Il Milan say hello to Europe. The great feat of beating the Liverpool and going to the round of 3, in fact, failed, despite the right result having arrived from Oporto, which would have allowed them, in case of victory, to qualify. Instead, in the next round, in addition to the Reds first with full points, there is Atletico Madrid of Cholo Simeone, capable of conquering Dragao with a 1-57 that makes them jump from fourth to second place. However, the Rossoneri don't have much to complain about, because Klopp's team, despite the maxi-turnover, has shown that they are from another planet from all points of view. Technical, in the light of a clean ball that Milan, at least in the European arena, does not have; physical, due to a difference in pace that is sometimes even irritating; mental, considering that the reserves shrugged in front of the XNUMX at the San Siro.
The strongest team won, there's no doubt about that, but then there are the episodes and those, as often happens, ended up making the difference. No reference, at least this time, to the referee, but to the Rossoneri's mistakes, which they have Tomori's initial goal was thwarted, arrived on the developments of a corner kick (29'). The evening was looking good, with Milan ahead and Porto blocked 0-0 by Atletico Madrid, but then here was the first smudge of the evening signed by French couple Maignan-Hernandez: the goalkeeper rejected a shot without particular claims by Oxlade-Chamberlain, the full-back literally lost his way Salah, which he was able to repeat on the net undisturbed (36').
The biggest mistake however he arrived at the start of the second half and it was the man who, up to that moment, was probably the man of the match who committed it. Tumor gave away a bloody ball to Mané, resulting in a shot by the Senegalese who was cleared by Maignan (this time well) and a winning tap-in with a header by Origi (55'). In fact, the qualifying discussion ended there, because if encouraging news arrived from Oporto (Atletico ahead with Griezmann), Milan lost confidence and bite, as if they no longer believed it. Klopp gave him a small emotional boost by removing Salah and Mané, but the Rossoneri, despite gaining ground, were unable to reopen the game, also because, on the only occasion that could have given us a thrilling finish, Kessié made a bad mistake by shooting at Alisson from a great location.
In the meantime, Atletico Madrid were rampant, even going 0-3 (goals from Correa and De Paul), before Sergio Oliveira scored the goal of the flag, thus snatching a sensational qualification in extremis and depriving the Rossoneri of any European future, even if there are many who think that the Europa League would have been more of a problem than anything else.
“We are sorry to leave Europe, even if we knew the difficulties we would face – commented by Pioli – We would have needed more pace and quality; instead, we moved the ball too slowly and inaccurately, that was the problem. We gave away two goals with two mistakes, but at these levels, if you don't express yourself to the fullest, then you risk it. We wanted to go ahead in Europe, that was our goal, but now we'll have to be good at concentrating our strength on the league and the Italian Cup."
Definitely less bitter evening for Inter, Despite the defeat of Madrid prevented her from getting to the first place. What mattered most, for obvious reasons, had already been achieved in the previous round, but the Nerazzurri wanted to make a good impression at the Bernabeu, also to take revenge for the undeserved defeat suffered in September at the San Siro. In part they have also succeeded, given that la performance was good and that, with a little more precision and concreteness, at least one goal could have been achieved, but Ancelotti's Real is back to being a real team, perhaps with fewer stars than a few years ago, but organized and full of talent from both technical and physical point of view.
And so, despite the absence of striker Benzema, he ended up solving the match with two terrific plays, one in each half: in the first, the great shot of Kroos (17'), in the second that of Asensio (79'). On balance, however, the worst note for Inter is the expulsion of Barella, kicked out with a red light for a reaction gesture on Militao in the 64th minute: the Nerazzurri all-rounder will certainly miss the first leg of the round of XNUMX, but the disqualification, considering UEFA's severity on violent fouls, could also include the second leg.
"He made a serious mistake, but he's smart and he apologized to his staff and teammates, let's hope it doesn't happen again - he scolded him Inzaghi – We go home with the personality with which we played at the Bernabeu. Clearly we wanted to achieve a different result, but it will help us a lot for our future experiences: despite the good performances we lost both games against Real, it means that we are still missing something."
On the other hand, when the bar is raised, there is a need to jump higher than usual and the Champions League, in this sense, is the toughest obstacle there is. Inter noticed it, but above all Milan, forced to collide with the reality of the European elite.
