Milan’s season began with a bold proclamation. Owner
Silvio Berlusconi told Ronaldinho that, with Kaka gone, it was up
to him to lead the team and reclaim his status as best player in
the world. While he isn’t quite there yet, the Brazilian has
reversed two years of decline to become an integral part of the
Rossoneri.
Much of the credit must go to the man who replaced
Carlo Ancelotti at the helm of the club: Leonardo. Many were
sceptical when Milan opted for a ‘boot-room’ appointment – the
ex-Milan midfielder had served as a scout and executive, but had no
experience as a coach.
After a bumpy start to the season – three wins from their first
eight outings – they picked up, but they've not won in the last
three, including a 2-0 defeat to rivals Internazionale. Milan are
subsequently third in Serie A, 11 points behind leaders Inter
and two adrift of second-placed Roma, but with a game in hand
on both teams.
As an ‘insider’, Leonardo has tried to maintain the continuity of
the Ancelotti regime while providing some much-needed tweaks. The
result is a veteran side that looks familiar in many ways but
which, due to Kaka’s departure, is no longer as reliant on one
superstar. Like his predecessor, Leonardo is open to changing
formations, but his preferred option is 4-3-3: a formation made
possible by the fact that, in Marco Borriello, the club now have a
genuine target-man leading the line – something they haven’t had
since the days of Oliver Bierhoff a decade ago.
Borriello would be the first to tell you he’s not a superstar. But
he is, nevertheless, very important to Milan. After a career marred
by injury, he's finally seized his opportunity. Borriello is
usually flanked by Ronaldinho and Pato. The former has lost a bit
of pace and, while he can still beat defenders, usually lacks the
acceleration
to get away from them. Yet he’s still a threat at set-pieces and
his ability to conjure something out of nothing makes him a
constant threat – he’s the top assist maker in Serie A, and has
weighed in with his share of goals too. As for Pato, he’s having a
relatively quiet season after a phenomenal 2008/09 campaign that
prompted many to name him among the top five strikers in the world.
That said, he’s still just 20 and his rare blend of pace,
creativity and aerial ability suggest that it’s just a blip and he
could be back to his best at any moment.
The only certainty in midfield is the elegant playmaker, Andrea
Pirlo. He’s still the team’s brain – though, compared to recent
seasons, not quite everything goes through him, largely because
Milan now have the option of going direct to Borriello. Pirlo will
be joined by some combination of Massimo Ambrosini, Rino Gattuso,
Clarence Seedorf and, of course, David Beckham.
Now that Paolo Maldini has retired, Ambrosini – in his 11th season
– is Milan’s longest-serving player and club captain. He’s a
steady, defensive-minded midfielder, much like the ferocious
Gattuso, who has only recently returned to the side after an injury
lay-off. Seedorf – the only man to have won the Champions League at
three different clubs – is another familiar face. In his seventh
season at the San Siro, he’s well schooled in the Milan way and
offers creativity and technique.
As for that Beckham guy, well you probably already know what to
expect: workrate, set-piece magic and a knack for being in the
right place at the right time.
At the back, Milan effectively have a brand new partnership: Thiago
Silva and Alessandro Nesta. Brazilian international Thiago has been
an instant hit, while injury-hit Nesta is back to his old, pacy,
uncompromising self. The two have been Milan’s
defensive bedrock, playing alongside a rotating cast of
unremarkable full-backs, young (Luca Antonini, Ignazio Abate) and
old (Massimo Oddo, Marek Jankulovski, Gianluca Zambrotta).
When keeper Christian Abbiati went down to injury last summer, many
feared the worst, but, Nelson Dida has recovered to make the no.1
jersey his own. While he’s not back to the level he was at five or
six years ago, when he was among the world’s best, neither has he
reverted to the awful form of two seasons back, when he was
dropped.
In that sense, Dida epitomizes the ‘Leonardo effect’: the ability
to regenerate players deemed burned out (Ronaldinho), permanently
injured (Nesta) or simply not good enough (Dida, Borriello). He has
done it on the cheap (Thiago Silva was actually bought in January
2009, Beckham is on loan) and found a way to make it work.
Milan are far from impregnable. Pato aside, there is little pace in
midfield or attack, there isn’t much depth in defence and, well,
you always wonder whether Dida is going to have ‘one of those
nights’. Yet at the same time their brand of entertaining, creative
football is a welcome change, and there’s a certain carefree and –
dare we say it? – fun aura surrounding this team. The glory days
may be over, but Milan believe they have the quality to trip up
anybody in Europe.