After last week's victory against Sampdoria on the road, Rossoneri manager Stefano Pioli saw no reason to alter his starting XI in Week 2 against Cagliari in Milan's home opener. San Siro welcomed the Rossoneri back with open arms and loud bellows, hellbent on making up for time lost during the pandemic.
Milan supporters were able to see the game begin on the right foot, as the early minutes of the match showed a frame of club legends, Paolo Maldini and Gennaro Gattuso, sitting side-by-side and enjoying the match. This was Gattuso's first time being seen with Milan since being relieved of his duties by Napoli, hired by Fiorentina, and quitting all in the same month.
The Rossoneri tasted victory for a second week, despite missing fan-favorite center midfielder, Franck "il Presidente" Kessiè, for another straight week due to issues with contract extensions. However, you would not know we were missing a key leader of the squad from watching these first two games of the season. Milan exploded against Cagliari on Sunday, scoring four goals in the first half and only allowing one on their own end in the first 15 minutes.
The first goal was scored by newly signed Milanista, Sandro Tonali, off of a beautiful hit coming from a free-kick at the edge of the box. Many have already begun comparing the goal to the likes of club legend, Andrea Pirlo. Their second goal came with some confusion, as everybody originally thought Brahim would receive credit for the goal that re-established Milan's lead. However, according to ESPN, the goal was given credit to forward Raphael Leao. New arrival, Olivier Giroud, went on to score the next two goals, one of them being a brilliantly taken penalty kick before the first half came to a conclusion.
The hot start of Milan's season has many Milanisti wondering: Do we even need Kessiè? Milan has made additional moves to add depth to both fullback and midfield positions, including the return of center midfielder Tièmouè Bakayoko, who could not be happier to return to the club. Milan supporters have one general rule that has held up for as long as anyone can remember: No player is bigger than Milan. This roughly translates to no player's wages or demands being worth risking the state of the club.
Milanisti already said their not-so-fond farewells to last year's key players, playmaker Hakan Calhanoglu and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, for financial reasons. They will surely have no problem adding Kessiè to this list of familiar faces if he continues to demand a much higher rate than what he is being offered by the club. News on Kessiè will be updated before the summer transfer window. Be sure to check back here and follow @milanistimadness on Instagram, as well as @milanistimad on Twitter to receive faster news and updates.
Forza Milan! Sempre Milan!
