In Milan’s European run there is a lot of Pioli, in Inter’s the weight of the club was decisive
Milan has taken Europe back. In a crazy season like this, conditioned by a World Cup celebrated in November and December, the semi-final derby between Milan and Inter, twenty years later, is a result that puts things back in order between football and its history. Milan and Inter among the big four in Europe is good news, even for non-Italians. In the deep and turbulent transformation it is experiencing, football, in order to remain the great popular novel it has always been, must add new protagonists, but it cannot afford to lose those who have written memorable chapters for too long. The semifinal was won with merit. Strongly desired, by two clubs, by two technicians, by two teams that are still in the midst of the storms of a championship that could both sink. Yesterday too Inter showed the right determination not to ignite Benfica’s hopes, finding Lautaro and even Correa again.
Great achievements are always collective, but not everyone participates equally in success. I think there is a lot of Pioli in AC Milan’s European campaign. Just as I believe that the weight of the club was decisive in Inter’s game. Pioli did not get help from the market. In the double challenge of the quarter-finals he played with the Scudetto team, with one Kessie and one Ibra down, with a Giroud one year older and with a World Cup behind him. When he was injured Maignan had to rely on Tatarusanu. He tried in every way to turn De Ketelaere and Origi into the promised gold, but he didn’t succeed. At least for now. The elimination of the by far strongest team in Italy, Napoli, bears the signature of Pioli. Spalletti has put together a beautiful and solid team. He had the misfortune against Milan to have Osimhen only in the second leg and at sixty percent. Of course he paid for other absences, but today the Nigerian is, after Haaland, the strongest center forward in Europe: there is a lot of Spalletti’s work in his technical evolution. As well as in the yield of Kvaratskhelia. Giuntoli and his staff of scouts are certainly very good at discovering talent, but I am convinced that those players without Spalletti would have made much less. However, Napoli must have no regrets, they have reached a European dimension that they will be able to capitalize on next season.
Inter have a superior squad to that of Milan, but only in the Champions League did they express themselves in terms of costs and expectations. Inzaghi plays better matches that resemble finals, those in which there is no need to put pressure on the players, because the opponent is already thinking about it. If you have Barcelona in front of you, you don’t need any other motivation. They serve with Empoli and Monza instead. This explains the many, periodic blackouts in the league, perhaps after excellent challenges in the Champions League. Eleven defeats are enormous, if they haven’t overwhelmed Inter it’s because the club held up, Inzaghi argued, helping him in the difficult management of the players, several of whom already know that they will leave Appiano in a few weeks.
For this reason, the derby with a view on Istanbul will fill a season that seemed, for both, to lack meaning. It also applies to those who will see the final at home. Milan and Inter have already made enough mistakes, let them not commit the last, unforgivable one: experiencing the semi-final as a double day of judgement. Both are the authentic surprises of this Champions League, whoever lives the weeks ahead more lightly will go all the way. And maybe with that lightness whoever goes to the final will be able to treat themselves to the biggest surprise.
April 20, 2023 (change April 20, 2023 | 01:16)
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