Going into the Champions League campaign after a difficult return last season, not many will have expected Matteo Gabbia and Tommaso Pobega to be among the scorers.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport recalls that Pobega and Gabbia were both born in 1999, both came through the academy at Milan and played many games together before the midfield went off on various loan spells and returned to base this summer.
Both scored their first senior goals for the Rossoneri in the Champions League, and Gabbia’s was the one that started the rout against Dinamo Zagreb as he revealed his emotions after the game.
“I remember when I was on the other side and celebrated as a fan for Milan’s goals. I was a fan, I went to San Siro and today a great dream has come true for me,” he said.
There was the chance he could have left on loan in the summer given the presence of Kalulu and Tomori as the starting pairing plus Kjaer and the emerging Thiaw also in the squad, but Gabbia chose to stay and wait for his moment.
At 23 years and 4 days he became the second-youngest Milan defender to score in the Champions League after Panucci (20 years and 233 days, in 1993). It was his first goal for the Rossoneri and only his second in professional football after the one he scored for Lucchese in 2018-19.
The report even mentions how Gabbia started as a midfielder, in the middle in front of the defence, but his skills were refined and a more obvious role jumped out. While he may not have a particular specialty like Tomori and Kalulu’s pace or Kjaer’s physicality, he knows how to keep growing and improving.
