APRIL MONTHLY REPORT: A “PAZZO” MILAN!
by acmilanfmnews.com
All Milan staff was aware that A.C. Milan was waited by a very difficult month when April started. When we were leaving from Malpensa to Dortmund, I knew that this would have been the first of a series of 7 difficult matches in less than 30 days.
Dortmund welcomed us with heavy rain. After leaving our luggage in the hotel, we went to Signal Iduna Park to have our last training before the match. The pitch was completely flooded, but the day after would have been the same, so we had to get used to that. We did not reach our aim… The day after, when the match started, I realized that the difficulties were not overcomed, and Ilkay Gundogan confirmed that scoring after 45 minutes in the first half. Neven Subotic put the accent on our problems scoring the second goal after 71 mins. 0-2 was not a good start for the Champions League quarterfinals, but I was still confident that we could overturn the result in the second match!
The day after, leaving Dortmund, I decided not to come back to Milano, but to go directly to Genova where 3 days after we had to face Genoa in Marassi. Due to the ranking of the opponent, this should have been the easiest match of the month, but on the other hand I needed to give some rest to many of my players as the second match against the Germans was waiting us 4 days after. We could win the match only thanks to a goal by the young Leon Goretzka: this guy is working hard and growing up a lot in this season!
Then, our minds went to the Champions League match. We worked hard to prepare the match and it started good, with my team attacking from the very first minute to score the goal that could make the qualification possible. Stephan El Shaarawy scored a wonderful goal with a stunning run in the middle of Dortmund’s defense after 40 minutes: the entire second half could be devoted to the goal that may equalize the match! But Dortmund toughly defended the result and we could not score the second goal, so we went out from the Champions League: our objective, the quarterfinals, had been reached and we did not fault in the two matches, I could be proud of my team!
From that point on, we could focus on the league and on the series of really difficult matches that was awaiting us: Roma, Napoli, Inter and Juventus, all in 14 days! We started wonderfully: Giampaolo Pazzini, “il Pazzo”, started his fantastic two weeks by scoring an hat-trick against Roma that destroyed the Giallorossi and gave us a stunning win!
On Wednesday we had the catch up of the 30th match day against Napoli. In the morning I called my brother, Stefano, to wish him Happy Birthday and he asked me as a gift to defeat the Azzurri in the evening and I promised I would have done that. It has been a crazy match, started by the goal of Giampaolo after 28 minutes and followed by the penalty missed by Stephan few minutes later. Then, before the end of the half, Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik, the two stars of Napoli, overturned the result: we ended the first half 1-2. I was angry, we could not lose in such a way and I let my player know what I was thinking! And they reacted wonderfully! Antonio Nocerino leveled the score after 10 mins in the second half and “il Pazzo” concluded the match scoring at 73’ his fifth goal in 4 days. We won the match 3-2 in San Paolo, obtaining a 10 point lead over Juventus: what a great result! My brother called me after the match to thank me for the win: I was very happy that I could won for him!
As often happens, we could not celebrate very match the win because few days after we had the derby against Inter. This had not been a triumph as the first one had been, we faced a draw signed by two ex of the match: to Giampaolo replied Antonio Cassano for the final 1-1. This reduced our lead to 8 points just before the match against the second in the league, Juventus.
The match against Bianconeri was characterized by the fear of both the teams, resulting in a really boring 0-0 draw that was better for us than for Juve, as we could maintain the 8 points distance.
The most difficult matches have passed and 4 matches and 6 points are separating us from the winning of the league. Go on guys, we can do that! And we can also win the double with Coppa Italia! Yes, we can!
Dortmund welcomed us with heavy rain. After leaving our luggage in the hotel, we went to Signal Iduna Park to have our last training before the match. The pitch was completely flooded, but the day after would have been the same, so we had to get used to that. We did not reach our aim… The day after, when the match started, I realized that the difficulties were not overcomed, and Ilkay Gundogan confirmed that scoring after 45 minutes in the first half. Neven Subotic put the accent on our problems scoring the second goal after 71 mins. 0-2 was not a good start for the Champions League quarterfinals, but I was still confident that we could overturn the result in the second match!
The day after, leaving Dortmund, I decided not to come back to Milano, but to go directly to Genova where 3 days after we had to face Genoa in Marassi. Due to the ranking of the opponent, this should have been the easiest match of the month, but on the other hand I needed to give some rest to many of my players as the second match against the Germans was waiting us 4 days after. We could win the match only thanks to a goal by the young Leon Goretzka: this guy is working hard and growing up a lot in this season!
Then, our minds went to the Champions League match. We worked hard to prepare the match and it started good, with my team attacking from the very first minute to score the goal that could make the qualification possible. Stephan El Shaarawy scored a wonderful goal with a stunning run in the middle of Dortmund’s defense after 40 minutes: the entire second half could be devoted to the goal that may equalize the match! But Dortmund toughly defended the result and we could not score the second goal, so we went out from the Champions League: our objective, the quarterfinals, had been reached and we did not fault in the two matches, I could be proud of my team!
From that point on, we could focus on the league and on the series of really difficult matches that was awaiting us: Roma, Napoli, Inter and Juventus, all in 14 days! We started wonderfully: Giampaolo Pazzini, “il Pazzo”, started his fantastic two weeks by scoring an hat-trick against Roma that destroyed the Giallorossi and gave us a stunning win!
Giampaolo Pazzini (28) scored an hat-trick against Roma.
On Wednesday we had the catch up of the 30th match day against Napoli. In the morning I called my brother, Stefano, to wish him Happy Birthday and he asked me as a gift to defeat the Azzurri in the evening and I promised I would have done that. It has been a crazy match, started by the goal of Giampaolo after 28 minutes and followed by the penalty missed by Stephan few minutes later. Then, before the end of the half, Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik, the two stars of Napoli, overturned the result: we ended the first half 1-2. I was angry, we could not lose in such a way and I let my player know what I was thinking! And they reacted wonderfully! Antonio Nocerino leveled the score after 10 mins in the second half and “il Pazzo” concluded the match scoring at 73’ his fifth goal in 4 days. We won the match 3-2 in San Paolo, obtaining a 10 point lead over Juventus: what a great result! My brother called me after the match to thank me for the win: I was very happy that I could won for him!
As often happens, we could not celebrate very match the win because few days after we had the derby against Inter. This had not been a triumph as the first one had been, we faced a draw signed by two ex of the match: to Giampaolo replied Antonio Cassano for the final 1-1. This reduced our lead to 8 points just before the match against the second in the league, Juventus.
The match against Bianconeri was characterized by the fear of both the teams, resulting in a really boring 0-0 draw that was better for us than for Juve, as we could maintain the 8 points distance.
The most difficult matches have passed and 4 matches and 6 points are separating us from the winning of the league. Go on guys, we can do that! And we can also win the double with Coppa Italia! Yes, we can!