Manuel closes the circle after the explosion in 2016 with a goal for the Lady at 18, again on 22 October. Rejected by Milan, he made the long journey from Sassuolo to return to great football with “his” Juve. With which he found the goal he had been missing since January 2022, but they are all decisive goals
Two images: Manuel Locatelli in tears at the end of the match in the center of that San Siro where he first became great and then had to say goodbye to find his way. And that unbridled – almost angry – joy after the goal: all alone on a great shot from outside with the complicity of Krunic’s deflection: in spite of the habit of exes who don’t rejoice, but this is a particular ex because the heart is black and white right from the start. when I was a child.
DEJA VU
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The story is well known, but no less incredible. The last time that Milan-Juventus was a top match in Serie A, as it is today it was between first and third in the table, was in 2016. Ninth day like this, 22 October like today, at San Siro like Today. Then Juventus were first, seven wins in eight games so far, at home to Milan second at -5. This time, as then, the chasing team wins, 1-0. But this time whoever was playing away wins. And this time the decisive goal arrives in the other goal. But the match winner, today as then, is the same. With reversed stitches. Seven years ago it was the 65th minute, scored by the then 18-year-old Manuel Locatelli, only in his seventh match in Serie A, his third as a starter, fresh twenty days before his first goal scored against Sassuolo: another premonition. This time it happened in the 63rd minute, from outside the area from a central position and not on the right in the area as then, and Krunic’s touch also helped. And the circle closes.
FORMER
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“We have to try to exploit the numerical superiority, it won’t be easy. We have to give it our all to try to bring home the result”, Manuel had said to the TV microphone the Italian midway through the match, and without disturbing prophetic qualities the reading of Juve’s match after Thiaw’s expulsion was in fact all there. And he himself fulfilled that obligation, the Italian from Lecco who arrived at Milan from Atalanta at 11 years old and remained there until he was 20: he exploded at 18 (Montella was on the bench), then the next couple of years it didn’t go as hoped, for him and for the Rossoneri, until he left. Maybe not rejected but certainly paid for in 2018 by a Devil who objectively wasn’t even the one he is today, embroiled in a tough era with five consecutive seasons never among the top five in the championship. A bit of revenge today, as it ended then, today is human.
the words
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“This is destiny. Life is incredible. I dedicate this goal to my family”, Locatelli returned to Dazn’s microphones at the end of the match. “It’s clear that playing here is always special for me. I grew up here, San Siro is a special stadium for me, these fans are special. Life led me to make other choices and today I am where I wanted to be. It’s incredible that today it ended 1-0 again with my goal: that’s why I was emotional”, he explained the emotion at the end of the match. “Unlike Inter, for example, who have many mature players at a different stage of their career, we are a team with players who still have a lot to mature, with many young players under construction, but with humility and sacrifice we can still do a lot.”
WEIGHT GOAL
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He moved away from Sassuolo, three seasons in the black and green to take a run and return to great football, in the Juve he supported as a child, through to being called up to the national team and winning the European Championship. In Juventus he is used to important goals: the first a month after his arrival, decisive against Sampdoria at Marassi; the second the week after, even then as a match winner of a 1-0 away, in his first derby as a Juventus player; the third starting a comeback from 3-1 to 3-4 at Roma which turns the Lady’s season. Since then, however, January 9, 2022, he had not scored again, having not scored the entire last season. Not that it should be the house specialty, but it has it in its feet.
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM
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“We knew that 7 years ago he had scored that goal with Milan, we told him that this time he had to score against Juve because he hadn’t done it in a long time and he did it”, Rabiot smiled at the end of the match. “Yes, but do it in the right goal”, is the Frenchman’s phrase that Locatelli revealed at the end of the evening, adding: “I’ve missed the player for a long time, he was a goal of mine. I’ve certainly gained in experience compared to last year, Today I’m happy to be here and to be an important player for this team.” An abstinence from scoring goals which also depends on the use which exploits his precious screen skills in front of the defense more than his offensive skills: “Manu is sometimes criticized beyond measure – commented Allegri -. He is a technically good player, who can only improve in that position because by going around the pitch less he can play better and cover defenders. And temperamentally he is from Juventus”. Not from today: new candidates for the captain’s armband are growing.
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