COACH OF
THE SEASON
For much of thelast
decade,Stefano Pioli
has been thecoach
you call in when the
clubhouse is burning
down. At Lazio, Inter
and Fiorentina,
however,healways
lookedlikemore
thana stopgap
solution. Hismasterful
handlingofMilan has
provedthe point.NEWCOMER
OFTHE SEASON
Brought into the
Romaseniorteam
atthe beginningof
March, 20 -year-old
left-sidedattacker
NicolaZalewski
looks therealdeal.
Ten yearsa Roma
youth player (hewas
borninItay to Polish
parents), Zalewski has
explosive pace and
a terrific work rate.lost 2 -1,beatenina gametheyhad
appearedtodominatebut in which
a late blunderofMontyPython
proportionsbyreservegoalkeeper
Ionut Raduproveddecisive.
Interhadplayed theirtrumpcard
andlost.Fromthatpointon,Milanwere
mastersoftheirowndestiny,showing
realdetermination andself-belief to win
theirfinal fourgamesagainst Fiorentina,
Verona,Atalanta andSassuolo.
Incontrasttothe greatMilansides of
thelate 1 980sandearly’90s,thisisa
young,relativelyinexperiencedteam
(Tonali,BrahimDiaz,PierreKaluluand
AlexisSaelemaekersareall 22 , Leaois
23,whileHernandezand Tomoriare 24).
Furthermore,“guidinglight”Ibrahimovic
(40lastOctoberandinjuredfor much
ofthe spring)isprobablyoutofthe
playingequationgoingforward.
However, withMaldiniandPiolinowseeminglyuntouchable
withtheclubhaving
attractedtheinterestof
USprivate investment
firmRedBird Capital,andwith young
playerslike Tonali,Tomori,Hernandez
andLeaoall launchedonimportant
careers,theMilanfuture currently
looksextremelybright.Pioliand
Maldinihavesetit allup,startingwith
therecruitmentofthen38-year-old
Ibrahimovicbackin 2019. There
couldbemuchmore to come.WORLDSOCCER 43
CoppaItaliawinners
...IntercoachSimone
PlayeroftheYear...Milan’sRafaelLeao Inzaghiwiththetrophy
ITALY:SERIEA
EUROSEASONREVIEW
AfteradecadethatsawJuventuswinnine
straightSerieAtitles,thependulumwould
seemtohaveswungfromTurintothe
country’sbusinesscapital,Milan