The poor take from the rich - but Milan remain top of the Serie A standings
It was a very unusual Serie A matchday this past weekend (and on Monday) as all of the top teams dropped points. This is highly unusual and in this case, it just so happened that Milan came out as the winners despite their 2-2 draw against Salernitana. That is what this week’s edition will take a look at, in addition to the latest news.
Indeed, Milan were almost written off in the Scudetto race after what was a very disappointing draw away at Salernitana. Yet, with all the results in hand, we can clearly see that the Rossoneri came out on top from matchday 26, gaining one point on Inter in the standings.
A wake-up call and a bit of luck…
The draw at the weekend was far from a good performance from Milan, who took the lead early in the first half but then conceded twice. The defence was surprisingly shaky and the likes of Fikayo Tomori and Mike Maignan really could have done a lot better per their standards, for example.
The attack, meanwhile, lacked so much composure it was painful to watch. Time after time, there were opportunities to play someone in (whether it was Diaz to Giroud or Giroud to Diaz), but the final pass was always a bit off. Or if that wasn’t the case, the attempt was either saved or sent wide. At half-time, it really felt like Milan would seal the deal given the spaces they had created in the first 45, but that obviously didn’t pan out.
The most surprising thing is that Pioli’s men actually managed to stay calm after Salernitana’s 2-1 goal, passing the ball around without succumbing to the ‘momentum pressure’ of the home side. And that’s why they got the 2-2 goal, plain and simple, but the period that followed was filled with hasty and poor decisions.
Milan did end up getting very lucky, though, as a result of all the big teams dropping points. Compared to before the round, they actually gained one point on Inter (who lost against Sassuolo) and maintained the distance to Napoli. It’s all relative, we must remind ourselves, and now the draw looks pretty good. There’s no doubt, however, that it will act as a necessary wake-up call for the team.
A few updates, from on and off the pitch…
➤ As we spoke about in last week’s edition, AC Milan and Wefox Italia were in talks over a sponsorship deal that would see the latter’s logo end up on the back of the red and black shirt. The deal has now been announced by the club and it’s expected that they will get €6-8m per year for it, taking the total value of the shirt up to €40m.
➤ The stadiums have been bumped back up to 75% capacity by the Italian government and given that so many are vaccinated in the country, the clubs will soon be allowed to host full stadiums again for the first time since the pandemic began. Such a decision could arrive already at the beginning of March and at the very latest for the World Cup qualifiers on March 24, per the latest reports. Even so, 75% is a massive improvement for the clubs and will help them financially.
➤ Rafael Leao has received some comforting news in the last few days as CAS (the Court of Arbitration for Sport) has come to the decision that Lille are liable for the €20m (including interest) compensation payment to Sporting, per Record. It all stems from when the winger unlawfully terminated his contract with the Portuguese side and then joined Lille. Up until this point, Leao had been personally liable for the compensation, a situation that could have pushed him to move abroad for a higher salary.
➤ Junior Messias scored his fifth goal for Milan in the game against Salernitana and in the last few weeks, he has leapfrogged Alexis Saelemaekers in the pecking order on the right flank. As per Calciomercato.com, Pioli is happy with the 30-year-old and if it was up to him, he would pay the buy-out clause (€5.5m) in the summer.
➤ Finally, let’s take a look at the Zlatan Ibrahimovic enigma. The 40-year-old has had some injury struggles this season and his future is far from decided, but Milan are willing to renew his contract. It will be at a lower rate, though, with rumours suggesting it could be as low as €2.5m per year (perhaps plus hefty bonuses). The striker is yet to make a decision and wants to evaluate the situation at a later date.
A final word…
As said, the Salernitana draw will act as a wake-up call for the Rossoneri and they need to claim all three points against Udinese on Friday. It’s scheduled for 18:45 CET (very unusual) and Milan have launched a ticket campaign which, in short, makes it very inexpensive to see the game (that is, if you’re in the city).
Hopefully, this means that Pioli’s men will get a lot of support from the fans (as always) for the game. We will be back next week with some special content as our Youtube contributors Gian and Stefano will be present at the Coppa Italia derby. Until then, Forza Milan!