Milan, from the Tomori and Rebic flop to the collective blackout: that’s why London is now scary

“For us, the Champions League is tomorrow”. Now the words spoken by Pioli on the eve of Florence clash and clash when re-reading them. The Rossoneri world wants to believe that this is not the case, because if this is Milan’s approach at Tottenham Stadium as well, it will end very badly. An empty pass in general terms is admissible, the problem in this case is that there weren’t the conditions: the team came from four wins in a row without conceding a goal, they were once again courageous and brilliant, angry and concentrated. Going back to reliving January’s hardships looks like a nightmare from which the Devil can’t get out. Precisely, precisely, a handful of days from the inside-out of the Champions League.

Dirty conscience

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What went wrong in Florence? Pretty much everything. The only difference with the dark weeks of January is that Milan didn’t seem terrified of their opponents as they were then: they simply didn’t have an approach and an attitude that wasn’t up to par. Awakened, not very naughty, without conviction and without intensity. A team off, to put it in one word, and it’s an alarm bell that rings loudly in view of a vital match like the one in London. The singles didn’t work, the collective didn’t work. Some players, in particular, fell well short of expectations. For example, the protagonists of that defensive line that had locked the door in the four previous outings. Thiaw has on his conscience a blunder in the first half that was about to cause a penalty, and the marking jumped on Jovic on 2-0. Kalulu bungled on the way out and suffered from Gonzalez’s cuts and runs. Tomori saved the goal when Maignan was beaten but caused an avoidable penalty with a foolish intervention.

Problems

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Light off also near Hernandez. The goal on the score sheet does not deceive: Theo has a wrong goal on his conscience face to face with Terracciano and Dodo’s escape in the wing on the second viola. But that’s not all. There is also something for De Ketelaere: the whole Rossoneri world was there to push him – fans, team-mates, coach – and yet it wasn’t enough. Two flashes in 83 minutes are not an acceptable yield for those who should light up the team by trade. He will also be improving, but we’ll talk about this pace again next season. However, rock bottom is reached with Rebic. Okay, throughout the season he has had to live with various physical problems, but with similar performances he falls well below the minimum wage. It has an effect because it is above all from the less employed players that it would be legitimate to expect the extra flicker. The curtain finally falls with Origi’s entry: the truth is that right now, if one between Leao and Giroud is missing, Milan have no forwards capable of playing a leading role.