As far as goals that a player can score, it doesn’t get much bigger than a winner in the Champions League in the Madrid derby. Brahim Diaz had that honour on Tuesday.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, the goal itself was a touch of magic to open up a predictable cagey affair too. Brahim danced inside the area, weaving past the defenders and finishing into the bottom corner, something Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Jr. would be proud of.
Milan fans had deja vu: February 14, 2023, Milan 1-0 Tottenham, a goal by Brahim Diaz. Even then it was the first leg of a Champions League round of 16 tie and he became youngest goal for the Rossoneri in a UCL knockout match since Kakà in 2004.
During his time at Milan, Brahim scored twice against Juve, Liverpool and Napoli. In his first year back at Real Madrid, he scored in one of the two league derbies and in the Spanish Super Cup (again against Atletico).
This season, in the Champions League, he scored against Manchester City and now this latest sting against Diego Simeone’s men. Connecting the dots is easy: Brahim Diaz is a player for important matches.
Ricky Massara, during his time at Milan, used to say: Brahim is not afraid, when the tension rises he plays better, a champion quality that even his first coaches noticed.
“Very happy with the goal and especially the one-goal advantage,” Brahim said after the match. “They are good, it’s difficult to find a solution with them but we are Madrid. We want to win everything.” He is only the fifth Madrid player ever to score against Atletico in three different competitions.
The Milan fans, who probably didn’t fully understand him, now have regrets. Many didn’t think he was up to the standard of the club, but he has fought for playing time and scored so many importance goals for Real Madrid since.
The management have far fewer regrets. They kept him on loan for three years and in the first months of 2023 tried to buy him, allocating more than €20m to the possible operation. Real Madrid said no, brought him home and included him in the squad.
Carlo Ancelotti did the rest and at the Santiago Bernabeu – when Brahim scored against Atletico – he hugged his son Davide, finally happy, and he has his beloved Milan to thank in some ways.
F**ckn Madrid
Not Madrids fault Milan bent over.
Even my 13y son wondered why we didn’t make him permanently. After the sell of tonali and kessie plus the failure of securing Diaz I realized Milan is goin down without knowing it
Who’s with me thinking that Brahim is far better than Felix🤔?
Would you have said that in 2023? Hindsight is 20/20.
He ain’t coming back anytime soon and yes he is better than felix has been for the last few seasons. Truth is Felix is a good player with an even better marketing team
Diaz only plays well with better players around him. He was hugely inconsistent at Milan.
Exactly
Before ppl get overly hyped. He was supposed to be Hakan’s sub. A capable one at that. Perfect for our needs
#squadconstruction
I’m with you. Brahim has proven himself but Felix is just a fancy player with no result. That’s why he has been moving from one club to another for the past years.
Diaz was good for us on the right wing. Sell chukeweze. If leao goes then we could have pulisic on the left, Diaz on the right, reijnders as AM and gimenez upfront. Although 4231 isn’t working. Puli and Diaz could fit nicely behind gimenez though in a 4321. Latter formation could rotate with reijnders giving all three some rest at times especially pulisic. Throw in liberali too as a sub sometimes to help rest legs in a two AM. And Felix can go back to Chelsea. Oh a buy back tonali as our boss gattuso position. And finally hire ancelotti back haha
4231 is simply not suitable for Milan anymore. Without kessie and tonali, this formation doesn’t work. We have a formidable attacking left flank only if Theo and Leao shows up. Otherwise Milan leaks goals in the left flank.
Sums up 4231 cannot make it
Use 442 is much better
Buy a better striker
Forger DIAZ
Diaz is a good player all time but is Madrid dat doesn’t include option to buy on his contract ancelotti send he will need him,bcoz Milan try all their best to keep him but is abortive,I can remember dat.
He give his best and help ACM win scudetto. He is also willing to help defense even he is not good at defense. Much better than Sergio golden Boy JF. Too bad Real refuse 20m euro offer from ACM
What i like from the article is diaz is some kind of champ player who did it best when under pressure. We’re lack of that kind of player now. So sad we dont play as a team now. If you guys watch the way we play. Theyre just Too slow to pass cause there so many miss reading of movement. Adding new star like felix make it worse since he looks like try to force his move while others hadnt fit in well. If we sell leao i’d prefer we buy 1 or 2 mature players who knows how to blend and make these kids blending well