Sport
AC Milan Clinches Serie A 2022
Regains Scudetto after 11 years’ drought. Are glory days back for Milan?
Shobhit Chandola – Mumbai Uncensored, 25th May 2022
You must never ever write off Milan. A club with so much history and passion. On Sunday Night, Rosonerri played their last league game against Sassulo. What is worth to be noted is that the win/ lose equation was almost the same as that of Premier League Clubs Manchester City and Liverpool. Had Inter won against Sampdoria ( which they won actually. All thanks to Correa’s brace in the 2nd Half ) & the AC Milan would have lost against Sassuolo or even been restricted to draw, then Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan would have ended the season with better GD. Thus, clinching their Serie A title in a row.
One of the greatest scudetto in Milan’s history, for more than one reason. Against all odds, against biased decisions of the referees, against clubs with a payroll twice as big. We surely can’t think of a more deserved triumph, and winning it this way. Just overturning a 7 points deficit, winning the derby the way Rosonerri won it, and the decisive match being Bologna-Inter which Inter had shamelessly tried to win off the pitch and then postpone as long as possible looks quite like a poetic justice. This victory also marks the first big title in the portfolio of Stefano Piolo who is in-charge of the Management since 2019.
What went wrong with Milan ?
It is undoubtedly said that Milan was one of the topmost clubs who ruled football for almost 2 decades in the 90s and the early 2000s. In this span, they had a decent supply of youth players like Maldini and Baresi ( arguably the best defending duo of all time ), a great manager like Ariggo Sacchi succeeded by Carlo Ancelotti and a beautiful playing style. Their game never had a particular philosophy and was much opposition oriented. Well, players like Baggio, MVB, and Kaka in their era could adapt to the various attacking positions on the field. The team used to press higher resulting in the best attacking football to witness. But then came a time when Milan Suffered a big setback. The Calciopoli Match scandal broke the backbone of Milan. The club was relegated to the Serie B as a punishment for a few seasons.Moreover the Spain & England became more marketable with their respective leagues gaining much prominence. Thus, clubs like Real Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona became the preferred clubs for young prospects then Milan which was booed for becoming the household club for purchasing big but finished big names like Beckham, Ronaldo ( not CR7 but Fenemeno ), Ibrahimovic who used to be at the late stage of their careers. Further the Italian recession of 2008-09 showcased the lack of money in Italy to buy the World class players. This combined with the lack of future planning of Soccer in Milan’s Youth academy proved to be a major downfall as the club relied more on the past glory.
AC Milan Reborn
It should not come as a surprise that it took almost a decade for Milan to rebuild the squad from scratch and the only major trophy which Milan won was the Supercoppa Italiana in 2016. This just looks dwarf in the achievement of such a historical club’s stature. But then you will need to praise the winning mentality and the support this Club has been showered to ultimately come out of its shadow. What comes as a surprise is the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the squad under whose time Milan once again earned the Serie A title as the club didn’t win the same since the latter moved to Ligue 1. Oliver Giroud proved to be the most clinical and lethal on aerial for his debut season with Milan since the prime Arsenal days and his brace against Sassuolo ultimately ended the drought of 11 years making Juventus more concerned to get on the track of decade’s dominance( 2011-2020). Check out what our Ibra has to say post-match celebration to the media in his typical Zlatan Style of motivation and Thanksgiving.
AC Milan to be Resold?
Special credit too goes to the Milan Legend Paolo Maldini who as the Technical Director since June 2019 has intensively worked on sporting strategy and development of the club. And now the Serie A prize money is going to put the club once again into good financial strata. Furthermost, as the rumors are to be believed, it looks evident that the club is soon going to get rid of the ownership from Elliott Management Corporation and has seen Redbird Capital, the American private investment firm and the Bahrain based Investcorp to be in the race to acquire the ownership.Both the parties look close to a final agreement which could see a deal for around 1.3 billion euros making Milan once again become the Financial powerhouse.
Just to add on lastly, the Italian Journalist Enzo Bucchioni has reported that Joao Felix is AC Milan’s summer Dream as Paolo Maldini and Massara have very clear ideas on how to build a squad able to compete in Europe next season. This could make a deal finalized at 70 million euros given the market value of Felix. But for the AC Milan ‘Ultras’ this could be a dream come true as they shall be able to witness the Junior Kaka ( due to Felix’s resemblance & playing style more similar to Kaka ) in the San Siro Soon. What happens next? Only time will tell. For now it is certainly a big time to celebrate for Milan fans throughout Italy and the World.