Champions League, Milan-Stella Rossa 2-1: goals from Leao, Radonjic and Abraham

A match that at a certain point had become gray like Milan’s shirts suddenly returned to being green like Francesco Camarda’s identity card. The Devil wins the fourth victory in a row in this Champions League – the last streak of this size between February and April 2005 – and is just a whisker away from the playoffs, but at the same time keeps alive the objective of qualifying directly for the round of 16, and does so in the sign of Camarda. The winning goal was scored by Abraham, but was favored by a header by Francesco, with the ball deflected by Gutesa onto the crossbar and caromed onto Tammy’s feet. This time too, Camarda has to postpone his goal scoring appointment – in the Champions League it really seems like a curse – but his entry is decisive in defeating Red Star. The challenge with the other Serbian talent, the 17-year-old Maksimovic, who started, was certainly won by him.

the choices

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The issue that Fonseca was dealing with in recent days was what shape to give his team in Pulisic’s absence. The choice fell on Loftus-Cheek, the one most acquired over time. And then, in the sacred name of balance, Musah ended up on the right this time too, but he had Calabria behind him and not Emerson. Gabbia and Thiaw confirmed in front of Maignan: they are now the central reference couple. Milojevic relied on the talented 17-year-old Maksimovic up front, behind the Senegalese Ndiaye (11 goals in the season) and in his 4-2-3-1 he placed the former Krunic in midfield.

leao also director

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Fonseca had specifically asked Loftus-Cheek to play Pulisic, but it would be like asking Leao to play midfielder: you can even try, but it’s not his. “Rubs” has another pace and another approach to the subject, and if we add to this Musah, certainly more extrovert with the ball at his feet but not exactly a fine speaker, this partly explains Milan’s offensive difficulties for the most part of the first half. In other words, the technical and imaginative load was all on Leao’s shoulders, who lit up intermittently but when he did he sowed panic. A Leao who is confirmed to have been polished by Fonseca, who is transforming him tactically: more inside the field, more inside the maneuver, sometimes with roles as director even on the midfield line. The evolution is definitely interesting. And these are the good things. Then there are the less beautiful ones, namely Milan being too slow and cumbersome in their maneuvers for long stretches of the first round, with multiple recidivism in this respect. Scenes sadly seen and reviewed: ball carrier who doesn’t know how to get rid of it because no teammate attempts a movement. In short, a Devil who had self-wrapped himself despite the technical inadequacy of Red Star: errors in exit, but also in the ball movement, completely out of context for being Champions. However, the Serbs deserve credit for having tried to play it anyway, without parking rows of buses in the area. Indeed, Milan must thank the crossbar – Maksimovic’s left-foot counterattack with the Rossoneri defense motionless and observing – if the goal does not capitulate after seventeen minutes.

new score

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A festival of mistakes where AC Milan also made several attempts, until the turning point. What seemed like a double rain cloud on the horizon – between 26′ and 29′ Loftus-Cheek (adductor) and Morata (flexor) out due to injury, Abraham and Chukwueze in – instead turned out to be a stimulus for the head and a new score for the game (with Musah necessarily diverted to the center of the attacking midfield) because Abraham turned on the lights immediately – header and free kick both outside by centimeters – and just before the end of the Diavolo has passed: soft and precise long throw by Fofana for Leao, deluxe stop with right and left under the crossbar. All very beautiful. The second half, however, instead of returning a team that had rediscovered conviction, generated exaggerated fears in Milan under the pressure of Red Star, who did the most logical thing one could expect: raising their center of gravity to get closer to the goal. And the Rossoneri were scared (Maignan blocked Mimovic in the 47th minute), losing confidence and distance. Holed up in the last twenty meters. The crucial moment of the second half was a sensational mistake by Abraham, who with the goal wide open shot onto the back of Djiga, who fell to the ground. The two-nil that would have ended the match thus became one-to-one: the newly introduced Radonjic stole the ball from the naive Musah, took aim without any Rossoneri bothering to close in (Thiaw, in particular) and beat Maignan with his left foot. When everything seems sadly over, Camarda enters the scene: 87th minute, Chukwueze’s cross goes to Francesco’s head, Gutesa hits the crossbar, and the ball goes to Abraham, who pierces a goal full of traffic. The VAR checks (Tammy holding an opponent) and then gives the green light. Milan sees the playoffs and remains in the running for the top eight places, and they also owe it to Camarda.