Excellent performance by the Rossoneri team: Kyaer e Maignan, above all, with Hernandez on the wheel, but also the painstaking work of Bennacer and Tonali, helped by a provident Krunic, and in evidence Calabria, who played with mangy concentration, assisted first by Diaz and then by Messias, without forgetting Giroud who basically managed to score despite the missed penalty and a wasted opportunity, just as he damned himself Tomori, whose performance was ruined by the unfortunate arm touch in the area (fortunately the penalty was neutralized by the miraculous Maignan…) with a special mention for Lion, sometimes irritating for some of his attitudes, but capable of champion feats, such as the gallop for over seventy meters, leaving behind the opposing defense, concluded with a perfect assist to Giroud. Alone Origi, in my humble opinion, it did not seem up to the situation.
Sure that in the Champions League it’s another Milancompared to that of the last championship games: probably because in the minds of the players the ambitious goal is to dare the inosible, that is to reach the final, in Istanbul (and avenge the inglorious and painful defeat of 25 May 2005, when Istanbul with a three-goal lead, he was joined by Liverpool and then beaten on penalties.
But there is not only this in the splendid Rossoneri journey. There is also the economic aspectfundamental: by reaching the semi-final, Milan find themselves with a sumptuous nest egg, 85 million eurosso at least I read on a specialized site, Football Finance, which accounted for the amount. In fact, there are many budget items that characterize both the participation in the tournament and the progressive emoluments that reward placements and progress during the various shift passages.
Specifically, the historical ranking has brought to Milan’s coffers a good 14.79 million. As for the sponsors, the “market pool 1” was worth 8 million, the “market pool 2” another 5.85, and this is up to now. Added to these are the bonuses linked to positive results (9.33 million) and the shares of draws (0.69 million). In addition, here is the rich booty generated by the round of 16 (9.6 million) and that of the quarterfinals (10.6 million), to which is added the substantial bonus from semifinal (12.5 million): unfortunately, a fine of two million for violation of financial fair play (FPF) is subtracted from the total.
Money that oxygenates the coffers severely managed by the shrewd US owners, and which will serve to pay the demanding Leao, which today is already worth almost one hundred million anyway. But a Milan without Leao would not have reached the semifinals: it is he, with the formidable goalkeeper Maignan, who makes the difference. The champions must be held and paid. In the budget double entry, thanks to these 85 million, he can be redeemed from Real Madrid the good one Ibrahim Diaz, being able to deal with the Spaniards without having to give them up; with a few sales, several million would remain in cash to pay off the debts, without forgetting that yet another monstrous collection at the Meazza (between 8 and 9 million euros) could contribute to this.
And in any case, it is very significant, for the memory of European football, to see two titled teams like Milan and above all the inexorable Real led by Ancelotti (which owes a lot to Milan) promoted among the best four of the Old Continent (Real will challenge the winner between Manchester City and Bayern, with the English overwhelmed; Milan will instead have to contend with the winner between their cousin Inter and Benfica, defeated in Lisbon by the Nerazzurri 2-0). Real and Milan, in fact, are the two teams that have won the most European Cups and Champions, as far as the Rossoneri are concerned, however, we have to go back sixteen years, to find them in the semifinals. Which they won. As in the final, a proud triumph over Liverpool, beaten 2 to 1 on 23 May 2007 with a brace from Pippo Inzaghi, a great goal opportunist.
It goes without saying that, however the adventure in the Champions League ends, Milan have recovered visibility and international prestige, also honoring the mistreated (by sponsors and networks) Serie A which this season has placed three teams among the best eight in Europe and risks seeing perhaps one of them in the final: thus legitimizing the unexpected victory of the national team at the last European Championships and redeeming the bad figure blue remedied in the failed qualifiers of World Cup. It’s a signal. A premise that could be promised.
If our teams will begin to understand that the key to success lies in the virtuous management of budgets and in reducing the vile roles of brokers and prosecutors, as well as shady accomplices among company executives, and that it is time to stop squandering resources by buying scoundrels passed off as champions, then another step forward will be taken towards reconstruction, the rebirth and re-evaluation of Serie A: after all, it is convenient for everyone to sanitize the financial environment, limiting profits, and enhancing the young people of their “cantere”, to put it in Spanish, “nurseries” in our jargon (Atalanta, Udinese, Sassuolo are good examples in this sense, they are from Campania). Teams that take care not to failindeed, to become a source of income by investing in quality and marketing, to modernize, with adequate infrastructures that respect the environment and equipped with services and sports facilities (gyms, swimming pools, basketball, volleyball, padel courts), hotels, restaurants, bars, such as those I have been able to admire and envy in Germania, almost twenty years ago, and in Great Britain. Here, this should be tomorrow’s football. Which is that of yesterday and today elsewhere.