GdS: ‘Gimenez is ready’ – how he can regain a starting spot for the final vs. Bologna

SempreMilan

·08 de maio de 2025

GdS: ‘Gimenez is ready’ – how he can regain a starting spot for the final vs. Bologna

Santiago Gimenez may not have regained his starting shirt for AC Milan yet, but from the bench he finally sent signals to Sergio Conceiçao.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, Gimenez came off the bench and scored against Venezia, a goal which not only sealed the victory but also broke a drought that had lasted for 68 days.

Vídeos OneFootball

Then, he was a substitute against Genoa and provided the assist for Rafael Leao’s goal that started the comeback. Now, the doors can open for the Mexican to start again, with Act I against Bologna at San Siro tomorrow night.

Mid-season landing

Gimenez landed on planet Milan in February, when – thanks to the winter mercato – the Rossoneri were still in the running for a place in the top four in the league and in the Champions League play-offs against Feyenoord.

Despite a comforting start (assist on his debut with Roma in the Coppa Italia, goal on his debut in Serie A against Empoli and then goals at San Siro against Verona and Feyenoord), Santi got sucked in by the difficulties of the entire team after the elimination from Europe.

Also due to some physical problems, in the last month he has always started from the bench, so much so that doubts have begun to creep in among the fans about the validity of the €28.5m operation that brought him to Milan.

A self-assessment period

The faith in Gimenez has never waned inside the club. As Conceiçao said several times, the impact with Serie A for a centre-forward who arrived from the Eredivisie can be complicated. It is different football, with very different oppositions and defences.

The characteristics of ‘El Bebote’ are not in question, and Santi himself knows them very well. He leaves nothing to chance, as he revealed in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated back in his homeland.

“I have a personal video analyst. After each match he analyses my performance and creates a 15-minute summary video. I also took a course in reading statistics and now I organise them based on the results,” he said.

If the numbers indicate a problem, here is how the Mexican responds: “When the curve is decreasing, at the end of training I stop for extra work.”

The programme

That’s what Gimenez will have done in the last, tough weeks at Milanello, and the fruits are slowly starting to show. Physically he is still a bit cumbersome, but his movements to attack the space in behind are returning.

So tomorrow at San Siro – despite the return of Tammy Abraham and the usual competition from Luka Jovic – Santi will probably have the opportunity from minute one to prove that he is on a resurgence.

Who knows, maybe a super performance against Bologna will relaunch his candidacy for a start in the Coppa Italia final, given the Rossoneri will face the same opponent on May 14 in Rome.