Former AC Milan and Juventus midfielder Antonio Nocerino believes that the Rossoneri wouldn’t have suffered such an extreme decline over the last decade had Sulley Muntari’s ‘ghost goal’ against La Vecchia Signora been awarded in 2012.
Muntari had headed over the line before Gianluigi Buffon palmed away in a huge game in the race to win the Scudetto during the 2011/12 season, with Juventus going on to win the title after the 1-1 draw at the Stadio San Siro.
“It wasn’t after the game everyone went mad, it was straight after the goal,” Nocerino told The Italian Football Podcast. “It was incredible, it was a goal. Buffon moved behind his goalline when he clawed the ball.
“This moment changed the future of Milan. With this goal, Milan would have won the Scudetto. The big players – Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] and Thiago Silva – wouldn’t have left the club that summer. The club would have invested more money to win as well going forward. So this ghost goal changed the history of Milan.
“If Milan had won the Scudetto, Zlatan and Thiago would have stayed, Milan for sure would have won more.”
Nocerino enjoyed an incredible relationship with Ibrahimovic and scored ten Serie A goals during that 2011/12 season with the Swede playing in front of him.
“It happened naturally in training,” Nocerino said, explaining their relationship. “When I arrived at Milan, I used to study Zlatan and the way he received the ball and created the space for teammates. And when I didn’t play the first three games of the season I watched him very closely.
“I saw that I had the physical potential to be a box-to-box player and make the late runs into the area. So I tried this every game, and Zlatan started to see how I was always arriving in the box at the right times and he supplied me. But the ability Zlatan had was incredible. He is a monster.”
