About a year ago, Milan was experiencing one of the very rare peaks of enthusiasm from last season: the January transfer window had just closed with the arrival of signings announced as hugely important (João Félix, Giménez, Walker), and league wins against Empoli and Hellas Verona had come thanks to the impact of the new faces. A flash in the pan destined to fade after only a few matchdays, something incomparable to what Massimiliano Allegri’s Milan is showing today.
15 points more than last season:
Even though at this time last year Milan was celebrating a couple of consecutive league victories, there’s simply no comparison in the standings with this year’s Rossoneri: after 24 Serie A matches, the Diavolo has 15 more points than last season. This is the undeniable fact that, together with second place in the table, tells the story of how Massimiliano Allegri has changed Milan. All the other talk counts for nothing. Then you can pull back the curtain and see the precious treasure hidden behind that number 15, and you find all the reasons that have led to these results.
Allegri's Milan...
Today we find ourselves facing an “Allegri-style” Milan. The match the Rossoneri went on to win in Pisa, a difficult ground for everyone this year, at least for one half, was a key game in the race for a Champions League spot, also because in the first half of the season the Rossoneri struggled enormously against newly promoted teams. It’s a team with character, the kind shown by its champions like Luka Modrić, who carried the side on his shoulders in moments of need: a scene seen many times this year with Maignan, Rabiot, and, at the start of the season, Pulisic as well. Last year the charisma of the top players was almost always missing; this year Max has found it and made them take responsibility, as per Milan News.
Apart from the silly goal conceded yesterday, the Rossoneri defense is also clearly more solid: Milan has conceded 18 goals so far, the second-best defensive record alongside Como. Last year they had let in as many as 26. It’s not so much about flashy football or pure results; it’s about how much this team believes in its own abilities and brings onto the pitch the results of the work done during the week. For now, with some ups and a few understandable downs, things are working.
