AC Milan have Mike Maignan to thank for the fact that their first leg deficit is not any worse than 2-0 following last night’s defeat against Inter.
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As this morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (as seen below) recalls, when referee Gil Manzano pointed to the spot under the Curva Sud with half an hour gone, most Milan fans were hoping for another miracle from Maignan or the tie would be over.
The scoreline was already 2-0 by that point as Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan had both scored inside the opening 11 minutes, which the French goalkeeper could do very little about, but thankfully the penalty was overturned.
Maignan was called into important stops on Mkhitaryan and Dzeko after that too as Inter really could have been out of sight, and a third goal would have been ‘like climbing a mountain without oxygen’ in terms of coming back in the tie.
There was some panic in the first half when Maignan stopped, squatted, put one knee on the ground and the referee immediately called over the Rossoneri doctor. However, Mike got up and started playing again as if nothing had happened.
Now that the Rafael Leao issue has finally been resolved, the management have to deal with Mike’s renewal too, and it would be advisable to proceed quickly.
