Milan, the problem is double if now it is also the defense that betrays

Maldini recounted a few moments before the kick-off: “We don’t have a goal problem. There was a temporary problem, but at the same time we had very solid defensive stability ”. Reread in retrospect, the sentence is obviously a disaster. A Rossoneri disaster across the board because on the evening in which, as seen several times in the last period, Milan – net of the referee decisions, of which we speak separately – confirmed the enormous effort to transform offensive plays into goals , a problem has been added that until now in 2022 had never arisen: the defensive hold.

Occasions

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In the meantime, let’s start by saying that the Rossoneri haven’t collected three goals since November 28 (Milan-Sassuolo 1-3). That of Pioli had become an almost impervious defense, so much so as to produce up to this match a row of seven games without conceding goals, which began with the first leg of the Italian Cup. And if Milan has (almost) always managed to get by so far, it was thanks to the defensive attention, which made only the five goals scored suffice. However, it is difficult, practically impossible to manage a season finale with two concrete objectives potentially achievable by relying only on defense. There, sooner or later you need to score and the heavy passive of this challenge must not mislead: Milan had the opportunities to score goals, and there were at least three. Only that they broke in the wrong choices of the last step or on the final conclusion (true Leao?).

In butter

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And so, on the evening when the attack was again lost in the void, the unpleasant news came from the defense. Or rather, from the defensive phase, guilty on all goals: Lautaro slipped into the butter twice and even on the third goal of Gosens Milan ended badly. The Devil had not capitulated for 658 minutes and the figure remains very considerable. Seven games without goals scored are a lot and the Rossoneri have shown they can do it. Now it would be enough to hold on for five …