Football stops.
There are too many, right? Do not players decompose and unions do not threaten legal action? Don’t you suffer the game itself? It is so thick and fast that last week you can look like last year. And it is for the better. It is an amneodic welcome and subconscious. It is a hurry and when it comes to it and that everything turns on its head and, paraphrasing the infamous b. i. g, pass from the negative to the positive and everything is Passod, it is the most productive sensation in the world, regardless of what extent.
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That’s how Milan feels now.
They left Italy a week ago hurting, humbled and in the harshest of spotlights after a 1-1 draw with Roma left the team eighth in Serie A, with Paulo Fonseca paying with his job. They return to Italy like different, brand new, happy, smiley people; a trophy in one hand, a cigar in the other. Juventus and Inter, their principal rivals, up in smoke.
– AC Milan (@acmilan) January 6, 2025
What is this line of the same old suspects? “The biggest trick that Satan has achieved to convince the global that he did not exist. ” It is something old and a Milan, or the Diavolo, as they are known, never tired of playing.
The team had 1-0 in Juventus, an undefeated team in Italian competition, then 2-0 to admit the Super Cup in Riyadh. No one remembers the losers of those games. No one outside the doors of the ultras, leads to new slogans that give the sheets in San Siro for the next championship in the opposite of Cagliari.
And yet, Milan returned, not once twice opposed to the teams, it means the maximum to win. Suddenly, Diavolo’s presence is pronounced again, his season improbably invigorated for a week in Saudi Arabia, teaming up this elusive sensation rather than with alcohol.
Two games are a small pattern in which the passing trial to a coach and the replacement of Fonseca, Sergio Concicao, felt in the first part of the semifinal opposite to Juventus, since nothing had changed.
“It felt like the Milan from a few weeks ago,” he told the club’s TV channel. “The timing of our pressing was off. On the ball, we passed it around too slowly. We rarely got in behind. Alvaro (Morata) kept coming short. Our wingers never made it to the byline, the midfield was… how do you say? Too clunky.”
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The moment on which the semi-final hinged, a penalty won by Christian Pulisic in the 71st minute, came out of nowhere. Juventus’ coach, Thiago Motta, wore a 1,000-yard stare in his post-match briefings, still stunned. “I think Milan created only one chance, which Theo Hernandez missed,” he observed to Mediaset, and it was an absolute sitter. Then Pulisic not only grabbed the lifeline Manuel Locatelli offered him, he used it to pull Juventus under.
Milan, creditably, seized upon the upset their equaliser caused and deservedly progressed to the final. It mattered little to them that they did so via a penalty and an own goal. What satisfied Conceicao more was the hunger and desire his team showed to go and win the game when the opportunity presented itself.
He has made it clear that he is not a king of philosophy. Concicao is not descended from Arrigo Sacchi in the Milan training tree. The way Milan won vital for Sacchi. vincere e convince: win and convince. It is not for conscience.
“Football, for me, is simple,” said Concicao. “There is a purpose in which you get and do not let them score. If you need to communicate on property football, Tiki-Takaarray . . . my Tiki-Taka puts the ball the back of the network. ” The main Redbird capital advisor of the Junta de Milan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, nodded approval.
The directness of Conceicao’s communication, far more articulate and fluent in Italian than his predecessor, dovetailed with the directness of his football. He presents as tough and that toughness has, in flashes, already manifested more than any tactics in this Milan team.
I expected, but not guaranteed, that Pulisic would return from an injury to the Juventus game, but sought to win its first trophy with the club. Similarly, Rafa Leao did not intend to play in the last at Inter after lacking the Semi Semi arrived here during the last 40 minutes and absolutely replaced the game. They squeezed their teeth and showed a commitment that Fonseca felt that he lacked the team of his time in the club.
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Without much time to paint the paintings about the principles of the game, Concicao left plans for later and instead submitted to his players. Just pay attention to Leao. ” I didn’t know him personally,” she explained to MediaSet. “When he was in the national team, the Porto players spoke to him and said that he had a strong character. What he did in a few days is incredible.
It turns out that the coach’s replacement such as converting the electric power supplier. Suddenly, lighting accessories are on and overloads of the part of the moment of Milan cause hair damping.
“There are times when you can make a mistake,” Leo said. “You can lose a pass or not defeat your man. But you can’t play with bad desire. Desire is fundamental. No one can be sure of his position in the team. You cannot feel adhesive in Milan. ” “
The actions are more vital than the words and the role of Leao in the change of Milan opposite to Inter was a reminder of his stratospheric ability. Theo Hernández launched on the left to establish Pulisic’s rotational equalizer, created a simple possibility for Tijjani Reijnders only for him to lose, and then, in the detention time, he raised a hand on a defender of Tammy’s winner Abraham.
But here is the thing. While this is rarely very the first time that the Portuguese end has reached those heights, it is the first time that it is spoken and, therefore, astutely recognizes what is perceived a player who sits on the ballon list d’Or.
“(Concusicao) has replaced power in the team. We saw power in both plays,” said Pulisic. After sneaking beyond an unsuspecting locatela and reopening a game that Juventus had blocked, the American envelope equalizer opposed to Inter, their result of time opposed them this season, represented one of the moments, possibly the moment of His career in Milan so far.
He has not needed a change of coach to up his performance levels. Pulisic is Milan’s top scorer, with 10 goals in 22 appearances, and was understandably thrilled to claim his first trophy for the club.
Now Milan need to show this is no flash in the pan. Prestige wins were celebrated under Fonseca, too. He ended the six-game losing streak to the Italian champions, Inter, in September and this team beat European champions Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in November.
On the one hand, Milan undoubtedly had an intelligent fortune in Saudia and benefited from her. Pulisic and Leao’s returns of the lesion could not have been more timely. The winner opposed Juventus, an Yunus Musah Cross deviated, a blow of luck. Carlos Augusto, the Inter Defensor, to an inch to do it 3-1 in the final.
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On the other hand, Milan overcame a day less rest, Pulisic and Leao may not have been fully fit, the team was discovered in neither game, unlike the aforementioned victories under Fonseca, and they played with the knife between their teeth.
Conceicao swapped it for a cigar at the end of the night and reprised his viral dance from past title celebrations at Porto. In the space of a week, he has become the fastest coach to win a trophy for Milan and only the second foreigner to do so after Nils Liedholm. It was also two decades since Milan came back from 2-0 down to win a derby. Owners RedBird Capital now have their first silverware and while the Super Cup isn’t the Champions League or the Scudetto, it isn’t to be snubbed either. Inter and their coach, Simone Inzaghi, have shown that in recent years.
Of course, if the competition hadn’t been expanded to a final-four format last season, Milan wouldn’t even have been in Saudi. They didn’t win the league or the Coppa Italia, so they can be grateful for the fixture congestion, grateful for a week in the desert. In Saudi, they found a rose to bring back with them and one that makes their season smell a little bit better.
(Top photo: Ismael Adnan Yaqoob/Anadolu via Getty Images)