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With all apologies to Dua Lipa, it takes a couple of kiss (I really feel like if I met Dua Lipa I’d have an amazing urge to apologize for lots of issues, BUT THAT’S NOT WHY YOU CALLED).
Italian soccer nonetheless has a fame — one which’s not likely true anymore — of being overly tactical and defensive. It’s maybe one it must work more durable to shake off if it needs to even get in the identical stratosphere of worldwide recognition that the Premier League has, and it’s a league filled with vibrant attacking groups. Catenaccio is just not the order of the day in Italy anymore, however a long time of its use are onerous to erase from the reminiscence banks.
That doesn’t imply that it isn’t a part of the ebook when wanted, and AC Milan actually referenced their and Italian soccer’s historical past when upsetting Napoli within the Champions League quarterfinals yesterday. And it was an upset, on condition that there are 22 factors between these two groups within the league, with Napoli operating away to say the Scudetto and Milan battling simply to stay within the high 4. What’s much more wonderful is that this was the third time within the span of 16 days that Milan had nullified Napoli’s smothering and suave assault. Napoli have scored 66 objectives in 30 league video games, for fuck’s sake. However they solely managed one over 270 minutes towards Milan, two legs of the quarterfinal, and a league defeat at residence.
Except for some spritely opening 10 minutes in each legs, Milan snuffed out just about each menace by having their two holding midfielders, Sandro Tonali and Rade Krunić, sit proper on high of their backline, opening no area between these traces, which is the place Napoli’s Piotr Zieliński or Stanislav Lobotka would run wild. This compelled Napoli out to the wings to search out any area.
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Normally, Napoli would be OK with this, because Matteo Politano or Hirving Lozano on the right and especially Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the left can create chances at will. But in the first leg, Napoli were without an injured Victor Osimhen and only had the freshly returning one in the second leg, and without him they really lacked a threat to get on the end of crosses.
Which might not have mattered as much, because both of Milan’s fullbacks were exemplary, especially Davide Calabria on the right side, who kept Kvaratskhelia in his pocket in a fashion that would have had Milan legend Paolo Maldini purring in the executive box, as long as we’re continuing the theme of harkening back to the good ol’ days (also it’s always a nice pick-me-up to think of Maldini and these eyes you possibly can rediscover your childhood inside).
Calabria performs lockdown protection
Kvaratskhelia has been perhaps the revelation of the European season at Napoli, an inverted winger who has turned just about each protection he’s come up towards into confetti. He was given nothing by Calabria, which blunted Napoli’s assault into not way more than a kitten’s paw.
And even when Napoli did handle to get crosses into the field, nearly all of them discovered the defiant dome of both Fikayo Tomori or Simon Kjær. Napoli tried 45 crosses yesterday, and solely 10 of them discovered a teammate, such was the obstreperous nature of Tomori and Kjær (my principal as soon as known as me that in grade college and I’ve coopted the adjective for my very own units, in case you had been questioning. Revenge is nice).
The objectives the Rossoneri wanted
In fact, you continue to want to attain, and Milan solely required two marvelous items of individualism on the counter to get the objectives they wanted. We went over Brahim Díaz’s flip within the first leg that led to Ismaël Bennacer’s winner, however no motive we will’t take pleasure in it once more:
Yesterday, it was Rafael Leão’s flip, as he picked up a free ball some 85 yards from purpose and thought he’d have a pleasant jog by half the Napoli staff earlier than organising Olivier Giroud:
And that was that. Napoli pulled a purpose again late, but it surely was all the time only a comfort. The sweetness, so we’re instructed, of catenaccio is that it’s easy. You defend nicely, you are taking your probability once you inevitably get it on the counter, you win. A reference to the simplicity of Italian delicacies or life, actually. Typically soccer is simply that easy. When you’ve defenders enjoying this nicely, and gamers like Diaz and Leão able to turning the sector into their very own private F1 monitor, what extra do you want?
Observe Sam on Twitter @Felsgate as he talks himself into Xabi Alonso taking up for Jurgen Klopp within the close to future.
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