T
H
E
B
R
EA
K
D
O
W
N CUP FINAL
Internazionalewon
their eighth Coppa
Italiaatthe Stadio
OlimpicoinRome,
beating Juventus 4-2
ina thrillinggame
ofwildlychanging
fortunes. Inter’s
in-formCroatian
wingerIvanPerisic
wrapped it up with
two brilliantgoals
inextra-time.
EUROPEAN
QUALIFIERS
Nosurprises with
Milan,Inter,Napoli
andJuventusinthe
Champions League,
LazioandRomain
the Europa League
andFiorentina, back
inEuropefor thefirst
timeinsix seasons,
inthe Europa
ConferenceLeague.
RELEGATED AND
PROMOTEDTEAMS
Cagliari,Genoaand
Veneziacrash down
toSerie Bafter atight
relegationbattlethat
sawSalernitanastay
up(thanks in part to
39 -year-old Franck
Ribery),despite having
beenbottomfor most
ofthe season.Lecce
andCremonesereturn
tothe topflightalong
withMonza.
PLAYEROF
THE SEASON
RafaelLeaoculminated
three yearsofconstant
growthbyscoring or
setting up eightcrucial
goals in thefinal six
games,bringinghis
seasonaltally to 1 1
goals andeight assists.
His pace andability to
beatdefenders on the
leftwingmeanthathe
reallyisa player who
can make adifference.
After a decadeinthewilderness,Milan
areback.Whentheybeat Sassuolo3-0
onthe very last dayofthe seasonon
May 2 2,the clubwaswinningits 1 9th
leaguetitle,its first since 2011. The
scenesof wild,allnightcelebrationsby
Milanfansthatgreetedtheirtitlewin
saysomethingaboutthe senseofrelief.
Significantly, forthe secondtimein
twoseasons,“foreign”ownership has
triumphedinSerie A. Lastyear, it was
theChineseelectronicsgiantSuning,
ownersofcitycousinsInternazionale,
wholiftedthetitle.Thisyear, it wasthe
turnof US investmentgiant,Elliott
Management,who have owned
MilansinceJuly 2018.
After a decadethatsawJuventuswin
ninestraighttitles,thependulumwould
seemtohaveswungfromTurintothe
country’sbusiness capital,Milan.Not
onlydidthetitlestayinMilan,butit
didsoafter a ding-dong,season-long
battle,largelydominatedbythe two
Milanesecitycousins.
Inthe end, Milanfinishedtwopoints
clearofInter, withNapolisevenpoints
behindin third andwithOldLady
StefanoPioli’ssideannouncetheirreturn
tocentrestagebypippingneighbours
InternazionaletotopspotinSerieA
Milanareback
Juventus“languishing”infourth, 17
pointsbehindand,for once,withouta
singlecompetitionwonallseasonlong.
Evenifmanycriticsclaimed, indeedstill
claim,thatInter were thestrongest team
inthe land thisseason,the realityisthat
Milanweregoodvaluefortheirtitle.
TheMilan“package”containsmany
ofthe keyelementsin a successfulside:
a skilled,experiencedcoachinStefano
Pioli,a charismaticclubdirectorinPaolo
Maldini,aninspirationalplayer-mentorin
ZlatanIbrahimovicand someoutstanding
talentinthe shape of French goalkeeper
MikeMaignan,Englishcentre-back
FikayoTomori,Frenchleft-back Theo
Hernandez,ItalymidfielderSandro
Tonaliand,aboveall,Portuguese
wingerRafaelLeao.
PerhapstheturningpointinMilan’s
seasoncame last February,onthe night
ofthe secondMilanderby.Athalf-time,
then-leagueleadersInterwere1-0 up,
seven points clearofMilan,dominating
thegameandseeminglyalreadyon
theirwayto retainingthe title.
However, thatderby wasturnedon
itsheadbyanotherMilanhero, veteran
FrenchstrikerOlivierGiroud,whointhe
spaceofthree minutes(75th to 78th)
scoredtwicetosetupMilanfora hugely
significant2-1 win.Withina week,a
rattledInterhad been knockedoffthe
topof thetablebyMilan.Ontopof that,
Milannowknewthatiftheywereto
enduponequalpoints with Inter, the
head-to-headcountwouldbeintheir
favoursincethe first seasonal derbylast
Novemberhadended1-1.Asthetitle
racemoreandmoredevelopedinto
a two-wayMilanesetussle,thathead-
to-headcountbecameanimportant
psychological advantageforMilan.
Thenext,equallycriticalturning
pointcameonApril 27 , fourmatchdays
fromtheendoftheseason,whenInter
metBolognaina rescheduledfixture,
originallysetforJanuary butpostponed
becauseofCOVID.Criticsandsupporters
hadlongpointedtothis“gameinhand”
asthe momentwhenInter(twopoints
behindMilanfor most of April)would
pulloffthe “sorpasso”,the overtaking
ofMilan.
AlasforInter, it wasnottobeasthey
42 WORLDSOCCER
Secondbest...Internazionale’s LautaroMartinez
afterhissidefailedtodefendtheSerieA title
Mastermind...
Milanboss
StefanoPioli
standstallabove
hisplayersafter
sealingthetitle
TEAMOFTHE SEASON
RafaelLeao
(Milan)
Sandro(Tnonali)
MarceloI(ntBrerozov)ic
IvanPerisic
(Inter)
DusanVlahovic
(Juntus)
Lautar(o MIteartinr)ez
Bremer(Torino)
Kalidou(NaKoupoli)libaly
GiovanniDiLorenzo
(Napoli)
MikeMaignan
(ilan)
PADDY AGNEW
ITALY
TheoHernandez
(Milan)
