Team Focus: Resurgent Milan Beginning to Bubble to the Surface

Milan are yet to play champagne football, but Sinisa Mihajlovic believes they have the making of a “fine sparkling wine” after a flat start to the season. “We took six points from our first four games and suffered a lot.” There is a fizz about Milan. “We’ve taken 10 in the last four and it should have been 12.” All of a sudden the team is bubbling along rather nicely. Away in Palermo on Wednesday night, Milan played with lightheaded abandon and, quite ironically in the week Nigel de Jong left for LA Galaxy, Dutch courage. Evidently still merry from their biggest win in the Madonnina in almost five years, they let themselves go and displayed none of the inhibition that has held them back previously.  

Sometimes it just so happens that you need to forget yourself in order to find yourself again. Milan had accumulated plenty of demons in the last two years. Mihajlovic spoke about needing an exorcist. But now the psychological work he has done seems to have taken effect. While still confused as a club, Milan appear to have acquired peace of mind as a team. The derby felt like a definitive turning point. You get the impression that a group desperately seeking confirmation that they’re on the up again finally got what they were looking for. They needed to believe it was not a flash in the pan or another false dawn and that there was in fact genuine substance to it and it was building to something.  

Victory in the derby wasn’t down to one individual, even if Alex has become the symbol of it after history repeated itself and life imitated the artwork of the Curva Sud’s pre-match choreography, a depiction of Mark Hateley’s towering header against Inter in 1984.  The veteran Brazilian’s goal stole the headlines, but he didn’t put a foot wrong in defence either. Juraj Kucka was a monster in midfield. He drove through Inter like a tank and won 87% of his duels. The much-maligned captain Riccardo Montolivo, dubbed Mortovivo or Living dead by his detractors, is also experiencing a renaissance. Criticised for a lack of dynamism amid scepticism of his ability to play in a 4-4-2 formation, there was much consternation when it emerged he has made more interceptions (82) than any other player in Serie A this season. 

Keisuke Honda is also playing his best football since joining Milan. Better even than when he started last season with six goals in his opening seven games. He isn’t playing in his preferred role behind the strikers. Instead he is out wide and while he doesn’t have the pace to beat opponents, nor the skill to go past them in 1v1 situations, his crossing ability is formidable. Honda completed 67% of his crosses against Inter. Alex’s goal, the first Inter have conceded from a header this season, arrived from one of them. In Palermo on Wednesday night, he almost scored from a corner. Voted Man of the Match, it was a display reminiscent of the one Honda put on against Frosinone before Christmas, when he created five goalscoring chances as Milan came back from behind and won for the first time this season.  

It’s a welcome development because until not so long ago, the creative burden fell almost exclusively on the shoulders Giacomo Bonaventura. One of the moments of the derby was when he left Jeison Murillo on the deck before playing in M’Baye Niang to deliver the coup de grace. Had Samir Handanovic not saved Niang’s first effort, Bonaventura, the player behind 53 of the chances Milan have created this season, would have got an eighth assist of the season. Only Lorenzo Insigne (10) has laid on more in Serie A.  

Of course, no one is more pleased at Bonaventura getting some extra help than Milan’s strikers. For much of this season they have been starved of service often taking it upon themselves to start and finish moves. See for example, Luiz Adriano’s pass for Carlos Bacca’s goal against Empoli back in August. Bacca has had to be as clinical as they come. His conversion rate is the highest in the league of those to score five or more goals at 28.6%. Nine of his 12 goals have arrived from his first shot on target, but things now appear to be coming easier. Bacca has scored in each of his last five appearances in all competitions.  

Since recovering from a fractured foot, Niang has made a place in the starting line up his own as Bacca’s partner. A loan spell at Genoa a year ago has brought him on leaps and bounds. We had to wait a long time for his first league goal in a Milan shirt - 36 games in all - but now he can’t stop. He has combined for 11 in all competitions, scoring twice and assisting twice in his last three Serie A appearances.  

All told, Milan now have the look of a settled team, which can’t be said for the ever-changing Inter. Gigi Donnarumma’s promotion was a risk but - broadly speaking - has paid off. Only Handanovic (82.3%) has a higher shot-to-save ratio than the 16-year-old wunderkind (77.6%). Milan didn’t record a clean sheet until after Donnarumma replaced Diego Lopez at the end of October. They’ve now kept seven and Wednesday night marked the first time they have gone without conceding in back-to-back games in a year. The defence could still use an upgrade, but Ignazio Abate and Luca Antonelli are dependable. Alex isn’t the answer long-term but he is a better, far more composed presence beside Alessio Romagnoli than Philippe Mexes and Cristian Zapata. A semblance of solidity has been restored.  

Milan have found continuity since moving to 4-4-2. Of their last 10 games, they have won five, drawn four and lost only once. They should have got more from games against Carpi, Verona, Bologna and Empoli, but they can’t turn the clock back and besides; they are on the right track. Their second half against Roma and the wins against Fiorentina and Inter are encouraging. Derbies have been great catalysts before. Gianni Rivera recalled how beating Inter 58 years ago injected Milan with such belief they then went onto win the Scudetto. That won’t happen this season. It’s far too late and even if we reset the championship and everyone started again from zero, Milan wouldn’t be a match for Napoli and Juventus.  

But the derby can still act as a launchpad for other objectives. The Champions League places are six points away and Milan are in better form than Fiorentina and Inter. It’s a long shot and it seems improbable. A resurgent Roma will provide competition for it too, but this sparkling wine could yet turn into champagne. One that’s fit for an end of season celebration.

Have Milan finally turned a corner in their underwhelming Serie A campaign? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below