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Milan lose momentum - again
Posted - 29th February 2008
Catania are not, with all due respect, a great side. They have spirit in abundance, but they've lost 11 games this season, and won only five. Last season they escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth, and they'll be lucky to do the same this season. And yet, they've managed to hold the wold Club champions AC Milan to a draw on both occasions that the clubs have played this season. On Wednesday night They drew 1-1 at home with AC Milan, putting Berlusconi's team - once more - into crisis.
So, to the excuses first. The Milan team fielded was a patchwork affair, with Kaka and Pirlo both absent in the midfield, along with Nesta and Jankulovski in defence. Should this have made Catania unbeatable? Brilliant players were hardly lacking on the Milan side - Pato was present (and indeed scored), alongside Pipo Inzaghi (recently returned to goal-scoring form), while in the midfield they had Seedorf, Gattuso, and Emerson.
Catania, from the start, wisely held firm forcing Milan to bring the game to them - something Ancellotti's team has found hard to do at the best of times this season. This, in fact, has been Milan's main problem all year. A slow and predictable Milan team finds it impossible to break down dull but solid teams like Catania (who, truth be told, were far from dull in the second half). Milan have had 9 draws this season, a fact that will be decisive in the final reckoning when the Champions League places are doled out.
The first half in Wednesday night's game produced little action. The second half started well, when brazilian Pato scored a great goal just ten minutes into the action. The youngster, upon whom an unfair weight of expectation has been heaped, shook through the Catania defence and blasted a perfect shot from thirty metres. The goal, though, far from closing the match seemed to give the home side the push they needed. Coach Silvio Baldini - the same Baldini who was banned from the bench for two months at the start of the season, after having kicked his opposite number during the Parma Catania match - made an inspired change by bringing on striker Gionatha Spinesi. Supported brilliantly by Peruvian international Juan Manuel Vargas, the pair immediatly started making things difficult for the Milan defence, and minutes after entering Spinesi headed in a crucial goal.
Faced with yet another draw, Ancelotti resorted to bringing on Oddo, Gattuso and Gilardino but to no avail. The home side picked up an important point, while Milan passed up yet another opportunity to seize the fourth place position. Fiorentina, meanwhile won their match, putting them ahead.
Minor talking points for the match were the three goals disallowed during the second half. One for Milan, when Inzaghi was (surprise, surprise) offside, and two for Catani - one by Colucci, judged to be offside, and one by Silvestri who fouled Bonera before putting the ball in the net. Thankfully the refereeing decisions were all clear and justified, and there was no after-match whingeing.
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