Verona is not a bad place to set the scene for a dramatic denouement. Or so we’ve heard. And for AC Milan on Sunday night, the fair city was the stage for the latest act of their grand battle with city rivals Inter, by some distance the finest title race in Europe this season.
Milan needed to win. Inter had moved ahead of them by a single point on Friday night, coming from two down to beat Empoli 4-2 in thrilling fashion. And to win, Milan had to overcome a hoodoo as well as a fine attacking team. Twice previously Verona had put paid to Milan’s chances in tight title races – once in 1973 and again in 1990 – earning them the title ‘fatal Verona’.
When Davide Faraoni gave Hellas Verona the lead with a powerful back-post header seven minutes before half-time, then, the Nerazzurri half of Milan rejoiced. It looked as if their Rossoneri enemy might fall foul of another tragic Veronan tale.
But this title race is one of twists and turns, of slip-ups and comebacks, of sometimes imperfect football but pure, unadulterated drama. And Milan were not going to let Faraoni’s blow keep them down for long.
Two minutes into first-half injury time, Rafael Leao was released up the left flank. Nicolo Casale went out to meet him, but the defender was a lamb to a lion. Leao skinned him and burst into the box, crossing low for Sandro Tonali to tuck home. The momentum had shifted back towards Milan, in the game and the title race.
In the second half, the Rossoneri made that momentum count, Leao at the centre of the action again, as he has been all season. Four minutes after half time, and just 13 seconds after he’d been the man on the post at a defensive corner, he burst into the box again – his beautiful blend of elegant technique, composure and physicality all on imperious display – and crossed for Tonali again. Same outcome, 2-1.
Late on, substitute Alessandro Florenzi added a fine third – another feather in the cap of Milan boss Stefano Pioli – and it was…
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