The game between Napoli and AC Milan was such an end-to-end contest played at such a high pace that it felt like nobody wanted it to end, but when it eventually did the score was 2-2.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) in their analysis this morning write that neither Rudi Garcia nor Stefano Pioli ‘fell from the tower’ and instead ‘remained clinging, with their feet in the air’.
They both risked winning and losing a match that would have had big implications on the future of both as the head coaches of Napoli and Milan respectively. Instead, the result was a draw that seemed fair.
The first half was Milan’s as they scored two goals, the second was Napoli’s who produced an impressive comeback. Pioli deserves praise for sticking to his ideas in the opening 45 minutes, showin faith in his men and his style despite the 3-0 loss in Paris.
It was a brave and aggressive Milan, with Olivier Giroud ending a goal drought that had been going since September 1st. The injuries to Pierre Kalulu and Christian Pulisic did change things though, and the inexperienced Marco Pellegrino messed up on Napoli’s first goal, while Luka Romero conceded the free kick for the second.
The book of injuries is growing and will need to be studied as a separate issue. Perhaps, among the changes, the physicality of a player like Tommaso Pobega would have been useful.
Pioli brought Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud off for Noah Okafor and Luka Jovic, remaining determined to add energy and to try and win the game, but in the end a ‘reassembled and scared’ Milan slip to third.
Garcia’s decision to switch to a 4-2-3-1 at the break and to support Simeone with Raspadori and Politano proved to be a game-changer, one which resulted in both goals and made the Maradona very hostile as the crowd got up for it.
After Rrahmani had denied Giroud’s shot in the second minute, the tide of the battle turned as the Frenchman won two headers to make it four goals scored at the Maradona in the league. It could have been 3-0 too, had Reijnders shown a bit more composure.
After a dominant first half it is possible that the Rossoneri thought they had three points in their pocket at the interval and yet their injuries caused a reshuffle which Napoli’s fresh legs exploited.
It is an honest and hard-fought draw, one which doesn’t leave either side feeling content, but frees them from pre-Halloween nightmares.
