Blog: Geriatric Milan
Arsenal’s young guns are to be respected, but James Horncastle insists the experience of Milan could make all the difference
Last Saturday evening I could be found, head in hands, watching Milan play Parma at the Ennio Tardini. I looked on, incredulous, as Nelson Dida lay stricken on the sidelines with back spasms. No image could have been more powerful to those cynics who view the Rossoneri as a quintessentially geriatric football team.
Arguably more lamentable than Didastro’s demise and the subsequent injury to the agile Australian Zeljko Kalac was the aged and weary way in which Carlo Ancelotti’s side went about the game against the Gialloblu. After a miserable first half without a single shot at goal the introduction of a ‘resting’ Andrea Pirlo was necessary to liven up the match. His entry was symbolic because it suggested that the Milanisti lack alternatives and cannot, like Inter, rely upon their second string to eke out results.
The Diavolo failed to score for the first time in 15 away games against the team that has conceded more goals at home than any other in Serie A. This doesn’t bode well for the Rossoneri’s trip to the Emirates where Arsenal have scored in every fixture this season.
The oldest team in the competition is toothless in attack and the fact that Kaka remains their top scorer with eight goals after 23 games – half of David Trezeguet’s total – tells its own story. Just before the interval on Saturday, Milan’s exasperated faithful could be heard singing: “We want 11 lions.”
But what of the Lions? When Paolo Maldini hangs up his boots at the close of this campaign he could be joined in the retirement home by injury blighted Ronaldo, Marcos Cafu, Dida, and – god forbid anything should happen to him – Pippo Inzaghi. Young cubs, Alexandre Pato and Alberto Paloschi, are too inexperienced to lead the line for the world champions.
Keeping it old-school, Carletto’s line-up against Arsenal could feature as many as nine players over 30 while Arsene Wenger’s team sheet will be composed of lads fresh out of kindergarten – the North London side have an average age of just 25 years and six months.
But it would be senile to write Milan off. The victory against Juventus at Old Trafford in 2003 was believed to be the swansong of a golden generation. And the Rossoneri’s humiliation in Istanbul in 2005 was supposed to confirm that opinion only for the San Siro giants to avenge Liverpool’s success with a stunning triumph in Athens last year.
Arsenal may be younger and faster, but that is not always enough. Milan are wiser and more experienced which is usually what counts on these cold February nights. Gunners beware – there is life in the old dog yet.
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