It's the 29th round of the Italian Serie A and AC Milan host Palermo at the San Siro. Milan were feeling lucky again today, but this win wouldn't be chalked up to luck. I chalk it up to grit and determination, and taking advantage of a team that were bottom of the table and missing three of their best players. Before you get upset, I don’t mean any disrespect. This is what champions do: get the win no matter the weather, who is available, or who the opposing coach is. Our boys didn't play beautiful football today. But they played with determination, and they won. Sometimes it’s pretty, sometimes it’s ugly, but the result is the most important statistic in the end. History won’t necessarily recognize that this three points came at the expense of the team at the bottom of the table. History will show a win next to Milan’s name. Bottom feeders for the win.
The match really started in the 8th minute, when Aronica pulled Balotelli down in the box. The ref rightly called for a penalty (which was okay to give so early in the game, because Napoli had already had one even earlier!) Seriously, Balotelli stepped up, cool as you like, and BAM. Milan 1, Palermo 0. Certainly not the way Palermo wanted to start things off, I am sure.
It was in the 66th that Milan earned the win. Niang crossed it into the box, two of Palermo’s defenders missed it, and even Sorrentino bobbled it about, but Balotelli, always in the hunt, found the ball and simply tapped it in over the prone keeper. 2-0 Milan. That goal probably won’t make it into the highlight reels for goal of the year, but it solidified the danger of Milan – we’ll get it done, one way or the other. Top of the table team or bottom dweller, when we are not playing well as a team, we have weapons of mass destruction capable of getting the job done.The rest of the match saw Milan play pretty much the same… Niang and De Sciglio feeding crosses in from the left (with Niang being a natural centre forward, and De Sciglio being a right back, of course.) Errors, errors, everywhere, leading to Palermo chances, for a total of 9 shots (3 on goal) in the match. Meanwhile, Milan had our average 61% possession and 12 shots (4 on target) and a mediocre performance overall.
AC Milan 2:0 Palermo
An interesting thing that I noticed and I read online afterwards was the reaction of El Shaarawy when he was subbed. He went straight to the changing rooms. Amelia tried to stop him but Antonini told him to let it go. After the game Allegri didn't have any comments about that moment, and Balotelli in his typical way said: "El Shaarawy went straight to the dressing room? I would have done the same because it was cold. I would have taken a shower".
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