AC Milan get another shot at Feyenoord in tonight’s second leg at San Siro, and once again the focus is on Santiago Gimenez as he looks to hurt his former club.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, the coach Sergio Conceicao and the Milan fans want to see Gimenez celebrate like on Saturday, after he scored the winning goal against Hellas Verona.
Gimenez also scored in his first league appearance, netting the goal to make it 2-0 away against Empoli. Given that on his debut he got an assist for Joao Felix against Roma, the only game so far in which he failed to make an impact was the one against his former side Feyenoord.
Today he will have the chance to redeem himself even if the mission does not promise to be easy because Beelen and Hancko know how to make his life difficult: they know his characteristics and on the first leg they allowed him the misery of one shot, which was blocked.
They practically eliminated him from the field and despite the 1-0 scoreline, they ‘forced’ Conceiçao to replace him before the ninetieth minute. It matters little to Santi that when he left De Kuip his former fans showered him with applause in memory of the 65 goals he scored in his 105 Dutch appearances.
Now the Mexico international has turned the page and is thinking solely of Milan: he wants to reach the round of 16 for the first time, which he has only seen on TV until now. With the Rossoneri he has the chance to go further and he doesn’t intend to let it slip away.
The investment
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Giorgio Furlani and Geoffrey Moncada – with the green light from the owner Gerry Cardinale – bought Gimenez in the last few days of the winter transfer window, bringing forward an expense planned for the summer.
Gimenez has already shown that he is a true centre-forward with his sense for goal and presence inside the area. The deal was €28.5m plus bonuses to reach €35m and part of that could be repaid tonight, given that €11m is the prize money for getting into the lat 16.
El Bebote’s numbers in the Champions League are a sort of ‘insurance’: so far he has scored seven goals in 10 matches and tonight the former Porto coach hopes that he will also score his first European goal with the Rossoneri tonight.
Ibrahimovic also hopes so, having called him ‘a killer, what we were missing’ in a press conference yesterday. He expected him to do well and he must continue like this, being in the right place at the right time, as happened against Hellas Verona.
Milan signed him precisely for this reason: because they believe that at 23 years old he has room to improve further and also establish himself in Serie A, after having hurt the defences of almost all of Holland.
A special fan
Today Santi will be cheered on by his wife, but not by his parents who have returned to Mexico. Fernanda posted a photo of herself with her sister (with her boyfriend) and Santiago yesterday.
After the reunion with her Dutch friends last week (she went to the stadium by tram as usual and did not shy away from taking photos with the Feyenoord fans), she is now focused on finding a new home, a mission she has practically completed.
She and the new Milan striker have chosen to live in Milano, to experience the city just as they did in Rotterdam. In Italy it will be a little more complicated than in the Netherlands given the warmth of the fans. Especially if the number seven scores at the pace that has distinguished him so far in his career.
Santi and his wife, a Mexican model and influencer who he married last May in Punta Mita, are not influenced by people’s attention and do not hold back when asked for selfies. Between a goal and a smile, they want to continue living as they always have.
No pressure then?
Needs to be pressure, at this level it’s about delivering in the important moments not some random coppa Italia or bottom half serie A teams.
The fantastic four are only in name, they haven’t earned it, really hoping they don’t flop tonight especially the new boys Santi and Joao
Different environment, different support. Everything to play for. Santi needs to show up big tonight and make a statement. Hopefully the service will be there for him.