GdS: ‘Milan come back again’ – how Conceicao’s ‘redesign’ sparked late drama

SempreMilan

·27 de enero de 2025

GdS: ‘Milan come back again’ – how Conceicao’s ‘redesign’ sparked late drama

AC Milan managed yet another memorable comeback in Sergio Conceicao’s early tenure, scoring twice after the 90-minute mark to beat Parma 3-2.

Today’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) has a section titled: ‘Milan come back again. From 1-2 to 3-2 after 90 minutes. Reijnders-Chukwueze turn Parma around. The win comes thanks to character, but the visitors were almost better in terms of play, only collapsing in injury time, conceding two goals’.

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The feeling is that Conceicao hasn’t yet transformed Milan’s style of player, but the real, enormous, difference is in the heart, in the soul and in the spirit of the side. Milan are not done until the final whistle blows, as the games so far have shown.

The Supercoppa wins over Juventus and Inter gave a taster, then the Como victory was a sigh of relief, but yesterday came the most incredible turnaround yet against Parma: from 1-2 to 3-2 in added time, Reijnders in the 92nd minute and Chukwueze in the 95th minute.

Question marks

It was three huge points in the top four race, but also several questions arose ahead of the week that decides the Champions League position in Zagreb and leads to the third derby of the season.

Inter lost two, but bounced back in a big way. Youssouf Fofana will not be there as he is suspended, and it is not good for the midfield who desperately need him. Ismael Bennacer is back, but he does another job.

Conceiçao finds himself with the certainty of Reijnders, someone who never betrays even on the least exciting day, sees the dominant Pavlovic again, but sees Theo inevitably dissolve and is unable to get consistency from Leao.

These are not the only issues on the Rossoneri agenda: the attitude on the pitch lends itself to suffering from counter-attacks, while Morata struggles in front of goal, then there was the argument at full-time.

Conceicao and Calabria had a very heated debate on the field at full-time, one between the coach and the (official) club captain, during the celebrations after the 90th minute. Unacceptable, whatever the causes. If Milan had lost would it have ended in a fight?

Pecchia’s attempted ambush

If we talk about overall play and above all management from a mental point of view, Parma were better than their hosts until the 80th minute of the game.

There was courage and a fair amount of vision on display in the 4-2-4 that Pecchia went with. Man did not play the central attacking midfielder to link in the midfield, but Conceiçao sent Fofana to split between the central defenders.

Even under attack, Parma broke up the departments: they were 36 metres apart from back to front at times. However, the Hernani-Sohm midfield pivot acted as a dam, with the plan being to send Mihaila and Cancellieri on the break who then cut inside from the flanks to create danger.

It is a script that shouldn’t be surprising: Parma is second in the standings for vertical attacks and shots from counter-attacks. The curious fact is that in first place is Milan who, however, prefer possession (60 percent) and attack, thus turning both cheeks.

Deficit and response

Parma went ahead twice through Cancellieri and Del Prate, but Conceicao ‘redesigned’ his Milan on the fly. In the 45th minute Theo and Leao went off, with Davide Bartesaghi on the wing, Bennacer in the middle and Musah moved to the wing.

The second goal was scored, with Chukwueze and Abraham coming on, who now make up the trident with Pulisic. It was still a 4-3-3 but more aggressive. Parma list momentum and is certainly not helped by bringing on Haj, Hainaut and Lovik, plus Camara and Almqvist in attack.

The 4-2-4 became a 4-4-2 for the Gialloblu and they came close to making it 3-1, but right at the end they seemed to lose physicality and organisation. In the 92nd minute Reijnders was left free to take a shot deep in the box, in the 95th minute Chukwueze was also alone but Suzuki could have done better.

It is the first time that Milan have won a game in Serie A by coming back from two goals after the 90th minute. The moral is that comebacks are exciting, but it would be better to prevent needing them, right?