On Wednesday 12 April I followed the Champions League match between Milan and Naples in the Milan TV studios, where I am a regular guest before and after matches. At the end, we commented on a match in which the team from Campania exercised supremacy in the game and on chances, but which the Rossoneri won with tenacity and above all thanks to a couple of superlative interventions by goalkeeper Maignan. We mentioned a yellow card that should have been handed out to Milan forward Leao for having kicked the corner flag after being furious about a wrong chance in the first half. We said that the first of the two yellow cards inflicted on Neapolitan Kim, expelled fifteen minutes from the end, was too harsh. We did not see or comment on a sensational foul by Kim himself on the Milan player Krunic, in the middle of the area, at the end of the first half: a sunny penalty, while there was no unanimity on another penalty foul again on the Milan player Saelemakers towards the end of the match .
It’s not that this is the most honest and sporting television studio in the world, God forbid: those who are biased remain biased, but in short, balance is a rule in force and in fact it was clearly stated that in the second leg, next Tuesday, we will need a better Milan. The comments referred to an intense, vibrant game in which the Rossoneri also had their chances (a sensational cross from Kjaer) even if to a lesser extent. We also commented on the atmosphere at San Siro, very hot and with an original choreography of the Rossoneri curve (two fiery red hands, the claws of the devil about to grab a frightened Pulcinella) displayed at the entrance to the teams.
On Thursdays (and Fridays) I read sports and non-sports newspapers, I watch national television news, they report me poisoned posts on social media: thus I discover that I have seen and commented on a completely different match, really another match between Milan and Napoli, compared to the one in which I thought I witnessed. The errors of the Romanian referee Kovacs take on a single hue, a single direction, and the choreography of the Milanist Curva accused of racism. Let’s start with an official press release from Napoli which “firmly condemns the dispute by some journalists against the referee, which took place in the mix zone at the end of the match”. Disputes by some “journalists”? In fact, a video shot in the mix zone at San Siro appears online, in which as Kovacs passes in tracksuit and with a trolley in front of the cameras, someone calls him out repeating several times: “Bad match, bad match. Shame, shame. Shame”.
Then the Neapolitan president De Laurentiis talks on the phone, on social media, with a fan: “This is football and this is UEFA. We are against UEFA and Fifa, but we are so strong that we only conceded one goal, not 3, we are a lady team so now calm and cold-blooded”. Then the news that the associations “We consumers”, “Napoli Club Maradona” and a certain lawyer Pisani, have prepared a class action “for the arbitration of Kovacs in Milan-Naples with a request for damages of 150 million from UEFA” which he cannot treat Naples and Napoli in this way, risking breaking the dream of an entire city”. Finally, numerous sites stigmatize that Pulcinella exhibited in the Milanist Curve “as a symbol of offense and mockery”.
I’m completely blown away as a journalist and embittered as an avowed AC Milan fan: in both roles, I feel an absolute incapacity in having read and experienced a match. After more than 40 years of militia, I feel a sense of emptiness and disorientation. I had seen Milan fans Bennacer, coach Pioli and (after the match) captain Calabria booked, as well as Neapolitans Zielinski, Di Lorenzo and (twice, with the consequent expulsion) Kim. It’s true that here and there another couple of bookings – to both teams – could have been handed out, but in the end I discover that the referee’s most serious mistake was that unseen penalty in Milan’s favor due to the fact that the VAR didn’t it worked (some newspapers report it and the Rossoneri captain Calabria would have said it, booked precisely for the protests on this issue). Amen.
Insults of Neapolitan journalists to the referee. De Laurentiis speaking of conspiracy. A class action claiming damages. Popular social insurrection and biased press, even if artfully not declared like myself. In this poisoned climate, next Tuesday’s rematch at the “Maradona” is being prepared, in this climate people rise up indignant at the racist buuu, at the excesses off the field, at the usual 10 or 20 idiots who ruin the show for everyone else. I have always thought that those 10 or 20 are actually 100 or 200, 1000 or 2000, 10,000 or 20,000… I am and will always remain firmly convinced that I am right about this.
Luckily, in these hours my frustration receives a little relief from Neapolitan fans (and some colleagues) who underline the two penalty episodes, which speak of Kim’s ingenuity and the mistakes of Spalletti’s forwards, the formidable saves of Maignan of AC Milan, from the Neapolitan “GA7 Official” Twitter account who – speaking of that famous AC Milan choreography – writes (like several other supporters from Campania): “Racism must be condemned and eradicated, in any form, always. But seeing racism everywhere and using it as a weapon only diminishes the cause, making it less credible. Racism is a serious matter, but whoever sees it in this choreography is simply in bad faith. Sometimes you have to take off your hat and pay compliments, admiring the beauty of football and what it can give us. Honor to the Milan fans for this show”.
Which doesn’t eradicate my unease that I definitely attended another game last Wednesday.
