Milan 1 Fiorentina 2
The missus and I found ourselves in Milan over Easter and I was delighted to see AC were at home to Fiorentina. Having grown up on the great team of the 80's I'd always wanted to see Milan in the San Siro. My better half has a secret crush on the blog's sub editor and Fiorentina fan, Bobbie BS, so was happy to support La Viola [or at least she was until she saw a Milan scarf she 'had to have' in the club shop].
Getting tickets was a touch complicated. We took the safe but expensive option of using an internet site, ending up with the seats of two season ticket holders. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but in Italy your ID is checked as you enter the ground. I might have had an outside chance of getting away with being Roberto Krassi, but my 5 '9 Teutonic wife was never going convince as Stefano Orlando Lecchini. And as our tickets were being assessed things didn't look good. Luckily though, a 20 Euro bribe, while doing nothing for national stereotypes, got us in to the ground.
Getting to the San Siro had been very easy: the really pleasant tram ride through the city was quite different to the typical trek to a match. The ground itself is full of contrasts. Outside it makes for an awesome sight, with its iconic turning pillars and square red girders. It's old and important but has design elements that still feel modern. Inside the impression was disappointing and impressive at once. 50,000 fans in a 80,000 capacity stadium meant there was plenty of empty spaces, but those 50,000 made for one heck of a lot of colour and noise. The stadium designers wanted to stay true to the club's English roots. So, no running track means fans are close to the pitch, while a beautiful cantilevered fibreglass roof keeps the sound in. It wasn't exactly the Emirates.
The game itself was pretty piss poor. Milan were obviously the more talented team, but, unbelievably considering their position in Serie A, they seemed disinterested. Fiorentina tried hard but lacked real class, Jovetic apart. They huffed and puffed in the opening minutes, while Milan just seemed content to wait for something to happen. And it did. They were given a soft penalty, won by Lopez, slotted home by Ibrahimovic. This seemed to shake the Swede into action. He started holding the ball up, using his close control, then bringing a teammate into play. If this teammate was Lopez things opened up - one delightful Ibra cross was unluckily smashed into the post by the Argentine. If the teammate was Muntari however, Fiorentina immediately regained possession.
Throughout the first half Fiorentina never gave up, so their goal right after the restart came as no great surprize. Milan's laziness drifted into arrogance as their ludicrously high line allowed De Silvestri to play in Jovetic, who scored with aplomb. The equaliser did stir the home team, but while their energy levels rose the quality of their football didn't. Everything became a touch desperate, from Robinho's dribbling to Allegri's substitutions. As the clock ticked down and the Rossoneri became louder everything pointed to a nasty last 5 minutes for the away team. But it didn't really happen. Milan started the game halfheartedly and seemed to decided they'd finish it that way. And they paid for it. Amauri exchanged passes with the excellent Jovetic and scored. At the end of the day both sides got what they deserved.
