Inter the dragon

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/10/2020 (2131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a year ago Tuesday that Marco Giampaolo managed his seventh and final match for AC Milan. The 2-1 win at Genoa didn’t save his job, however. With only three victories and six goals to show for his two-and-a-half months in charge, he was replaced by Stefano Pioli — the much-travelled former Inter Milan boss who, at the time, wasn’t expected to last much longer than his successor.

And he very nearly didn’t.

Overseeing only three wins of his own before Christmas, he entered the new year effectively a lame duck as the Milan board lined up Ralf Rangnick to take over. It seemed the Rossoneri were content to throw in the towel and retool for the next campaign, but then COVID-19 forced the shutdown of Serie A, halting the club’s plans. When the schedule restarted in June, something had changed.

Milan started to win. They started to score. And with each result came some more confidence. If lockdown measures had allowed for self-reflection and the sense of a new start when restrictions were lifted, Milan took full advantage. More advantage than anyone else, in fact. A lot more.

Unbeaten since their final match before last season’s three-month interruption, Milan goes into Saturday’s Derby della Madonnina with Inter (11 a.m., DAZN) as the form team in Europe. They’ve not lost in 23 outings, and they can count 224 days since their most recent defeat. It’s a run that includes Serie A, the Coppa Italia, the Europa League and pre-season friendlies, and with nine points so far this term they’re level with Atalanta atop the Italian table. Impressively, they’ve yet to concede a goal.

Pioli, it goes without saying, is still the manager.

Amidst some other boardroom chaos that also saw chief football officer Zvonimir Boban sacked in March, and as the club’s value continued to depreciate, forcing a trimming of the wage budget, the 54-year-old was handed a two-year contract extension. It may have taken some time for his influence to grow at San Siro, but that his tenure now includes the most stable and successful period of recent years is no coincidence.

Pioli’s is a steady hand. His football is enjoyable to play, and to watch, and his faith in his players has been rewarded with a now-extended string of impressive performances.

Real Madrid loanee Theo Hernandez might be the best left-back in the world at the moment, and the passing of Ivory Coast midfielder Franck Kessie combines well with the defensive instincts of Algeria international Ismael Bennacer in the centre of the park. Up top, repatriated striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored three goals in the two matches he’s played so far this season.

“I was hoping to reach the derby with three wins in the league and (progressing) through the rounds of Europe,” Piolo stated during his pre-match press conference. “We arrived here doing well, but our opponents are doing well, too.”

Inter, the home team for the Derby della Madonnina (named for the gilded statue of Mary atop a Duomo spire), have themselves lost just once in Serie A since the shutdown. After opening their current campaign with a 4-3 thriller against Fiorentina at San Siro, they beat Benevento 5-2 in Campania before playing Lazio to a 1-1 draw in Rome.

They could leapfrog Milan with a win Saturday, although with a handful of players ruled out with coronavirus — including defender Milan Skriniar and midfielder Roberto Gagliardini, who had started the season exceptionally well — they might actually be the underdogs at kickoff. Their brief preparations won’t have been helped by Arturo Vidal’s late return from international duty.

“The last to return were the Chileans,” mused manager Antonio Conte at his Friday availability. “Had I had the possibility to choose, I would have preferred to have an extra day. We know that there’s also international calendars to respect and we will adapt.” He added, respectfully: “The derby brings greater difficulties. We face a strong Milan who are doing well in the wake of last season’s final months.”

Tactically, Milan will look to take advantage of an Inter midfield that looks a bit slow and will double-team Samu Castillejo and Davide Calabria opposite Ivan Perisic. COVID-19 has also impacted the Rossoneri by infecting defender Matteo Gabbia, so Alessio Romagnoli will partner Simon Kjaer in a tandem tasked with neutralizing Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku.

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Still, it’s Inter that have decidedly more personnel problems at present, and Milan continue to have a veneer of invincibility about them. It’s something no one would have expected a year ago. But, then again, the past year has changed almost everything.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

Twitter @JerradPeters