Luca Bianchin, a journalist, commented in La Gazzetta dello Sport on Milan’s win in Verona:
“The Duke Adrien Rabiot, on an April afternoon, decided to dirty his elegant white suit and settle a Verona–Milan match that was too ugly to be true. More ‘Allegri-style’ than this is impossible: a narrow win (0–1) with a goal from his iconic player and controversy over the… let’s say limited level of entertainment. That’s enough for Milan, who have only the Champions League in mind, and the Champions League they will go and get: in the table they are second (level on points with Napoli, better goal difference) and now have an eight-point lead over Como and Roma, three over Juve. In a normal world, with five rounds to go, that’s more than enough."
"Yes, but the match? It was flat for 40 minutes, so flat that you felt like going into the stands to shake hands with the spectators: ‘Congratulations on your love for football, but just so you know, in the city centre there’s an exhibition on the Last Supper that might be worth it…’. Sammarco started with three central defenders, two full-backs pushed out wide and two holding midfielders in the middle. Up front, alongside Orban, only Bernède and Belghali. Milan, faced with such caution, sat back without fuss. The result - what else could you expect? - was long stretches of boredom, with Montipò’s punched clearance from a Modrić free-kick the biggest thrill."
"There was some excitement towards the end of the first half. In the 32nd minute, the only fine move of Christian Pulisic’s match led to a shot by Rabiot, straight at the keeper. Between the 41st and 47th minutes came the match-winning goal and a missed chance for Belghali. In the second half, Sammarco brought on Vermesan, who may be a 2006-born player but at least he’s a striker, and he produced something. 8th minute: Belghali shot wide. 25th minute: Vermesan himself went close to equalising with a shot that went just to the left of Mike Maignan. 38th minute: a low cross from the right by Lovrić and a crucial sliding intervention by Gabbia on Orban. Gabbia himself had scored a goal nine minutes earlier that was ruled out for offside."
"In short, the classic ugly-but-winning Milan and the classic furious Allegri over the too many risks at the end. As for Verona, relegation to Serie B is now a certainty… and without an attack, how could it be otherwise? One might be tempted to call it a typical ugly match from the Middle Ages of Italian football, if it weren’t for the fact that in the Middle Ages Piazza dei Signori was built in Verona… and that is anything but ugly.”
