Two-faced Saturday for Massimiliano Allegri's Milan. On the one hand, the satisfaction for the victory over Roma, which is very important for the championship, on the other, the discomfort over Thiago Silva's injury, who will 99% miss the match against Barcelona. But if the Brazilian's absence in the Champions League further complicates an already prohibitive mission, the three points collected yesterday smell like a Scudetto, for a whole series of reasons. First of all because they came from behind, after a difficult and painful game, then because the match against Roma was considered a real watershed in the Rossoneri environment. We still regret Thiago Silva's injury (muscle strain in the right thigh flexor), which could have been avoided with a little extra caution. But Milan has decided to play all the chips on the Scudetto and this, for the moment, has all the air of being able to become a winning play.
THE MATCH
The great doubt of the Rossoneri team was resolved just before the match: Thiago Silva started. After a consultation with Galliani, Allegri decides to risk the Brazilian from the first minute, in defiance of Barcelona. However, the choice turns out to be wrong already after a few frames of the match: in the 10th minute Thiago touches his right thigh and asks for the substitution. Zambrotta enters his place and takes a position on the right, with the consequent stopover in the center of Bonera. Despite the initial shock, Milan hold the field better than Roma, rather shy despite the bold formation chosen by Luis Enrique, who does not give up the trident (Totti-Osvaldo-Borini) not even in the presence of the Italian champions. Ibrahimovic, Muntari, Emanuelson, all try to punch Roma, but the one who comes closest is El Shaarawy, who in the 41st minute hits the post after a beaten Stekelenburg. It seems to be the prelude to Milan's lead, but the goal is scored by the Giallorossi, who take advantage of a mistake by Ambrosini and unlock the match with Osvaldo (44'). One goal down, without Thiago Silva and with the bench shorter than ever: it's going really badly for Milan. But on the 3rd of the second half the wheel turned: Abbiati incredibly gave the ball to Totti, who threw away the winning goal by attempting a soft and inaccurate spoon. Milan woke up and a few minutes later found an equaliser, thanks to an ingenuity by De Rossi, who blocked Ambrosini's shot with his arm in the area. Sacrosanct penalty, which Ibrahimovic transforms with coldness. The match was fun, but all in all balanced: Muntari hit the crossbar, Osvaldo sent Pjanic's nice cross over. We go towards a draw, but then the unfortunate Kjaer takes care of it, who in the 83rd minute combines one of his goals, missing out on Ibrahimovic's marking. The Swede softly overstepped Stekelenburg with a lob, then headed the ball into the net. Zlatan 2 – Roma 1, with all due respect to the opponents. In Italy Ibrahimovic makes the difference, in Europe we will see him on Wednesday.
THE REACTIONS
Even in the press room the Rossoneri script didn't change: happiness for the victory, sadness for Thiago Silva's injury. While accepting the responsibilities of having risked the Brazilian, Allegri appeared serene and satisfied: “Thiago has a problem with his flexors, I think it's impossible that Wednesday will be in the match. We knew we were taking a risk, unfortunately that's how it went. As for the match against Roma, we must pay homage to Ibra: He had a great match especially in the second half, he played the centre-forward as he knows how and he made the difference. On the other hand, we had played a good first half and conceded on the only occasion that Roma had created up front. In the second half we entered the field to overturn it and we did it, we immediately found this penalty and then the team created other chances”.
Adriano Galliani's statements are of the same tenor: “This match was like a Rambo film, a decisive moment in which those chasing us thought “now they're falling” and instead we got up. Ibra's are all author's goals, we've reached about thirty goals, and he missed in several matches”. Paradoxically, the only one to complain was Ibrahimovic, who had his say on too many Rossoneri injuries: "Something has to change, it's not good that there are so many injuries a month from the end, this is the time to play and the difference".
