Milan is completely different from Rome. As a way of life, as intentions, as ability to live football. More aristocratic Milan, noisier Rome. And yet they are experiencing the same crisis, with a lowest common denominator. Maybe even the highest: an American ownership that believes it can make soccer like football. With data, with showbiz, with expensive tickets. And above all without taking into account the idea of the fans because, as Antonio De Curtis would say, because “I know me and you…” we don’t finish the sentence.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic did it, before Liverpool. After being caught out, with the absence after the failed victory against Lazio, Milan did beat Venezia. However, the opponent was a sacrificial victim and a victory after four games would have suggested a response of circumstance. Instead, like at the end of an episode of The Simpsons in which a certain video game suggested caution, Ibra opened the accelerator and used maximum power. “The ball is in. The parking lot”. Here, Milan was parked by Liverpool in a game that seemed like it could bring some joy, with Pasalic’s immediate advantage. Now Fonseca will pay for everyone, who is certainly guilty, but perhaps less than the others. Because, like Rudi Garcia a year ago, the choices are made by those who decide, certainly not by those who propose and hope to reach a certain objective. If Fonseca is inadequate, why was he chosen? And if there was no intention – as there isn’t – to protect him in every way, why bet on him with the classic self-assurance of someone who will hit the wall? Maldini also made many mistakes in his early years, then he grew with experience. Ibra will probably do the same. It remains to be seen whether he will want to do so.
The one who is not speaking is Lina Souloukou, who ended up in the eye of the storm after the choice of Daniele De Rossi. A coach whose contract was renewed for three years no later than two months ago. Core de Roma, worse start than Fonseca’s, perhaps he pays for wanting to give something more to the Romans and the Romanisti, to achieve his goals at all costs. So a discreet war on all fronts, especially on the market. Antagonizing those who decide and who have real power within the club. It doesn’t matter if Florian Ghisolfi doesn’t answer the agents’ calls (of almost none, not to mention the journalists) and in fact seems like a facade sports director. The Dybala issue is paradoxical, because it’s the best contract in the world: not even I would have gone to Arabia because he already earns a decent amount in Rome and, in fact, there is also a life outside of football. Dybala is an economic burden for Rome, but it’s not Souloukou with the budget or the Friedkins with the plane who go on the pitch, but the players. If you take the best away from your coach, it’s normal for him to raise his head, unless he’s able to distinguish their value.
The feeling is therefore that both teams have owners who are not very accustomed to European football, but also a management that is forced to answer with money and who have done very little apprenticeship. What is happening is what has already happened in another Italian place, Bologna, until Saputo decided to hand himself over to those who really know how to do the market and the accounts. Also because everything depends on the results and that is the beauty and the ugliness of football. Everyone can talk and boast, but then it is the pitch that decides who has done what. There may be distinctions but, unlike politics, those who bring the facts often win. Maybe not always but they often do. It would be nice to give more weight to victories, but it seems that everyone fights for a more personal privilege than for the good of the team.
Often choices are made that do more harm than good. Look at FIFA. Yesterday Infantino had to organize a meeting because they still haven’t found the money for the TV rights of the Club World Cup. Now a question: imagine having to eat your favorite dish every day, for a year. The first month you may like it, then the phase of tiredness takes over and finally of refusal, wanting to try something else. Those who decide have not yet understood that continuing to feed this bulimia of playing football, every day, at any time, so much so that it is now even difficult to follow everything, is counterproductive. It becomes a job that is not fun. Okay, there are 8 billion of us on this Earth and it is right that the Italian championship is also seen in Japan or China. But we – as Serie A – have had our moment of glory and instead of exploiting it by making the right choices to try to stay on the straight and narrow we have thrown everything away with billions in debt, holes and chasms, clubs that have enormous differences in strength and impossible to smooth out in the current state. If there is no competition, people get tired. And even the Indian, if he can watch Arsenal-Tottenham or Lazio-Roma will always choose the first. Full stadiums, fast, fun and engaging game.
Returning to FIFA, there is a clear phrase from Rodri in recent days that refers to a strike. “Breaking point? Yes, and I think we are close to it. I think all the players have the same idea, ask whoever you want. There will come a time… but I don’t know what will happen. It is something that worries us. I can only talk about Spain and City. But it is something that we are worried about. Obviously, the situation is not the same for everyone, because not everyone gets to play 60-70 games per season, but the idea is shared”. In fact, getting to the 70 games that City could play (plus Spain…) would be something out of category. The increase in injuries is exponential, tiredness too, of a game that is increasingly fast and technically poor. The reality is that too much is bad. Last resort, what could Infantino do? Decide to suspend the competition for the “good of the athletes” and postpone it later, perhaps to 2027 or 2029. But it’s one of those things that, if it happens, doesn’t happen again for a long time.
Sooner or later FIFA and UEFA will be in a full-blown power struggle between themselves. Up to now they have been separate bodies, but if you want to play another World Cup competition, perhaps the European ones should be limited. Or even the national ones. We’ll see, but it’s clear that there are fewer and fewer years left until the chickens come home to roost, after having parried (for now) the blow of the Super League. What will clubs do if the competition is not played? Some will be happy, especially the richest, because they will be able to rest. The poorest – like Al Ain – would ask for an account and perhaps receive something. Also because, in fact, what can a third or fourth tier club do against those who manage football? The answer would be simple: nothing, FIFA has a monopoly on it. “It’s football, baby.”