AC Milan continue to win most of their games by a one-goal margin, meaning it is certainly now more than a coincidence.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, Milan have won eight times by a scoreline 1-0 – the highest number in the ‘top five’ European leagues – and 13 times by a single goal, in 33 games this season. Only Antonio Conte’s Napoli have won more games by a solitary goal in 2026-27.
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Fine margins
Winning with a goal from a player called the ‘Crazy Horse’ is the height of corto muso (winning by a nose). Massimiliano Allegri won 1-0 in Verona with one of his trademark performances, seen since September against a range of teams: minimal risks, score a goal, defend it.
How does Allegri always win 1-0? First of all, he built this solid Milan side early in the season, when he asked the team to control the tempo and minimise risks. Individual errors immediately dropped, drastically compared to the last two seasons under Pioli Fonseca and Conceicao.
The results have come accordingly: one-goal victories against Bologna, Napoli, Fiorentina, Roma, Inter, Lazio, Torino, Cagliari, Lecce, Pisa, Inter again, Torino again and now Verona. Thirteen of them by one-goal, as mentioned.
Don’t think Allegri will change the 3-5-2 formation that has given the team security. In Verona, Matteo Gabbia also returned to defence and provided stability that was missing against Udinese. Another interesting number: when Gabbia starts, Milan haven’t lost since August. It can’t be a coincidence.
Admittedly, Verona’s struggles – featuring only one starting striker (Orban) and only one from the bench (Vermesan) – helped. Against stronger teams, Milan would have conceded more than 0.50 in expected goals, but it’s a fact that they’ve won similar matches against stronger opponents.
So, the game at the Bentegodi was a perfect symbol of ‘Allegrismo’: a strong defence, a few late scares and a decisive goal from Rabiot. Speaking of horses, Strong Alpha – which Max owns – won the NBF Lanes Artikrill Horse Award at San Siro 24 hours before Verona-Milan.
He seemed to be running away with it, then slowed to the point of almost being overtaken, but in the sprint he pulled away and stayed ahead. Milan performed the same way in the Champions League.
Max won 14 games this season by 1-0 scoreline. That’s how good of a team this management has built.
Beating the 2nd worst team in the league by one single goal while getting only one corner kick (in the 85th minute) and allowing Verona to shoot twice as much as Milan.
Yeah, we’re dominating and winning for sure.
Sacchi + capello era its called: corto stretto