There are at least three good reasons why AC Milan’s title is unusual and a special one. The first one is that it was won on the last day of the season and it was taken from a fierce rival Inter Milan, the second is that they are equal with Inter with the number of Serie A titles (19) and the third is that nobody expected it, not even the fans, at least not this year. Inter received the green light from the Chinese owners to spend a lot of money back in 2019. Antonio Conte, the coach who guarantees the result arrived for a net salary of 13,000,000 euros a year. Over 300,000,000 euros were spent on the purchase of top reinforcements such as Lukaku, Eriksen, Hakimi, Barella…while on the other side AC Milan took the completely different approach, mainly due to their managerial/financial state, but it turned out to be a good approach.Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s speech in the AC Milan dressing room 🔥 🎥 @acmilan pic.twitter.com/bnNlRQ2yKR— GOAL (@goal) May 23, 2022 And that’s why there was so much joy on the streets of Milan, that’s why coach Stefano Pioli tattooed Scudetto on his arm and that’s why Ibrahimović made such a fierce speech in the dressing room after the game with Sassuolo. Apart from a brilliant work of sporting director Paolo Maldini and coach Stefano Pioli, it was Swede’s dressing room authority (not to mention the goals), which were crucial for the title push. “It’s wonderful to be back. I was here eight years ago when Milan won the last title and I came back to do it again” said Ibra when he came back in 2019 and caused a lot of laughter. Nobody took him for serious since at that point, Milan was an average Serie A team. The Party Starter has arrived: @Ibra_official 🎉#AlwaysWithYou #SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/2NzR27Glo7— AC Milan (@acmilan) May 22, 2022 Milan has gone through hell since 2011 and the last Scudetto. Rossoneri dropped out of the company of big European clubs and even fell into the average of Italian football. In three years, Milan fell from first to eighth place. Without the money from the Champions League, the situation was even more difficult. The Rossoneri finished eighth, tenth, seventh, sixth … They became the average of Serie A. Famous president Silvio Berlusconi and director Galliani realized that this was the end. They couldn’t watch their ‘baby’ suffering any more.Mister Pioli with the 19th badge tattoo on his arm 🔴⚫️ pic.twitter.com/4tq4vOMBUz— CHAMPIONS OF ITALY 🏆 (@MilanEye) May 23, 2022 Berlusconi was looking for a buyer far too long, because he cared about leaving the club in safe hands, but he made a wrong assessment. The suspicious Chinese bought the club by borrowing from funds and banks and tried overnight to buy success with money that they did not have. They failed. They went bankrupt and suddenly, without much desire, American fund ‘Eliot’, to which the Chinese were indebted, became the owner for 300,000,000 euros. The Americans appointed former Arsenal director Ivan Gazidis as their man, but they did not have much experience in football. After a few flops, they appointed the club legend Paolo Maldini as the technical director and that’s when the rise started. Someone stole my medal! Please give it back, it is my firstAfter a few good transfer deals and their stubbornness to keep coach Pioli (American owners wanted Ralf Rangnick) AC Milan made it to the Champions League for the first time in almost 10 years. But some players just didn’t believe, or just wanted more money. Maldini was firm when negotiating new deals and didn’t allow anybody to blackmail the club, so Gigio Donnarumma and Hakan Calhanoglu went as free agents last season. Again the owners didn’t want to spend much so again Maldini had to be shrew and shrewd he did, especially when he brought Olivier Giroud for only 1 million euros. The Frenchmen scored some crucial goals, including two against Inter and two against Sassulo in the last round. Against all odds, with little investment and a lot of injuries throughout the season, but with resilient squad and a good atmosphere in the dressing room, Rossoneri did it after 11 years. And they enjoyed their title on the streets of Milan.
