On Friday morning, the average Calcio fan could cast their eye over the weekends fixtures and be relatively certain, or at least fairly assured that Lombardy’s favourite sons, Milan and Inter would each be walking away with three points, to continue the cat and mouse chase at the summit of the Serie A mountain.
Alas that was not to be, and as is so often in football, there was a few shocks in store for the usually so assured Milanese sides.
First up were second from top Inter, who went to second from bottom Brescia, and were very lucky not to lose against a Caracciolo inspired side who, despite going down to a Samuel Eto’o tap-in, equalised, attacked excellently and won a last minute penalty, but Caracciolo failed to double his goal tally and win his side a vital three points in the fight to stay up. Brescia were the better side for the majority of the second half in particular, and will rue the missed chances, not least the last minute spot kick.
So, it was Milan’s turn to play their opposite number in the table, as it was bottom club Bari who made the journey to Guiseppe Meazza, and in contrast to Brescia, who will consider themselves hard done by, Bari will leave Milan knowing they had earned a point that, on a number of occasions could, and perhaps should have been taken away.
The Rossoneri dominated posession, but just like the European trip to White Hart Lane, were found wanting when it came to applying the final touch. However there were a couple of questionable refereeing decisions, where Il Diavolo put the ball in the back of the net on two occasions before being disallowed, with Robinho and Ibrahimovic found guilty of offside and handball respectively.
Upon review, Robinho appears level, and Ibrahimovic appears to control the ball with his shoulder rather than his hand. You can decide for yourself if the decisions were correct.
However, it went from bad to worse for Allegri’s men, as star forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic got frustrated with the days events, and lashed out at Marco Rossi, receiving a straight red card (relatively odd considering the Swede recieved a yellow card earlier in the game) and will miss the potential title decider between the San Siro’s twin residents.
A truly devastating blow for the league leaders, who could have ended the game not just with their star man on the pitch, but 7 points above Il Serpenti, and tighten their grip on the Scudetto as we approach the climax of the Easter period. So often near the climax of a season we see some sort of drop in from due to nerves, panic or desperation, but rarely are there simultaneous disappointments from both teams operating in the upper echelons of the table.
A truly unique weekend, and one that could have a potentially decisive effect on the destination of the title.
Join Forza Italian Football on Twitter and Facebook.
