After two years from Don Rodrigo, Milan became Don Abbondio

Poor Don Abbondio has gone down in history as an Italian symbol of cowardice: for two centuries we have been making him say that “if you don’t have courage, you can’t afford it”. In reality Don Abbondio was not simply a rabbit; but a realist, one who at the age of sixty had learned to understand which direction the world was turning, and was now resigned to being subjected to it. The resignation with which Stefano Pioli accepted yesterday evening to put on the habit is more bitter than a simple lack of courage: he knew he was going to suffer, he set himself up in a position predisposed to undergoing and, inevitably, he suffered. After the triple consecutive trauma Supercoppa 3-Lazio 4-Sassuolo 5, he had a week to prepare for a derby that was sincerely not crucial if not in his mood – the Scudetto has long since gone, but Milan still have numerically intact their chances of go to the Champions League – and decided to give the team a spirit of stracciatella, the opposite of the defiant arrogance worn for over two years. Robe and hair shirt in defense, flannel pajamas in the opposing half of the pitch, where the Italian champions were birds of the woods for over sixty minutes: Onana really had to work hard to block at least one attempt by Milan with his hands, a shot of Brahim Diaz intended on the bottom of about one meter.