The Coppa Italia Final gives Milan the opportunity to win a trophy, secure their European status and start the Gennaro Gattuso era, writes Richard Hall.
The mood in Milan maybe positive as they swept Hellas Verona aside this weekend, but Juventus in the Coppa Italia Final will be a different matter. They face the ultimate winners, the ruthless pragmatists, the consistent best, despite how they play. Milan have always been able to compete, but declined in recent years, now this is a chance to put that right.
Go back to September, those beautiful days when football was fashionable again in Milan. Every man, woman or child was positive about their team, the city had pride again. Inter were on a high, Suning Group had offered a huge boost their project, the Champions League looked possible. Milan were late to the party, they had a new investment group also of Chinese origin, they started the season with 60,000-plus watching Milan take on their poor-quality opponents in the early Europa League rounds.
The Rossoneri had spent over €220m with an entire new line-up now expected to challenge Serie A’s best. Vincenzo Montella had until then based his team around youth players and created an identity for the side. When the expensive masses arrived, L’Aeroplanino couldn’t find his best XI, it was a long and laborious process that ultimately saw him sacked. In came Gennaro and nobody expected anything.
Gattuso isn’t all blood and thunder, although his early appearances suggested he might be. He was (like Luciano Spalletti at Inter) insistent on finding that first XI that could perform for him. When Benevento’s goalkeeper scored to make it 2-2 Milan in the dying seconds of his debut, many thought this was a ‘Tony Adams at Arsenal’ situation.
What happened next was a mixture of expectancy and surprise, as the ripe old dog exhibited not just grit and determination, but style and flare. Anyone who has watched Serie A heavily this season won’t need telling about the surprise in style that Milan under Gattuso exhibited against Sampdoria and Roma. Here, they were more than simply attritional. They showed style, class and determination. This was Milan.
Juventus are next in Rome, the ultimate ruthless pragmatists. Despite playing football that has underwhelmed, they are still (unless a miracle occurs) champions for the seventh year in a row. In the Coppa Italia they face a Milan side who want to prove that they are on their way back. This also gives legitimacy to Gattuso’s reign, as a trophy in their first season would make this seem more like the start of an era rather than just a man holding them together.
This is not a Coppa Italia for Milan like many others, this is a turning point. Gattuso has grit and determination, we knew that, he has style and likes attacking football, we didn’t know that. He won as a player, can he win as a Coach?
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