The result was the priority for AC Milan last night against Club Brugge given how they had started in the Champions League, and they obtained three vital points.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) admits that Paulo Fonseca’s team certainly didn’t shine given that they let a lead slip despite having a man advantage, but the important thing was to win in order to keep the hopes up of finishing as high in the table as possible.
Milan seemed to be unlocked in the second half after the 1-1 goal and Rafael Leao being brought off. While it seems excessive to say that the Portuguese winger had a bad game, he did get into some good positions and ultimately provide no end product.
There is an emblematic image to be captured that has not gone unnoticed: after coming off Leao was walking behind the goal towards the dugout when Noah Okafor set up Tijjani Reijnders to make it 2-1. The ex-Lille man limited himself to raising his arms to the sky in celebration with a smile, but nothing more, then continuing his walk towards the bench.
At present it is not known how things will end between Milan and Leao, but one thing is certain: the geopolitics of the Rossoneri are different today. The fulcrum, the soul, the epicentre of the team are no longer Theo Hernandez and Leao as in the year of the Scudetto, but rather Christian Pulisic and Reijnders.
Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze are also beginning to contribute while Youssouf Fofana continues to show importance. Francesco Camarda meanwhile became the youngest Italian to ever debut in the Champions League and would have scored but for a marginal offside.
Another Milan seems possible, one more dependant on the collective, and Fonseca deserves credit for understanding this in the eyes of the newspaper.