Ulysses Found

An eighth placed finish last season left AC Milan a long way from home. A home that is a European spot, at a minimum. The rossoneri’s is a history which places them at the pinnacle of European football, since the seven European Cups in their trophy cabinet means their haul is second only to Real Madrid's ten.

Memories flood the mind of their two European Cup wins in the noughties, and the heady days of glory in the late 80s to mid-90s, when AC were the undisputed kings of the world. But the landscape has completely changed. No longer is AC a champion wearing the best armour that money can buy, stepping out into the arena with the biggest sword, ready to sow mayhem and seize glory. They now find themselves a straggler reduced to rags, slowly getting back to their feet after the civil war between Adriano and Barbara. It’s a place of little certainty, for a team trying its hardest to find its way back home.

Things used to be straightforward and simple. They would face their rivals on the field with the best resources at their disposal. But AC’s greatest obstacles now lurk both within and without, as the football landscape changes at the speed of light. A global demand for the game looms larger every year, and if things were hard for Italian clubs in the noughties, they’ve clearly not gotten any easier. TV rights and foreign owners have rendered other leagues more attractive, and Real, Barca and Bayern are now every player’s top three destinations of choice. AC have long lost a guaranteed place amongst this elite. As Liverpool and then Man United discovered, today’s gen Y and i players have no time for history. As far as they’re concerned you either play in Europe or you’re as good as dead.

So it’s still not looking like plain sailing, and there’s few gods in their corner. Cliché as it may sound, AC’s return home is going to be one treacherous Odyssey full of twists and turns. And in view of the choppy seas which lie ahead, what better commander to stand with his foot upon the wind-battered prow than Ulysses himself?

A thought which takes me back to late Sunday nights spent in front of the box, watching fat Italian pundits on RAI and Mediaset channels, laboriously dissecting the events of the Serie A matchday amid a zillion replays. The passion with which they spoke was unrivalled, yet they were possessed of such corpulence that you wondered if they even walked from their seat to the gents without getting a lift in a car. Amongst their number was inevitably the presence of a solitary stunning showgirl, who was generally expected to look pretty and flash the odd nod and smile. If she ever got to give her own view on the events of the day, it was instantly met with nodding that was even more animated than usual, as well as the odd condescending smile.

Chauvinistic stuff, but also a delightful platform for great calcio debate. In which one of the discussions once centred upon the two best Italian strikers at the time: cross-town rivals Christian ‘Bobo’ ‘Aussie’ Vieri of Inter, and Filippo ‘Superpippo’ Inzaghi of AC. An Inter supporter was hotly contesting the gamesmanship of Superpippo, using it to argue that Vieri was the better striker. To which another pundit calmly countered that the difference in playing styles was not being appreciated by the accuser, for whilst Vieri was an Achilles (built like a tank and possessed of a blistering shot), Inzaghi had no choice but to be a Ulysses.

The point will not be lost on lovers of myth, that whilst Achilles was by far the greater warrior, it was Ulysses who devised the downfall of Troy and also found his way back home. Homer portrayed him as a hero who always had his eye on the prize, and who used his wits and guile at all times to make up for any shortfall in his physical abilities.

It was a fitting analogy, and one that I love. Anyone who watched Inzaghi the player knows that his first touch could be poor, complemented by average pace and zero dribbling skills. The purists often dismissed him throughout his career, in which the slight lad from Piacenza made a mockery of the qualities often associated with the out and out striker. Some described him as a ‘coat hanger’, always dangling off the back of the opposition’s last man, and always itching to seize upon a loose ball. A quality which led Sir Alex Ferguson to famously remark that Superpippo was ‘born offside’.

 

Yet Pippo was worth his weight in gold when it came to yielding the hard currency of football. He remains the all-time Italian goalscorer in European competition, and second only to Raul in its scoring charts. Never has there been witnessed a greater lust for goalscoring opportunities, with many often branding Inzaghi as both selfish and greedy.

It was once said that ‘greed is good’, but it was not greed alone that rocketed Pippo into the stratosphere. If he had few gifts, the greatest was certainly that of being in the right place at the right time. Cue the Champions League final between AC and Liverpool in 2007, a game that was to prove Pippo’s swansong at the top level. AC had an absolute stinker of a game, yet Pippo (chosen ahead of Gilardino although he was still injured) only had to get on the end of two balls for AC to win 2-1 and secure their last European Cup. Those that knew him were not surprised, for he had been a ‘fox in the box’ (to borrow a phrase from Arsene Wenger) for over ten years, using his guile and low cunning to overcome the seemingly impossible.

Some still call it luck. But if Pippo’s positional sense was just down to fortuna, it was married to other qualities that set him apart as a player. His determination to prove doubters wrong saw him hit the ground running upon his joining Juventus from Atalanta (where he had been Serie A’s top scorer), with him and Del Piero scoring for fun in the Serie A, thereby ridiculing the traditional wisdom of having a ‘little and large’ attacking duo up front. Then there was his passage to AC Milan, where he re-confirmed himself as a top drawer striker.

His eleven years at AC saw him win ten trophies, where his intense focus and razor sharp reflexes remained his trademark. Still hanging onto the backs of his assigned stoppers, he was first to tear after defence splitting passes or assists, losing his marker in the blink of an eye and often being so quick on the draw that even the linesman failed to notice that he was often offside.  

He was tough too. I still shudder to remember the treatment he got from Inter defenders during his time at Juve and AC, when his small frame found itself the target of snapping elbows and lunges from your Colonneses or Materazzis. Pippo’s resolve never waivered before such challenges, and his courage in the face of this brutality was remarkable, almost on a par with his burning will to win. Inzaghi’s unspectacular playing style may often have led fans to take him for granted, but his spells out of the team due to injury made everyone realise his importance to a side whenever he returned. His mere presence on the field instantly provided AC with a focal point in attack, so that the rossoneri were possessed of a greater cutting edge.

 

 

 

Since his retirement it’s been slim pickings for AC. Their European Cup win in 2007 remains the apogee of their last truly great side. Otherwise theirs has been just a stop-start journey, with one league title but little else, with the death knell in the club’s fortunes appearing to be the sale of Silva and Ibra to PSG in 2012. As expected, this has not sat comfortably with Pippo, for few have ever shown a greater devotion to the rossoneri’s cause. When obtaining impressive results as coach of AC’s youth sides, he once lashed out at the club’s first team manager Allegri, for not taking the AC job seriously enough.

Allegri departed halfway through the last season, to be replaced by Seedorf who was sacked a few months later. Whilst things seemed like they could not get any worse for AC, it was the worst kept secret about Milanello that Pippo was desperate for the hotseat. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. And whilst the football world was abuzz with news of transfers in the EPL and La Liga, new Milan coach Inzaghi got busy under the radar, being quick to snap up two classy loans in former PSG stars Menez and Alex , and a brilliant free transfer in Real Madrid keeper Diego Lopez (perhaps due to a few tip offs from his former manager Ancelotti?)

Each of these players were crucial in AC’s opening day win, when Inzaghi’s side spanked Lazio 3-1, and Lopez even got to make a fantastic penalty save. The side displayed all of their manager’s qualities, being quick on the break and to snatch up its chances, and showing a great resilience as they sat back until an opportunity presented itself. AC have also acquired Torres on loan and a few other players, and despite fans’ protestations about the sale of young Cristante to Benfica, a single win has lifted much of the gloom around Milanello.

Yet despite these sudden plaudits, Pippo shall demand that his charges keep their feet on the ground, whilst insisting that their best friends remain hunger and toil. After all, the road back to Europe will be a hard one, but it is achievable. Last season’s Atletico Madrid and Liverpool showed the way, two clubs with limited resources that came out of nowhere to make a title tilt (and in the case of the Madridistas, a serious push for the European crown).

It’s a season in which AC will seek to take some firm steps back towards home. And given Pippo’s burning will to win, expect plenty more lightning strikes from his side. Don’t blink, or you just might miss them.