Milan: the Scudetto went to those who wanted it most

The AC Milan championship is a masterpiece. It was not the one who spent the most who won, but the one who played better. The favorite team did not win, but the one with the most ideas. There is a special flavor to winning a championship against the odds. Above all, for the Rossoneri, there is a special flavor to winning against Inter, the other half of the Milanese sky. It is the championship of Pioli, very good at creating a team that is not perfect but united, which has never lost its balance in the ups and downs of a hard-fought, difficult and exhausting tournament. A mixture of experience and youth, technique and competitive spirit permeated with that atmosphere which is permeated by teams that accomplish a feat.

Because this Scudetto is a feat: those who always believed in it won, especially those who believed in it the most. Inter in the match in Bologna, which had to transform overtaking from virtual to real, came out of the race for the second star just when it seemed close. She failed to lift the points that weighed twice as much. But he raised two cups, it should not be forgotten. Pioli gave his AC Milan a group identity, an awareness of his own abilities that allowed him to withstand the injuries of Kjaer (very serious loss), of Maignan, of Giroud, of Ibra, without making a turn. very little on the field.

The technician gradually came up with solutions that, thanks to him, even seemed plausible. The two Rossoneri turns, in the return derby and in the away match in Naples, have Pioli’s signature underneath the result. Better than Inzaghi and Spalletti in direct clashes, better at keeping the car on the track even when, as happens with all formations, he skidded. If we look under the hood, the Rossoneri engine has much less horsepower than Inter, Juve and even Napoli. To stay in the Scudetto area throughout the championship, the Milan players have overcome each other, each going beyond their own limits. For example Leao, Theo Hernandez, Tonali: in August they were willing promises, today their evaluation has at least doubled. Kessie and Bennacer held the decisive midfield, just as Tomori and Kalulu turned out to be a formidable couple. Giroud scored when he was indispensable, as is asked of a center forward. Maignan was the best goalkeeper in the league: no one regretted Donnarumma even for a minute.

Also on this super collective performance there is the hand of Pioli. I don’t know if he is a normal or special coach, but he won with merit. Anyone who wants to criticize him at least recognizes the fruit of his work. Maldini and Massara (very good sporting director, it should be emphasized) are two other architraves of the championship. Maldini defended Pioli when the Rangnick hypothesis appeared, he transmitted the strength of his own history to a locker room with little history on his shoulders. The personality, the habit of success, the DNA of the most European club of Italian football, with a show of Champions (seven) on the bulletin board. All this embodies Maldini. A spirit that together with competence it would be crazy to lose in the transfer of the club to the new ownership. Singer through the Elliott fund has carried out its mission by harvesting more than he had imagined at sowing, thanks to Gazidis and Scaroni.

An important contribution, which must never be forgotten, was given in the reconstruction by Zvone Boban, who has never lost the spirit of Milan. Milan has taken back the Italian stage, now the new shareholder must return it to the international one. Our football needs the leverage of the big clubs to recover and return to being a protagonist in Europe. This season we have seen several notable young people, a lot of willpower and some good ideas, which are the real passport for the future.