The Milan goalkeeper played with the armband and defused the Roma ace from the spot. Also thanks to the trainer Filippi, who worked with Joya in the past…
It took his save, from a penalty kick by Paulo Dybala, to save the victory, the link with Roma and second place in the standings, one less than Napoli. Mike Maignan is back Magic Mike, the great goalkeeper that AC Milan fans have often applauded. He was decisive, he took the man of the match award and both after the “defused” penalty and after the final whistle he was the most embraced among his teammates. “It’s too early to dream of the scudetto – he said on the sidelines, with adrenaline still high – and we have to move forward game by game. We’re in November… It’s true that we have big goals, but let’s not get too big now.” With the captain’s armband on his arm, Maignan led the team and gave them a clean sheet that had been missing for almost a month, since the 0-0 draw at the Stadium against Juventus. It took a feline leap to his left, on Joya’s eleven-metre shot, to chase away the ghosts that had gathered at Milanello thanks to injuries and the three draws in the last four matches before last night.
super save
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Claudio Filippi, who has been coaching the Devil’s goalkeepers since this summer, also gave Maignan a hand in saving the penalty: the Giallorossi specialist Dybala knows him well since he trained him in Turin and Filippi gave him some advice. Mike’s words seem to confirm it: “I was confident (that I could save him, ed) and my teammates had faith in me. That was a decisive moment. I’m happy with the contribution I gave to the team.” On Saturday, Milan will go to Parma for the last match before the break and the goalkeeper whose contract is expiring, who will (almost) certainly leave Milanello next summer, underlined: “We are a good group and we want to win all the matches to get to the top. These are three important points and we must continue like this. We have been trying to fight every second on the pitch since the beginning of the season. By playing like this, united and together, we can only achieve positive results.” A farewell after having sewn the second star onto his chest would perhaps hurt less even the fans who forgot the contract issue for one night and reserved only chants and applause for Magic Mike. Like on the best days.