AC Milan: The dramatic turnaround of a sinking ship
It was barely two years ago that Associazone Calcio Milan, a once mighty dynasty which repeatedly churned out legends after legends, was in total tatters. A club boasting of a rich history of legends like Giuseppe Meazza, Gunnar Nordahl, Nils Liedholm, Gunnar Gren, Gianni Rivera, Lorenzo Buffon, Fabio Cudicini, Cesare Paolo Maldini, Marco van Basten, Ruud Guullit, Frank Rijkaard, Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti, Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassotti, Billy Costacurta, Cafu, Andrea Pirlo, Andriy Shevchenko, Alessandro Nesta, Superpippo Inzaghi…(whew!) was suddenly marooned. For what was once a World class team had turned into a foster home for washed up had-been’s just looking to prolong their already long past-the-sell-by-date careers. Not that I have anything against old experienced heads; I remain a fan of Nesta, Seedorf and Inzaghi and even Rino but many a times the old heads used to occupy the first team positions forever and the younger players were either being loaned out for long periods or sold off when they could have been effective(Read: Yoann Gourcouff).
Furthermore, the club was implicated in the Calciopoli (or Farciopoli as my Juve counterparts will agree to) scandal, docked 8 points, suffered humiliation repeatedly at the hands of our dear neighbors Inter(capped off by a 0-4 mauling by them), and the taunts of the Interisti on winning the treble in 2010 and the now-famous Jose Mourinho mis-pronounced ‘zeru tituli’ catchphrase…all resulting in the club looking an empty shell of what it once was. As if that wasn’t enough, our owner Signore Silvio Berlusconi’s sado-masochistic sexcapades with 20 year women were widely dissected by the Italian and world media and the Prime Minister was made a laughing stock of and his personal life, a media circus. Still not enough? Well, add to that the fact that the club was deeply entrenched in debts rising above $90 million which resulted in the sale of our most coveted player, Ricardo Kaka.
From a virtual no-name in his Premier League time for Pompey and Spurs, KPB stormed to prominence with a string of noteworthy performances for Ghana in the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa. Not ones to miss a trick, Galliani and Berlo snapped him up from a loan to co-ownership with Genoa to a full-time deal. His contribution to Milan has been terrific with dizzying runs as an ACM, providing useful balls and legit goal scoring opportunities. He added some much needed dynamism to the Rossoneri midfield and has helped change the age-old perception of Milan (and perhaps Italian) football being slow, insipid and drab. Easily best remembered for his breathtaking 15 min second half hattrick helping overturn a 3-0 deficit against Lecce into a 3-4 victory(and thus securing victory at Lecce for the first time in 9 years). He has a bright future at Milan, great things are expected of him, as illustrated by a fan poster that said ‘Kevin KING Boateng’ after Milan wrapped up the Supercoppa Italiana.
An interesting story precedes Silva’s transfer to Milan in 2008-09 from Fluminense. Young Silva was spotted by Inter scouts in Brazil who sent back positive reports to then manager Jose Mourinho. A transfer to the Nerazzuri was almost a done deal with only formal paperwork pending. A switch was as good as confirmed before in stepped Leonardo(then managing Milan). Leonardo too had seen Thiago Silva ply his trade in Brazil, had a few long talks with him and using his smooth conversing skills, managed to convince Thiago that he was needed more in Milan and that his future would be brighter if he would join the red half of Milan(and it didn’t hurt that like Silva, Leonardo too was Brazilian).
What followed was exactly what Leonardo had hoped-Silva made a life-changing decision to renounce a tempting offer from the 3 consecutive Scudetto winning Inter, to join the less fancied Milan. Following that, he has proved his worth to the Rossoneri faithful by stringing together a cluster of fantastic performances at the heart of the defence, defying his small stature and winning balls on the ground and in the air. With the legendary Alessandro Nesta, he has formed one of the best central-defensive partnership in the world and is arguable the best central defender in the world today. Many a time,with Nesta’s prolonged absences owing to injury,Silva has done the work of 2 players in a match. Barcelona are anxiously hoping to land in Silva at the Camp Nou but Silva is more than content in staying with Milan.
He may be short by height and short on temper but one thing he isn’t short on is talent. He has had a tumultuous time with all the sides he has been in prior to joining Milan, starting right from his time at AS Roma. Fabio Capello coined the word ‘Cassanata’, after Cassano to represent anything that is against team work or footballing spirit. He had disagreements with the manager Luigi Delneri and left for the money of Real Madrid. Poor eating habits made him overweight and his attitude caused problems with the Madrid authorities so much so that President Ramon Calderon labeled his behavior as ‘unsustainable’. As a result he returned to Italian football with Sampdoria.
His career started well there, forming a formidable partnership with future Inter player and former Fiorentina striker Giampaolo Pazzini. Cassano provided useful assists and helped Sampdoria to the top of the Serie A table briefly by beating Inter. However his fiery temparament came to the fore again and had a well publicized bust-up with Chairman Ricardo Garrone, causing him to pack his bags yet again. Yet his precocious talent didn’t go unnoticed by Adriano Galliani and in January 2011, he acquired his services for Milan, coming along with an Eric Cantona like reputation of a troublesome temper, tiffs and quarrels with authority figures yet undoubted potential. With a good deal of skepticism from the Milan faithful, and perhaps sensing the fierce competition for starting positions in the Milan line-up (he was the 6th striker on board), Cassano in a press conference announced that he would be mending his ways.
He said ‘It has been my dream to play for a big club for a long time’ and termed his time at Madrid as a ‘disaster’, and vowed to show the world what he was made of, so much so that he famously told the Milan authorities to ‘lock me up’ if he messed up this golden chance to shine. He won over the faithful by terming the club as ‘great with a rich and fantastic history’ and put in some impressive performances, including a late penalty to seal a 3-0 win against crosstown rivals Inter that effectively won the scudetto. As they say, competition brings out the best in some and his performances improved even more conspicuously in the 2011-12 season start, finally claiming a regular starting position with the departure of Ronaldinho, injury to Pato and the dip in Robinho’s form.
Just like Cantona did for Manchested United, Cassano transformed his infamy to an almost indispensable role of a supporting striker, raking up assist after assist and also scoring some goals on the way. This was before tragedy struck after a game against AS Roma where Cassano suffered ischemic cerebral damage and is currently sitting out for quite a few months, many eagerly anticipating a return.
If you thought Cassano was controversial, I guess we have to increase the controversy meter 100 fold for Mr. Ibrahimovic. Right from his days in Ajax, to Juventus, Inter, Barcelona and now Milan, he has had troubles either with teammates(Rafael van der Vaart,Oguchi Onyewu) to managers(Josep Guardiola). Proud, self-confident and borderline arrogant is what he has been labeled by many. ‘In my mind,I am the best in the world and I don’t need a Ballon D’Or to prove it’ is the line that has triggered off many a criticism from fans worldwide. But looking at his record, one may argue that he isn’t far off the mark. A constant criticism has been that his form goes amiss in the Champions League; something that has spawned several jokes especially as the last two teams he left, Inter and Barcelona, have both won the Champions League the immediate season after he left.
However his league form has been excellent wherever he has gone. His promise in Ajax led to a bright future. He formed an effective parnership with David Trezeguet at Juventus and ably filled in when del Piero was injured. At Inter he was at times unstoppable and became Capocannoniere (highest Serie A goalscorer in the season) in 2009. Even in the so called ‘flop’ season for Barcelona, he scored 16 goals in 29 la Liga games (a goal in less than every 2 games) in a season hit by injury and sometimes coming on as a sub for the last 5 minutes.
And ever since he has arrived at the San Siro(this time for the red half of Milan), he has set the Serie A alight with goals scored in every manner imaginable 0 -dribbles and step overs against Bari, delightful lob against Chievo, a powerful header against Napoli, a long range effort from an acute angle against Palermo, and a lovely two-touch bicycle kick against Fiorentina.
Love him, or hate him you can’t deny that the man scores and has provided Milan with the incisiveness and killer instinct in front of goal that they so conspicuously were missing the previous years. Not just that he can also turn provider selflessly providing through-balls and helping Robinho, Pato, Nocerino and others get their names on the scoresheet. The fact that he has been on 8 consecutive league title winning teams can’t all be put down to luck. What Ronaldinho has done for Barcelona, Ibrahimovic has started with AC Milan – acting as talisman for the team, menacing on the field with slick passes and runs, scoring important goals (remember the 4-4 draw against Udinese?) and clinching a Serie A after 7 years and also the Supercoppa Italiana, scoring the equalizer on the way.
With all due respect to the rest of the team, it wouldn’t be too wrong to say that Ibrahimovic has been almost single-handedly responsible for the Diavoli turnaround. And all this for a sum of only 24 milion Euros!