Milan in the quarterfinals of the Champions League 11 years later

From our correspondent Davide Chinellato

8th of March
– London

The Devil is in Heaven. And he sends Antonio Conte to hell. A 0-0 draw in London at Tottenham’s home is enough to snatch the ticket for the quarter-finals, which have been missing since 2012. Then the race stopped against Messi’s Barcelona, ​​now Milan will have to wait more than a week for what will be next obstacle. Better to savor this huge goal then, on a rainy night in the stadium that the Rossoneri dream of for their future. They deserved the qualification: they capitalized on the 1-0 at San Siro in the first leg by playing an excellent game in the second leg, containing Tottenham without ever risking really big, with the exception of Maignan’s great save in added time. It was a crossroads for both, this return of the round of 16 of the Champions League: Milan’s European dream continues, that of Spurs ends in a bitter evening, which ended in 10 for Romero’s expulsion in the 78th minute for a second yellow card, where instead of playing his best game of the year Tottenham has once again shown all its limits. Even the return of Conte, on the bench for the first time after his recovery, was not needed to be able to overcome them.

The keys

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Milan played the game they had to: they got in well behind, still with the 3-4-2-1 that has recently given results, they nipped Tottenham’s initiatives in the bud by putting pressure in midfield and preventing public enemy number 1 from Kane to touch the ball between the lines and tried the occasional counterattack in attack to close it before the 90th minute. He didn’t succeed because Leao spun in circles, Giroud recovered at the last minute and was still out of phase and Forster was careful on Diaz on two occasions. Maignan risked practically nothing in defense, bringing out all of Tottenham’s problems. Conte’s team had to play the match but never succeeded, unable to get around the Rossoneri obstacles. Kane was armored by the defence, but around him neither Son nor Kulusevski managed to put the offensive danger needed to overturn the knockout in the first leg. If Milan rejoices and celebrates this historic pass, Tottenham collects the boos of its fans and begins to wonder about its future: leaving the scene with Milan smacks of a missed opportunity, one that could have a decisive influence on the choices at the end of the season by Conte.

The match

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Few emotions and no goals in a blocked first half. Tottenham should play the game but can neither break through on the outside nor find Kane between the midfield and attack lines. Milan, well placed behind and careful in the middle, manages to control without problems. It started again from 0-0 and with no substitutions, with the Rossoneri who in the 51st minute had their first real chance of the match with a drive from Diaz that was rejected by Forster with his foot. Pioli shortly after loses Messias due to injury and replaces him with Saelemaekers, Tottenham try to raise the pace but never really manages to be dangerous. And in the 77th minute he remained in 10, when Romero got his second yellow card after a haphazard intervention on Theo Hernandez. Conte tries to rebalance the team by inserting Sanchez in place of Kulusevski, but Milan don’t give in, saved in recovery by a spell from Maignan on Kane, which is followed by Origi’s post. And in the freezing London night he enjoys one of the best moments of his season