Milan-Fiorentina 2-1, goal from Gosens and brace from Leao

No, the god of football evoked by Pioli the day before yesterday didn’t pay much attention: the Viola coach is left with the applause of the Meazza, the 500 benches in Serie A and the 60 round years arriving at the stroke of midnight, but the rest is taken away by Milan, bandaged from head to toe but capable of hoisting themselves to the top of the championship. Alone, as has not happened to him since 7 October 2023, Giroud’s evening as goalkeeper for a few minutes at Marassi against Genoa. A Milan stronger than a sold out infirmary, on the evening in which Leao took back the Devil by returning to score at San Siro after almost 17 months. Fiorentina remains stuck at 3 points, it’s really starting to look grey.

short bench

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In the last few hours, Pioli recovered Kean (and previously Dodò and Fazzini), while Allegri lost other pieces: after Pulisic, Rabiot, Nkunku and Estupinan, Loftus-Cheek also surrendered, who should have supported Leao up front. Saelemaekers took his place and was recovered in record time. To understand better: Max only had five outfield players on the bench (two of which were taken from Milan Futuro). Undoubtedly very vintage but forcedly reduced choices and the first half provided more than sufficient indications of Milan’s need to rely on those who weren’t there. The ball also moved rather well, the team was quite intense but – just to give two examples – Ricci is less aggressive than Rabiot and Athekame less casual than Saelemaekers on the wing. The result was a Milan that was not bad to watch, but not very sharp in the last twenty metres: Leao was not given depth and so the real opportunities – not by chance – fell at the feet of Tomori (5′) and Pavlovic (20′). Very rough feet, curveball for both from a succulent position

curse dispelled

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Fiorentina mostly limited themselves to closing ranks, relying on a few good will counterattacks and little more. Kean wooden, and that’s to be expected. Fazzini sacrificed on Modric, a defensive midfielder in front of the Rossoneri. General entertainment? Poor: after the first 45 minutes, no shots on target. The boredom ended in the second half. Viola passed first with Gosens, a touch with the goal wide open after a Maignan-Gabbia mix-up not from Allegri’s defence. Then the Devil equalized with a surgical right from Leao from 25 meters: solemn praise because it is not the house specialty. And finally Rafa gave Milan the three points by interrupting the curse from eleven meters (penalty awarded, after a warning to the monitor, for a foul by Parisi on Gimenez). Rafa has taken Milan back.