Milan Spam
(Adem is sad, but his belly is pleased: Losing means more chocolate.)
Though you'd never know it from listening to the TV announcers (they failed to notice there was anyone on the pitch not named "Zlatan", let alone an entire other team not called "Milan"), Fiorentina played well for long stretches of the match and, particularly given their pressure late in the game, a draw wouldn't have been unjust. Though, as usual, they ended up losing on the road, La Viola definitely showed the fight that's been tragically absent from their performances this season and, as an added bonus, got a solid Serie A debut from Baby Superstar Michele Camporese who, at 18, wasn't even a little scared of either Zlatan's nose or Clarence's thighs.
MILAN 1-0 FIORENTINA [highlights|ratings table|pagelle: Gazzetta, CF]
Marcatori: 45' Ibrahimovic (M)
Milan: Abbiati; Bonera, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta; Gattuso, Ambrosini, Flamini; Seedorf (42' st Ronaldinho); Ibrahimovic, Robinho (32' st Boateng).
Fiorentina: Boruc; Comotto, Natali (1' st Camporese), Kroldrup, Pasqual; Donadel, D'Agostino; Marchionni (31' st Vargas), Ljajic, Cerci (15' st Santana); Gilardino.
Check it out -- DDV turned up! He rarely even makes home games, I hope Sini realized this was a big occasion.
The tifosi, meanwhile, have decided to say they're from Genoa rather than Florence. Possibly they're in a very poor disguise.
Sinisa, on the other hand, was wearing the same thing he wears to every match.
If it's a disguise, it's a very, very poor one.
Aw, Sini. It's a big game for him -- back in the Meazza, against (one of his) football enemies and all.
In case anyone was wondering, MOTM Artur played really well.
He stoned Gattuso 1 v 1, though even Rino didn't see very surprised by that.
Additionally, he was blameless on the goal, and made several other big saves over the course of the match. Which is reassuring, since he's basically the only option at this point.
Comotto started out on the right in front of Artur.
He was extremely wet.
(... Does Robinho have a milk mustache there? Do we want to know what's going on?)
His newspapers ratings ranged from "OMG SO, SO BAD" to "Did his job just fine, thanks." Me, I thought he was graceless but alright, but then I pretty much always do.
Natali was next to Comotto and was his usual badass self.
He was also obviously not fit, though, which made him even less subtle that usual.
TBH, it was surprising he made it through the whole first half, as gimpy as he looked whenever he got a chance to rest.
He did get the job done, though, more or less. There were several scary moments in which he barely got in late touches, but he did survive.
(He was unimpressed by Flamini running into him and falling over. As were Krol and the referee.)
Camporese replaced Natali at half and did really well. He almost never looked in trouble at the back, and even got forward dangerously once.
U21 and Serie A debuts within four days of one another? Not bad for an 18-year-old kid.
As the only truly fit central defender, Krol was back there next to Natali and Camporese.
Mostly, he and Zlatan ran around, being northern European together and comparing silly faces.
You think I'm kidding.
Totally not kidding.
They also spent a brief moment bonding in their disbelief at Pasqual's drama.
They also spent some time kicking one another.
Zlatan: *kicks the crap out of Krol*
Announcers: "Aw, poor Zlatan. He's tired!"
Krol: *runs into Zlatan slightly late*
Announcers: "OMG THE SWINE!"
Referee: *randomly waves a red card, which apparently means Krol is off*
Pasqual is another one for whom the newspaper ratings are a bit mixed.
FWIW, I thought he played pretty well and was surprisingly strong defensively, even in the face of Robinho's endless stepovers and quickness.
And Rino's studs.
And Zlatan's patronizing lectures. (It's a pity there was no one around to hold them back, cos if there had been, Pasqual would have gotten all macho, and acted like he wanted to fight.)
Just before half, Fiorentina sadly, managed to give up a goal.
(Zlatan kicked a bunch of grass in Comotto's face, thus distracting him, see.)
Twas a good goal, and there was nothing Artur could do.
Sinisa: *sigh*
(His irritation was understandable, considering that Abbiati made far more first-half saves than Artur, and yet Sini's stupid team was unable to take a clean sheet into halftime.)
Captain!Donadel and his dainty waiter hands were in their usual place, sitting in front of the backs.
He hung out with Clarance a lot.
And did just what we expect him to do: Worked his tail off, competed all over the pitch, and mopped up tirelessly in the midfield.
(Sinisa doesn't actually have anything to add, he just likes how his coat looks when he points.)
D'Agostino, making his first start in months, was next to Donadel.
This free kick was saved onto the post and, even lacking full fitness, he's got obvious quality and makes a big difference to the team.
No wonder he's so pissy about guys like Ledesma getting into the Azzurri -- he wants to earn his damn spot back!
Sinisa: *takes a moment to show off his own skillz*
He really, really would like to be out there helping right about now. Particularly in this match.
Mighty Marco got the start in the midfield and ended up playing on both sides of pitch.
He didn't do anything particularly amazing, but it was nevertheless his best match in ages.
He ran his legs off, defended hard, and was generally a useful little presence. Bonera was not amused.
JMV, who reportedly was very, very late getting back from international duty, came on for him for the last 15 minutes and had a few useful moments.
Cerci and his Hair of Amazing Volume started opposite Marco.
TBH, I remember very little about his match, apart from that he seemed to be playing the ball back to the midfield more than usual -- maybe all the talk about selfishness is bugging him?
Also, he really doesn't seem to like Flamini. Good man, Serch.
He did fall down in the box in the second half when Zambro sort of ran over him, but it wasn't anything like a clear penalty.
Sinisa pretended he was amused by the lack of a PK by laughing loudly. The fourth official no doubt ignored him.
So Sini went to Plan B, and sent Santana on for the last 30 minutes.
Freed to play in his natural position for once, Santana looked good and was much more of a threat down the left than Marco or Cerci had been for most of the match.
Sat in the center of the midfield, in behind Gila, was Adem.
(Luckily, he escaped this attempt on his life, and went on to finish the match.)
As usual, he had a mixed match. There were moments of brilliance, periods of invisibility, and Fiorentina's two best chances.
(He was particularly annoyed when he put the ball right at the keeper inside the last 10 minutes.)
Sinisa was more sad that annoyed.
Or maybe he was just really wet. It's hard to tell his "I'm wet and I'm miserable" face from the one that means "My team cannot score and it's pissing me off."
Gila tried to be vaguely positive for Adem's sake.
Well. At least he tried.
Despite how miserable he always looks, Gila actually played pretty well.
And, look -- he's cut his hair! Ok, so the rain makes it look worryingly thin, but at least he's realized a mullet doesn't fool anyone.
When he wasn't offside, he was bounding around, waging a lonely battle against Thiago Silva and Nesta.
He rarely had the ball in the box, but he fought like crazy, won free kicks, and held the ball up for the team.
Even without that many touches (and playing with Adem, who gets him way less than Mutu does), he's still doing encouraging things, IMO. Definitely making a progress.
I did mention the offside thing, right?
Cos that did happen, a time or 30. Gila, needless to say, disagreed every time. (At home sitting on his couch, I'm quite sure Pippo was on Gila's side.)
His best moment was onside, and involved winning the ball with his back to goal late in the game, turning on Nesta, then beating him down the line with the ball.
He then played in an absolutely perfect, bending cross to Adem, who ran in behind the defender, and shot it right at Abbiati. ARG.
After the match, Sini went and yelled at the referees a little, but it was all quite anticlimactic. Anyway, it was wet and cold -- who wants to stand out in the rain and argue?
Up next is a trip to Turin to play Juve. Camporese could well start in the back, what with all the adult central defenders broken or suspended and everything.