On the front pages of this morning’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport, Fabio Capello, former Rossoneri coach, commented on Milan’s victory in the Coppa Italia derby as follows:
“Football is that strange thing whereby Milan, in a season that remains extremely disappointing, manages to eliminate Inter, who are first in the league and in the Champions League semi-finals, after inflicting on them the third defeat in five derbies, without ever having lost one and having already lifted the Super Cup in the face of their cousins in Riyadh. We are at the paradox of paradoxes, but yesterday’s victory, which takes the Rossoneri to the Coppa Italia final, was clear, decisive, exhilarating as in very few occasions this season. Certainly, in the first half Inzaghi’s team, at 0–0, had the opportunities to take the lead, but in the second half I finally saw Milan play like Milan: confident, determined, strong. While Inter, as has happened to them on other occasions, somewhat disappeared."
Capello added:
"Now, on the value of the national cup there is the usual quarrel: it counts for little when you lose, but very much when you win. Take Milan, who now will have the opportunity to lift their second trophy of the season, as Conceição has often reminded everyone even recently. Fine, let one thing be clear: even beating Bologna (or Empoli, but I doubt the Tuscan side can overturn the first-leg result—3–0—at the Dall’Ara) in Rome on May 14 would not save a season in which they don’t even fight to qualify for the Champions League. Then of course, winning a trophy is better than not winning it, all the more so if it is now the only way to secure a place in next season’s European cups."
Will it be enough to confirm Sergio Conceição on the bench? Capello commented:
"In my opinion the question is wrongly posed: in a coach’s job, even before the results in the Super Cup or the Coppa Italia, I would focus instead on the dressing room, asking myself whether there is a shared path that can lead one to think optimistically about the future. But these are considerations that only those inside Milan can make, and certainly not I."
