BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW?
Considering that whoever ultimately prevails in the Big Cup semi between Milan and Inter already seems to have been allocated the role of sacrificial lambs in a final most pundits expect to be won by Real Madrid or Manchester City, Football Daily is surprised anyone – players, fans, officials or media – bothered turning up at San Siro to see the first leg of the biggest Derby della Madonnina in 20 years. Yet turn up to the iconic, much-loved but crumbling old ruin that is San Siro they most certainly did – all 75,532 of them intent on creating an ear-splitting cacophony and a tifo-tastic sea of black and red around three sides of the famous giant edifice. “Hell is empty tonight because all the devils are here,” declared a large banner draped from the Curva Sud by Milan fans, whose side were the designated home team in their shared digs.
Within 12 minutes of kick-off those demons were almost certainly pining for the comparatively soothing caress of the unquenchable flames of damnation they had left behind, as Inter stormed into a two-goal lead courtesy of fine strikes from Premier League blasts from the past Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Forced to start without their best player, Rafael Leão, before losing midfielder Ismaël Bennacer to knack before the 20-minute mark, Milan’s lack of strength in depth along with some seriously iffy defending ultimately proved their undoing. “It’s difficult when it’s 0-0 but to go two goals down in the first 15 minutes is a kick in the teeth,” sighed Milan defender Fikayo Tomori in the aftermath. “There was a bit of anxiety in the team and in a game like this you can’t do that. We’re disappointed but we can’t dwell on it. We have to move on to the next game.”
If there’s any consolation to be had by Milan before the second leg it’s that this first game could have been worse. Much worse. Happy to hold what they had, Inter avoided going for the kill when it seemed their bitter rivals were there for the taking. Meanwhile a referee named Jesús Gil Manzano did the assembled devils an unlikely favour by reversing a decision to award Inter a penalty after consulting with his pitchside monitor. It seemed the right call and not just because the majority of the ex-pros working the game for BT Sport adjudged it to have been the wrong one.
The rights holders for Big Cup coverage in the UK, BT came in for no end of stick on the night, with plenty of viewers taking to Social Media Disgraces to question why a network known for its excellence in the field of Serie A coverage had come up so dismally short on such a big occasion. One of their hirsute regular experts was reduced to a minor pitchside role alongside whooping vibes man Rio Ferdinand, while the considerably less hairy but puntastic and diminutive doyen of British Serie A coverage, a man formerly of this parish and already on their payroll, was absolutely nowhere to be seen. Instead, viewers were treated to the b@nal, largely studio-based musings of a panel of Big Names chaired by an early-rising self-help guru and lawnmower salesman, who until very recently incurred the wrath of Serie A fanboys by repeatedly and incorrectly referring to Inter as “Milan”. If you can’t get those sort of basics right, don’t expect subscribers to consider them world class.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I need a long meeting with our chairman. We have to be ready to improve and take advantage over the summer. We need to improve, to be able to compete better next year. I am not going to talk about what will happen after the meeting … this year has been a very hard one and can serve as a lesson for all of us” – having guided Wolves from being bottom at the Human Rights World Cup break to mathematical Premier League safety, Julen Lopetegui warns club suits that he’ll need some cash this summer to repeat the trick.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
So here we are on the big stage, at such an exciting time of year, in such a huge competition, with interest from all over the world. We’re in the middle of the semi-finals and we have Italy, Spain and ourselves still in the running. Isn’t Eurovision just the best?” – Pete Cody.
Sad to see Sergio Busquets go (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition); not just for all the footballing reasons that Sid Lowe lists in his excellent piece, but for sentimental reasons too. He was the last reason to hang on to the fantasy of Barcelona as being a team, or liking them because of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and the rest, looking forward to watching them on the telly, willing to believe the Unesco-era Més que un club story. The last thread has snapped, and you have the likes of Robert Lewandowski up front and Messi making a grotesque fool of himself in Saudi Arabia. As in much of football, the old days were better. Adéu, Sergio” – Charles Antaki.
Big Website reports that Valérien Ismaël is the 19th full-time managerial appointment made by the Pozzo family, which is true of course but even this doesn’t give the full picture of the constant merry-go-round that is the Watford manager position. The Pozzos took over Watford in June 2012, when Sean Dyche was in charge and had just guided them to their highest position in four years – so he was obviously sacked immediately – while Hayden Mullins has been a caretaker manager twice (but then all managers at Watford are just caretakers really). So I make it that Ismaël is the 22nd Watford manager to work for the Pozzos. Since June 2012” – Noble Francis [with an average tenure of eight months for Ismaël, this will doubtlessly end well – Football Daily Ed].
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Pete Cody.
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