In his three seasons in charge at Milan, Massimiliano Allegri’s side has seldom had registered great results against the big teams. Some of the more notable ones include the 2-2 against Barcelona at Camp Nou, a dominant 3-0 win against Napoli during the run-up to the 2010/2011 scudetto; and the 4-0 demolition of Arsenal at this same stage of the Champions League last season. In between has been a tale of uninspiring performances, pragmatic wins, and debilitating losses.
The shambolic start to this season epitomised that last point, and that Allegri survived that shitstorm to be around to have masterminded last night’s masterpiece is nothing short of a miracle. This has been one hell of a roller coaster season for us Milanisti and Wednesday's game was a climax not many of us were expecting. Inasmuch as Allegri received A LOT of flak during the early part of the season, he deserves all the acclaim he’s gathering now and rightly so because the magnitude of this achievement is not one that can just be swept under the rug.
We should remember this is the fifth time we are playing the Catalans during his tenure and all efforts to beat them proved futile last year. He tried all out backs to the wall in that group game in Camp Nou, and a vastly different attacking approach produced an entertaining 2-3 loss at San Siro in the return leg. The quarter final games were no different, though still a win was elusive. With a much better team and more experienced professionals we still failed to win, thus illustrating more the magnitude of this achievement.
Wednesday night's game was a tactical masterpiece in how to bring down a far superior opponent. Firstly, there was an obviousy well thought out game plan which was executed to perfection. All Milan players were aware what their roles were and they stuck to it for the entirety of the game despite the herculean nature of it. Every last player gave their heart and soul to this effort and just rewards was dished out in the end.
We should also not forget the level of belief it must have required to carry out this task, and the players firmly believed and never wavered for an instant. Such motivation is usually reserved for the biggest of games and it showed in the steely determination to get the job done. This is an area Allegri has proven suspect in the past and thus should be commended for getting it right this time.
Massimiliano Allegri’s tenure as Milan boss has been far from smooth, and the terrible times he had to endure in the early part of this season (yours truly included, of course) means you can’t begrudge him the massive feeling of schadenfreude he might be feeling since that epic achjevement. He is still a coach with many flaws who’s still sometimes too stubborn for his own good, but believe me when I say Milan fans can sleep better from now on knowing he’s capable of such astute management.
Allegri masterminded the worst start of a Milan side in ages, and whilst there were mitigating circumstances it was a torrid time for Milan fans and most felt the team could do better than the dross they were churning out at the time. That the club stuck with Allegri was something of a minor miracle, and that faith is being repaid in large measure with the recent league renaissance and this hugely impressive victory. The important thing though is to stay this course, maintain this high degree of confidence and ride the wave for all its worth. As is routine in football, there isn’t much time for jubilation as the Derby della Madoninna looms and its vital to emerge victors to maintain our incredible rags to riches story of this season.
The point here is Monsiuer Allegri is a man, and like all humans he has his flaws as well as strong points. In the same way that he was not as bad as some people tried to make him out to be earlier in the season, he’s also not become the greatest thing since sliced bread overnight, and we need to temper reason in our praise of what was admittedly an impressive achievement. Because this game called football rolls on and on, and things change at a rate like you wouldnn’t believe, as recent happenings just across the city divide show.
For a much maligned coach, Allegri served a large dose of humble pie on Wednesday, and in his entire career that is the biggest scalp he’s claimed, and he must be feeling much like Leornado Da Vinci the day after creating what would turn out to be his greatest piece, the Mona Lisa. Wednesday’s game was Allegri’s Mona Lisa, and one just hopes it’s the beginning of better things ahead; because whilst that was Leonardo’s greatest achievement, it was also the pinnacle of a hugely distinguished career. Allegri has more days ahead of him, and we can just hope he churns out more nights like this for us Milanisti so I can continue searching for more vastly inappropriate metaphors to describe his work.
Nii Smiley Byte
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