Max tones down his comments after the derby: “It’s important because we’re 10 points ahead of Juve.” However, even he admits that this is a magical moment: “We’re in good physical shape right now, and the three points have boosted our morale.”
Max Allegri looks the other way, pretends nothing happened, walks across the scene of the crime as if nothing had happened. After winning the derby against Inter, he looks at Juventus and Como: “We kept Juve at -10, it was important to get a result and we got the win. The Scudetto? Seven points is a lot, and Inter is the strongest team. Inter remains the clear favorite.” The Milan fans hear this and smile without being seen: they know that Max is clever, and in any case, on this Milanese night, they are thinking about other things.
Allegri’s analysis of the match is calm: “We worked for six to seven months to be in the best condition in March. We could have been more clinical in the final 30 meters, but we expended a lot of energy in the first half. In the second half, we dropped back, conceded a few crosses and a few chances, but apart from that move by Dimarco, we defended well.” Returning to the standings, he added: “We should be very happy with the win; it’s one less victory needed to reach our goal. Juve are 10 points behind, Como and Roma are 9 points behind.” He is referring to the Champions League.
Cardinale and the 2011 Scudetto— Two references are inevitable. The first is to the 2010-11 season, when Allegri won the Scudetto with Milan, the last championship in which Inter lost two derbies out of two. “I remember how it ended,” laughs Max. “We won the championship…” The only concession to a smile ahead of May. The second is to the presence of Gerry Cardinale, founder of RedBird, at San Siro: “Cardinale came into the dressing room, I spoke to the team and then I left because I had to do interviews,” says Allegri. “We were very pleased that the whole club, the whole ownership, congratulated the lads. However, we know that we haven’t achieved any goals at this point.“
Estupinan and Fofana— Finally, a few words about Pervis Estupinan, the man of the match, and Youssouf Fofana, who sent him through on goal with an assist from the attacking midfield: ”Luis Henrique is a good player, but we had prepared that situation with Estupinan. Fofana did well, he made a beautiful assist, and in Cremona he had given us two other balls that we didn’t score on. But the whole team is better now.” Yes, it’s better. Better than Inter. Whether that’s enough, who knows.
