Winning the Scudetto: 6 games that defined AC Milan’s season

There is only really one story to talk about in Italy – Milan’s 18th Scudetto. It has been in the bag for a few weeks now – albeit not mathematically – but the 0-0 draw with Roma on Saturday evening has officially confirmed the club as the best team in Italy for 2010/11.

We could write paragraph after paragraph on Milan’s season and why they have been successful. A better and more interesting method of looking at the Rossoneri’s campaign would be to highlight the important games (with the benefit of hindsight) that contributed to the Scudetto, or that signalled the team’s ability to go all the way.

So here are the six games that, for one reason or another, defined Milan’s season:

Saturday 11 September, 2010: Cesena 2-0 Milan

Milan’s first league defeat of the season occurred in Week 2 to newly-promoted Cesena. It was the début of Zlatan Ibrahimović, who missed a penalty in a game where the much vaunted attacking trio of Alexandre Pato, Ronaldinho and the Swede failed to score.

The defeat was vital for one reason – coach Massimiliano Allegri learned very quickly that he still had work to do in finding the balance of the side. In his post-match comments, he claimed the loss would prove useful for him and the squad – little did we know the man was an oracle back then, as he turned out to be absolutely correct.

From this point on, the search for a solution to the awful vulnerability to counter-attacking football began. It took Allegri some time, but solving this issue was one of the biggest factors in Milan becoming a defensive powerhouse in the second half of the season.

Monday 25 October, 2010: Napoli 1-2 Milan

Not many people would have bet on Napoli’s staying power with regard to a title chase back in October. They proved to be rather difficult to shake off, which only added to the importance of this away win (in Italy it is head-to-head that decides league position if points are level).

However, the primary reason this game is included here is because it was Milan’s first win in Naples since 1998. That run does only encompass four games thanks to Napoli’s bankruptcy and subsequent demotion to the lower leagues in the mid-2000s, but the Rossoneri’s record there has been incredibly poor for two decades (only three wins in their last 13 visits). It was a victory that gave real credibility to Milan’s title credentials.

Wednesday 3 November, 2010: Milan 2-2 Real Madrid

It may be a Champions League encounter, but this game was Ronaldinho’s watershed moment. There were signs prior to this that Allegri was running out of patience with the Brazilian – not necessarily because of the terrible performances he put in each week, but due to his lack of work rate impacting on the team defensively.

Various hints in press conferences suggested that the coach had pinpointed Ronaldinho as one of the contributing factors to the struggles defensively, and it was on this night that he decided to cut his losses. Ronaldinho was substituted on 60 minutes, and only started one more game before departing in January – the dead-rubber group match against Ajax, which Milan lost.

It was perhaps an even bigger achievement to convince president Silvio Berlusconi that his prized possession needed to be sold, but with Ronaldinho out of the team, Allegri could get to work on finding the right mix of player for his starting XI to obtain the defensive balance he wanted.

Thursday 6 January, 2011: Cagliari 0-1 Milan

On paper, it looks like a routine win over a mid-table team. In reality, it was perhaps Milan’s first true test of their candidacy for the Scudetto. They were without Alessandro Nesta, Gianluca Zambrotta, Andrea Pirlo, and had an 18-year-old Alexander Merkel making his Serie A début.

But the biggest absence was Ibrahimović – suspended thanks to a senseless yellow picked up against Roma before Christmas. It was the first time Milan had entered a league match in 2010/11 without him on the pitch, but it was also a chance to show that they were not ‘Ibradependent’, as many believed they were.

Earning the three points was a struggle, and the performance did not suggest at the time that they could cope without Ibra, but it did show the team’s ability to snatch wins in games others would draw, and the strength of the squad.

Saturday 29 January, 2011: Catania 0-2 Milan

Catania had only suffered two home defeats (both occurring in this campaign) in just over a year prior to this game. A tough venue to come away with three points at the best of times, and on this evening it was made even harder with Mark van Bommel’s red card leaving Milan playing with 10 men for 40 minutes, with the score tied at 0-0.

Robinho’s goal shortly after the red then gave Milan something to defend, which they did reasonably well. Zlatan added a second on the break, and Allegri’s men came away from a game with a victory when they would not have been too displeased with a draw.

Saturday 2 April, 2011: Milan 3-0 Inter

Every Milan derby means a lot to both sides, but with Inter having closed a gap to Milan that once stood at 13 points (albeit with two games in hand) to just two, this game was essentially a title decider and thus had that added significance.

Milan were missing Ibrahimović again due to another mindless suspension, and so were deprived of supposedly their best forward. Yet the performance and result finally demonstrated Milan’s ability to cope without him (something which was in doubt since the Cagliari game). The Nerazzurri were overrun by the pace of Pato and Robinho, particularly in the first-half where they were cut open on numerous occasions, and the 3-0 scoreline did not flatter Milan, who emphatically hammered home the point that they were the best team in the country.

After the 0-0 with Roma on Saturday, vice-president Adriano Galliani admitted that he believed this was the game where the title was won. In addition, it was probably the match which allowed the team to rid themselves of accusations of dependence on Ibrahimović – they went on to play another three games without him and won each one of them, as if to prove the supremacy of their squad this season.

(photo credit: AFP Photo / Alberto Pizzoli via Flickr)

AC Milan, Italian Serie A, Italy, Massimiliano Allegri, Zlatan Ibrahimovic