Lazio rejoices, Milan fails again. 3 points come out of the San Siro wheel for Inzaghi's team, signed by the "usual" Immobile and Correa, while the Rossoneri return home with a defeat which, barring sensational (and improbable, at this point) comebacks, establishes the end of Champions ambitions.
The championship is still long, of course, but Milan continues to show unacceptable fragility that does not allow for optimism, especially as next Sunday they will have to deal with Juventus, not exactly the ideal opponent to relaunch.
Lazio, for its part, is confirmed in a very good moment of form, enhanced by a success that in the championship, on the Meazza lawn, had been missing for 30 years: at the time Paolo Maldini was on the field to sign, against his will, the own goal decisive for the 0-1 final, yesterday instead he sat in the grandstand, to deal with an evidently badly built team, to which not even the change of coach has given a shock, at least in terms of results.
“It was important to win for many things but the team performed and created dangers for the opposing defense – Pioli defended himself. – The road is the right one even if we lost again, the boys came out with their heads down but with the conviction that they gave a lot and that they are a team”.
Undoubtedly there was a performance but the result, at this point in the championship, cannot be considered an option. An entertaining match from the start, just as expected, that of San Siro, which Milan chose to face with Krunic in place of Kessié and an offensive trident made up of Castillejo, Piatek and Calhanoglu, against a Lazio who responded with Immobile and Correa. Hot attack, protagonist already in the 6th minute with the top scorer stopped by Donnarumma and even closer to scoring in the 23rd minute, when Ciro, served by a great Luis Alberto, printed the ball on the crossbar to make it 0-1.
Not bad, because the paw still arrived in the 26th minute, with Immobile going head to head after an embarrassing marking by Duarte. But woe to think of a biancoceleste monologue: Pioli's team was more than present, so much so that they reacted immediately to the disadvantage, albeit with a little luck. In fact, Piatek's touch found the decisive deviation from Bastos, for the immediate Rossoneri equalizer (28'). There came the first turning point of the match with Castillejo, surprisingly one of the best on the pitch together with Calhanoglu, Bennacer and Krunic, forced out due to a muscle problem. In his place Rebic, called to take advantage of the chance and instead the author of a bad game like Leao, sent onto the field by Pioli in the 54th minute in place of Paquetà.
The coach, given the vein of his team, tried to win it by attacking Lazio but the result was the opposite. The "heavy" trident paid very little, instead allowing Inzaghi to gain ground and exploit the spaces available. In the 84th minute Luis Alberto, undoubtedly one of the best, saw the right gap to launch Correa and the Argentine, thanks to another mistake by Duarte, made the most of the assist by beating Donnarumma and thus giving his team a very important victory. as evidenced by the fourth place in the standings, albeit together with Atalanta and Cagliari.
“We deservedly won an important match against a team that played a good match, played a very good game and did everything to win, we wanted to break the San Siro taboo after 30 years – commented Inzaghi enthusiastically. – Out of the crisis? I was calm after the defeats, our performances were up to par. Classification? It's premature to talk about it, but now we have an obligation to raise the bar”.
The race for the Champions League, after this weekend, is more alive than ever, with Rome, Lazio, Atalanta and Cagliari compressed into a single point. Milan, on the other hand, sails sadly in eleventh place, 8 lengths behind their seasonal goal. Which, at this rate, will definitely have to be revised downwards.
