The Devil in Heaven. The victory at Empoli gives Milan second place in the standings alone and an incredible view of Juventus' first, now "only" 4 points away. Of course, the Giallorossi and Bianconeri still have to play, the championship is long and the absolute values are undeniably different, yet Montella's team continues to score points and can no longer be underestimated.
In Empoli's 4-1 there are lights and shadows of a very young group (yesterday the average age was 23,6 years, the lowest in the Berlusconi era), therefore bubbly and light-hearted but also inexperienced and always in need of being on the rope, under penalty of risking against any type of opponent, none excluded. And so for over an hour it was the hosts who convinced the most, until the Rossoneri's technical superiority emerged.
Yeah, whatever anyone says, Milan have some very important individuals: Suso and Bonaventura for example, real thorns in the side for the defenses of the entire Serie A. And since results and standings give confidence, Montella begins to allow himself the luxury of make interesting experiments. Yesterday he surprised everyone by presenting a midfield with Pasalic, Locatelli and Mati Fernandez, moving Bonaventura up front together with Suso and Lapadula. No matchmaker but marked offensive propensity: interesting project, in line with Berlusconi's tastes, but wrecked after just 10' due to yet another injury to Mati Fernandez, who was immediately replaced by Kucka. The game-breaking goal arrived in the quarter of an hour with Lapadula, cold and precise in taking advantage of Suso's assist and beating Skorupski. But Empoli, as previously mentioned, didn't let themselves be intimidated and after finding an immediate equalizer (Saponara after a wrong exit from Donnarumma) scared Milan by pressing all over the pitch.
As soon as the forces dropped, however, Montella's team was back: Suso (left foot crossed after Abate's assist) and Costa's own goal (propitiated by a personal action by Bonaventura) directed the 3 points towards Milan. And when Lapadula found the brace with a powerful and poisonous left foot, many wondered why he doesn't always play and not Bacca, yesterday absent in every sense.
In fact, the Colombian, not called up due to injury, thought it well to go and see Seville-Valencia in his former stadium, a lawful gesture (the club gave him permission) but probably not very appropriate and indicative of an increasingly cold relationship. “I hope you had fun – Montella teased him. – I'm happy with what I saw in the second half, but in the first we were a bit lazy and I didn't like that. We can grow further, I have no doubts about this, but now it doesn't make sense to look too far ahead, it's better to think match after match."
Indeed, these days it is difficult to make long-term plans. The corporate affairs impose to live from day to day, as demonstrated by the new statements by Berlusconi on the sale of the club. “There are visas and authorizations that the Chinese government has to give and we don't know if they will arrive in time for December 13 – explained the president. – If this were not the case, we could move the closing by 30 or 40 days, no more. If things don't go through, we'll change our strategy and focus on a young, Italian Milan."
"Sino-Europe Sports confirms its strong commitment to conclude the negotiation as soon as possible" the reply of the Chinese consortium through an official statement, demonstrating that the game is still open, much more than we thought until a few days does. In any case, the fans are relatively interested in the story: as long as the team continues to score so many points, everything else will take a back seat.
