Four goals, feats and blunders: Milan-Fiorentina show, but the point is of no use to anyone
A game full of emotions, with the Diavolo finding themselves down by two goals after ten minutes (own goal Thiaw, Kean) but having the strength to recapture the game (Abraham, Jovic). The draw, however, harms the European ambitions of both. Palladino sent off in the final
More than a game, this is a ride to the Luna Park, a In Praise of Madness with a ball, a Saturday night variety show. AC Milan v Fiorentina ends 2-2 but the goals are a hundredth of the chances of an unbridled game, always at breakneck speed towards goal. Defend? Come on again. Conceiçao, for a change, came back two goals and risked losing it in the 88th minute, when Dodò scored the 3-2 Viola, disallowed for offside. The four goals, the real ones, are an own goal by Thiaw, then Kean, Abraham and Jovic. Little changes in the standings - Fiorentina rises to 52, Milan to 48, now detached from everything - but impressions count more. Quick judgments: Maignan played a great game, Fagioli and De Gea as well; Dodò is fine and Kean keeps him company because he is now devastating, always present to himself; Milan is the usual team with talent but without a head. San Siro, and this says a lot, doesn't even take it anymore. At the end of the first half he dropped a few whistles from above and went to the bar, vaguely disinterested. Then he sang, he always sang but in the end he was cold. Indifferent
the goals
The game lined up a hundred chances and so, here are the goals immediately. Fiorentina scored twice in 10 minutes, ruining – ready, go – the Saturday night of the AC Milan fans. The first goal in the 7th minute. Musah gives a ball to Mandragora who activates Gudmundsson. Gud does what he likes most in life – pointing at a defender to go for goal – and that defender is Tomori, who gets everything wrong: he retreats, tries to intervene, gives up. On the cross for Kean, Thiaw tries to save desperately and ends up scoring an own goal. Three minutes later it is repeated. The Viola is very good at changing sides, from Fagioli to Parisi, then returns to the right with Mandragora for Dodò. Theo looks admiring and Dodò supports for Kean, who shoots at 100 per hour for the 0-2. Milan shortened the lead midway through the first half with Abraham, who made a great play on the edge of the box and asked Pulisic for a one-two. Captain America, always kind, satisfied him by freeing him in front of De Gea: nice right footed shot at the near post and goal. The equalizer came in the second half: Tomori went vertically for Gimenez but surprisingly ended up freeing Jovic who, alone with the goalkeeper, did what he had been doing since the beginning of the century: scoring.
the match
—Milan started very badly – toh, news – and collected mistakes. Theo Hernandez gets blown up by Dodò, then Musah originates the chain of errors for Fiorentina's lead and Kean doubles. Moral: when the 10th minute starts, Milan is already down by two goals. A reaction, at least that, however, is there. Theo in the 19th minute sends Leao on the run as in the good old days, Rafa hooks like a phenomenon but misses the pass for Abraham and Musah: too strong. Four minutes later, Milan equalized and Conceiçao immediately sent Jovic on the field to play the second striker, removing the usual Musah, at the second public penalty of the season. Yunus runs to the locker room annoyed, then is called back by Florenzi, who evidently has a career as an ambassador, and forgives. Does anything change? Well, in short. Fiorentina came closer to the third goal than Milan to the equalizer and a rainbow at Ranieri's cross – what a goal! – is disallowed for a foul by Parisi on Pulisic.
Crazy second half
—The second half starts with a bang. Kean in the 6th minute confirms that he has Formula 1 performance (that he is a Ferrari, one would have said in other times): he goes away from Thiaw and kicks on Maignan. A minute later, Abraham's header deflected hard but centrally. Who is missing? Reijnders was missing, who had abstained so far but in the 11th minute he made it known that he existed: he went on the counterattack and created a double chance. De Gea saves on him and especially on Pulisic, who three meters from the goal could have done much better. If it had not been understood, the game is fun and watered down by healthy madness. Beltran in the 18th minute burns Tomori but finds a great save from Maignan. A minute later Tomori scored but between the 23rd and 25th minute Fiorentina could already go ahead twice. First Fagioli launches Kean, who chokes the shot and Maignan puts it out for a corner. Then Mandragora has the opportunity to charge the left-footed shot from the edge, his ideal situation, but the shot comes out inaccurate. There are 15 minutes left and there is still time for 4-5 thrills. Theo almost redeemed himself with an action closed by a shot on De Gea, then Kean in front of Maignan did not angle the header and, on the turnover of the field, Theo shot high. The main chance, perhaps, in the 40th minute, with Kean who, in the face of fatigue, makes another powerful play and shoots well from the edge: Maignan, in the evening of grace, says "no thanks". There is still room for the disallowed goal to Dodò and for a Milan final, but without yet another turnaround.
