There was no danger of a comeback at Sassuolo, no chance of history repeating. This is a different team in a different timeNobody could mistrust a 3-0 lead more than the Milan supporters who saw their team throw that scoreline away in the 2005 Champions League final. The scars of defeat to Liverpool never fully healed, not even after their team took revenge two years later. Fans self-diagnosed with “Istanbul Syndrome” to explain the foreboding they felt whenever their team found itself in a winning position thereafter.Fresh outbreaks were reported in the days leading up to Milan’s season-ending game away to Sassuolo. The Rossoneri needed just a point against mid-table opponents to seal their first Serie A title for 11...
Title race will go down to wire but if Milan win it the ‘coast to coast’ goal against Atalanta will be season’s standout momentRafael Leão held his head in his hands, but this was no gesture of despair. The Portuguese forward had just watched his Milan teammate, Theo Hernández, score the goal that would put them within a point of claiming the Scudetto, sealing a 2-0 win over Atalanta. He should have been celebrating but needed to stop for a moment and try to fathom what he had just seen.Theo had set off from the left corner of Milan’s penalty area moments before. When the ball ran to him from a sliding challenge by Rade Krunic on Jérémie Boga, he...
Farewells for Chiellini and possibly Perisic as Inter won a compelling showpiece featuring two penalties and a red cardBy the end of the night at the Stadio Olimpico, we had seen it all: six goals, two penalties, a red card given and another that probably should. A cup final edition of the Derby d’Italia, played out over 120 messy but captivating minutes and followed up with immediate breaking news. Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus’s captain, announced he was leaving the club. Ivan Perisic, the match-winner for Internazionale, suggested he could soon be moving on too.The stakes had been clear before kick-off. For Juventus this was a last chance to salvage a disappointing season. The rehiring of Massimiliano Allegri as manager last summer...
Genoa’s captain could have left for Toronto but stayed to battle relegation, which made his penalty miss all the more painfulDomenico Criscito could have been 4,000 miles away. Everything was agreed for the defender to join Toronto FC at the start of March, swapping a relegation battle at Genoa for an adventure in Canada. It sounded like the perfect way to wind down a career: playing alongside Lorenzo Insigne, an old friend with whom he has shared family holidays.As the moment of departure neared, however, the thought of abandoning Genoa in such a perilous state gnawed away at him. The Grifone were the first professional club to take a chance on Criscito, signing him from Sporting Volla in Naples and...
José Mourinho’s Roma could not deal with Inter’s power while Olivier Giroud once again came to Milan’s rescue at LazioAmid a breathless finish to the Serie A season, spare a thought for your narrators who don’t know where to begin. In Empoli, where Napoli surrendered their title bid by conceding three times in seven minutes to opponents who had not won a game since December? Or at San Siro, where Internazionale thumped a Roma side led by José Mourinho, the man who led them to the treble, and who arrived on a 12-game unbeaten run in the league?Perhaps we should start in Rome, where Milan kept the title race alive with a 91st-minute strike from a 21-year-old midfielder who almost...