 reversal of Juventus.
That season, AC Milan climbed from 10 outside the winter break to sixth. Ibrahimovic did not change his "madman" nature at that time, declaring that "if I had come half a season earlier, we would have been champions!" ”。
On 23 May 2021, AC Milan players celebrated their goals in the 38th round of the 2020-2021 Italian Football League. Xinhua News Agency
In the 2020-2021 season, AC Milan, which continued to play steadily, went further and finished second in the table, setting the best ranking since 2012. Although Ibrahimovic failed to immediately honor the promise he had made for AC Milan, his original words were becoming a reality little by little.
In the just-concluded season, AC Milan played a strong start of 10 wins and 2 draws, in the case of multi-line combat, although there have been consecutive defeats and the embarrassment of goal drought, the injured soldiers were once unavailable in the center back position, in addition to facing the impact of Napoli and Inter Milan, but Pioli's team has always remained in the first group of the championship. With Inter losing bologna in a crucial play-off match at the end of April, AC Milan held the initiative firmly in their hands and did not fall behind until the end.
The star flavor is not strong, the bench is not deep, and the outstanding weight of AC Milan is more or less surprising, but the highlight of two consecutive seasons cannot be described by coincidence. In the management structure of the club, Gazidis is mainly responsible for finance, Maldini and Masala "double horse" is responsible for competition, and the American Elliott Fund has been in charge for four years, and the good operation has laid the grass snake gray line for the team's final victory.
AC Milan player Romagnoli (center) lifts the league trophy at an award ceremony on May 22. Xinhua News Agency
In order to "slim down" the bloated salary structure, the club set up a strict salary cap system, and the absolute main players such as Donnarumma and Char khanoglu once "lions opened their mouths" in the renewal of the contract, and the team would rather let his free body leave the team than withstand the pressure and never break the wage balance.
In the transfer market, with a pair of eyes and the concept of "spending small money to do big things", the team lineup has been gradually strengthened. Danish Kyal played his peak performance after the age of 30, From Empoli and Brescia two relegated teams to Find Benasser and Tonari became the team's stocks, after Real Madrid's few opportunities to special O, Díaz joined gradually, almost zero price transfer of French striker Giroud broke the "No. 9 curse" that has plagued the team for many years, originally regarded as Donnarumma's "spare tire", Menion, with a high and low block to come up with a play that is not inferior to or even surpass the Italian international goal... As a result, the club's economic situation has become healthier and healthier, and it has gradually acquired the capital of dreaming of a Serie A champion.
Winning the long-lost league title is something to celebrate, and outside the stadium, AC Milan may usher in greater changes. Since the beginning of April, news of the club's change of ownership has been frequently reported, and with the end of the season, negotiations are expected to settle in the near future. If a more financially powerful party takes over the team, it will give its fans more confidence to peek into the Champions League. But in the green field, what is most needed is a clear team building idea, not an irrational investment, after all, the experience of AC Milan throwing 200 million euros but ending dismal 5 years ago is still vivid. For this newly slowed AC Milan, step by step is more important than a thousand dollars, and Maldini should understand this truth.
Editors: Liu Yang, Xu Shihao, Gao Meng, Fan Zijing (Intern)