Milan-Parma 3-2, goal from Cancellieri, Pulisic on a penalty, Delprato, Reijnders and Chukwueze

This isn’t your quiet Sunday lunch at grandma’s house, watching the slow-moving news on TV. Milan won 3-2 in the 12.30 matinee, a crazy match that in the 90th minute they were losing in the midst of a psychodrama with few precedents, yet another station of the cross in a season of Super Cup and suffering. The goals from Reijnders and Chukwueze, minutes 92 and 95, write a little page of history but do not change the great story of the match: the double substitution Theo-Leao, both left on the bench at half-time. In Portugal the presidents change but not the Constitution: Paulo Fonseca’s principles have not gone away with him. At half-time, Sergio Conceiçao noted that Theo Hernandez and Rafa Leao were the worst on the pitch and changed them together, straight away, without giving the classic quarter-hour appeal. Without them, Milan risks being left without attacking creatives? It doesn’t matter. As Fonseca said, the name doesn’t count (if anything it’s an aggravating circumstance). Milan without them is different, more workmanlike but still a little hysterical, they concede a goal on the counterattack but have the strength to feel desperate, determined, even angry like few times. And he is rewarded by the football gods with an epic comeback. Ah, last news: Fofana, warned, has been booked. He will miss next Sunday’s derby.

THE GOALS

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Here are the three goals, starting with the 0-1. Parma attacks on the left, and it doesn’t seem like a dangerous move. On the changeover for Cancellieri, Theo is hugely early but slips and ends up on the ground, then recoils, recoils too much. Cancellieri reads the situation, sees that Pavlovic doesn’t come out and Leao comes back slowly, so he does what he has to do: he takes aim very calmly and puts it into the corner. Milan’s equalizer is a very particular penalty. Corner from the left for Milan, Suzuki in the center of the area pushes Pavlovic away like many goalkeepers do, to gain space for the exit. The problem is that he does it in a very obvious way, with the ball already gone (and indeed, almost arrived in the area): Abisso whistles the penalty and Pulisic kicks it well, strong and into the corner as per commandment number 1. The 2- 1 which ends the match is a typical Parma counterattack. Bennacer misses the measurement of the pass, Musah loses the tackle and Drissa Camara, a 22-year-old who arrived from the youth team, launches the restart. Milan are unbalanced, so Camara asks for a one-two from Sohm and, when he finds the ball, he shoots in front of Maignan, who is still excellent. On the rebound, Pavlovic doesn’t look over his shoulder and Delprato scores the goal of his life. We are at the peak. The match seems over but Milan still has two things to say. Reijnders’ 2-2 comes from a through ball from Musah, with Parma completely closed, the 3-2 is a cross from the left by Bartesaghi, with a pass from Pavlovic and a very dirty deflection from Chukwueze.

THE MATCH

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Milan-Parma was not of a high level. Hard-fought, even exciting, but not of quality. Milan with 4-3-3, with Pulisic at risk from the start – he will even play the whole match – and Musah completing the midfield, Parma with Hernani and Sohm a quality pair in the middle of the pitch, to make it clear that at San Siro there is no necessarily comes to defend. It’s clear, on paper it’s an open game and there’s no shortage of opportunities. After a minute Djuric has the ball right on his head but mysteriously looks for a tackle, Gabbia in the 11th minute would have the opportunity to close a Theo-Pulisic move but misses the volley. A minute later, Parma took the lead with Cancellieri’s curling shot and Milan, almost forced, went up a bit with possession. Morata scores offside in the 28th minute – an old constant in his matches… and now Alvaro won’t change on this – and less than 10 minutes later he equalizes with Pulisic’s penalty. Not only that, three minutes before the break he would also have the opportunity to make it 2-1 but Reijnders, freed in style by Fofana, finds the best Suzuki of the afternoon.

INSANE ENDING

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The interval brings the news that you know and from there Milan is more aggressive but with logical quality limits. The left back is not Theo but Bartesaghi, the right wing Musah and not Pulisic, who moves to the left. Conceiçao after 10 minutes sends Chukwueze and Abraham onto the pitch – Morata out, on the 9th, in a must-win match – and the match becomes a roulette. Milan don’t know how to manage it, no one has the quality to create consistently and the opportunities are sporadic. In the 25th minute Calabria is very good at recovering on a slide and crossing but Reijnders’ left-footed shot is deflected over the crossbar. Two minutes later, a lost ball from Chukwueze launches Valeri, who puts Almqvist on goal, closed by an excellent Maignan. It’s the script of Delprato’s goal, which arrives a quarter of an hour from the end and opens the door to the most sensational ending of the year, with Milan attacking with their heads down and scoring goals from Reijnders and Chukwueze. It ends with Conceiçao on his knees with happiness, then angry in the final celebration, while Leao smiles on the pitch. Here, Conceiçao nervous and Leao happy: Milan-Parma wanted to surprise even beyond the 90th minute.