Napoli-Milan 0-4, goals from Leao, Diaz and Saelemaekers

From our correspondent Marco Fallisi

April 2nd
– Naples

Only Milan hears the Champions League tune, and it’s a symphonic concert that stuns Napoli at home: the reigning Italian champions make it four to the championships in pectore, ten days from the first round of the Champions League quarter-finals. Hands up who would have imagined an evening like this. Sure, we’re “only” in the league and it’s a safe bet that Napoli in the cup won’t be tonight’s match, but one thing is certain: now that we’re getting serious, the Devil is more alive and healthy than ever. And he starts running again in the standings: with Maradona’s 4-0, the Rossoneri overtake Inter and finish in third place, while Pioli finds the real Leao in one night – he had never scored against Napoli, this time he scores twice under the eyes of the “rival” Kvara -, the goal by Diaz who has been missing in Serie A since October and the contribution from the bench: the 4-0 win bears the sparkling signature of Saelemaekers. For Napoli, in their third defeat in the league, it’s a real shock: if tonight the 20 points difference in the standings are not seen, imagine in the Champions League…

The choices

—

If Spalletti, as expected, relies on Simeone in the center of the attack to replace the great absent Osimhen, with Politano and Kvaratskhelia on either side of the trident, Pioli tries the surprise move on the trocar: in the 4-2-3-1 dusted off after two months of three-way defence, it is Bennacer who dresses as a “10”, with the double function of putting pressure on Lobotka, the brains of Napoli, and of creating behind Giroud, with Diaz and Leao on the sides. Behind Kjaer and Calabria are back from the 1st minute: the Dane hadn’t played since Milan-Tottenham on February 14, the captain takes back his starting position thanks to the restoration of the game system.

One-two Milan

—

The real 10, however, Milan have on the right, and it is from there that Brahim Diaz invents the play that upsets Maradona’s balance: in the 17th minute, the Spaniard takes the ball on the lateral foul line, hides it with a sleight of hand to Lobotka and Mario Rui, then pocket for Leao: Rafa completes the work with a touch below Meret and unleashes the Rossoneri party. Leao, who hadn’t scored since January, returned and Brahim turned him on. Just eight minutes and it’s his turn: the 2-0 AC Milan goal is a concert of touches and movements like an “old” Diavolo, the one in which everyone runs perfectly. Leao triangulates with Giroud, opens for Bennacer who puts in the middle: Diaz slips between the blue shirts, checks, dribbles Rui again and beats Meret with the complicity of Kim, who deflects under the crossbar. Then again Diaz tries but does not frame. Napoli, who had started strong and had given Maignan the creeps with the accelerations of Simeone (high shot) and Kvara (slalom on Calabria and Kjaer), are down by two goals: it had never happened this season. And at a distance, the Spalletti band loses intensity, while Milan always remains compact and attentive in defensive closures. The two yellow cards in the first half photograph the differences in attitude on the pitch: Giroud gets booked for a late tackle on Politano, the 9 he covers on the blue right wing is a sign of malice, head and sacrifice; Lobotka, slow and less brilliant than usual, gets himself a yellow card because Diaz runs under his nose again, after the 1-0 action. It’s a sign of unusual suffering: he and his teammates have never felt so “uncomfortable” on the pitch on a night that counts.

Exaggerated devil

—

The recovery opens in the sign of the Piolians, who control and maneuver more effectively. In the 50th minute it was Giroud who came close to scoring, on a cue from Bennacer: the Frenchman’s left-footed shot went beyond the far post. On the other side, you live on flashes, like the one who almost scored Kim in the 55th minute with a cross-shot from Maignan. Shortly after the scene, the Rossoneri goalkeeper takes it upon himself again, who literally puts his face in it: he says no to Mario Rui with a save… of the face. A goalkeeper who blocks when needed, a tightrope walker on skates who creates a vacuum starting from the left: Milan finds itself and also finds Leao, who seals the game at game time with a brace that blossoms with a slalom in the middle of the stunned Azzurri by its speed. At the basis of the Rossoneri 3-0, however, there is the great work of Tonali, who bites and sucks a ball from Zielinski and serves the winning ball to Rafa. Meanwhile, Pioli had called Diaz back to the bench, the best of the first 45′, for Saelemaekers. And the Belgian himself invents a Brazilian goal, jumping over opponents in series and slipping under Meret’s legs for the 4-0, to then try again from distance (for Meret). It’s a Rossoneri show, while the stadium sings “We will win the tricolor”. True, but in the Champions League it will be a completely different story.