The appointment with “La Scossa Granata” the column by Michelangelo Suigo is back
The “trip” from Rome to go to see the derby at the Grande Torino had started badly.
Arriving at the airport with my son Andrea (he still doesn’t miss a thing) on Saturday morning, while waiting for our flight to Turin, Ciro Immobile enters the ITA lounge. Years ago we would have run to hug him, but after the well-known facts and misdeeds, we both totally ignored him, exactly as the Lazio people are doing after praising him for many years. And to think that last Saturday it was 10 years since that legendary Toro Genoa 2-1, with sensational goals in injury time from Ciruzzo and Cerci. The day then slipped away until arriving at Caselle and then at the stadium. The emotion was very high: sold out, 28,000 spectators, crazy choreography inside and outside the Grande Torino, an even more generous Marathon than usual.
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A battle Bull who failed to win, but earned respect. Despite a 1st half with the Granata tight and slow in maneuvering, there was a nice redemption in the 2nd half with some nice scoring opportunities, pressing and play that forced the hunchbacks into their half of the pitch. Of course, in the first half of the game we risked going down twice (a thigh save from a desperate exit by Milinkovic-Savic and the outside post by Vlahovic) but the defeat would have been truly unfair, because in the 2nd half we put them in a corner and we also had two sensational chances: Sanabria headed and Lazaro headed again in the 94th minute. The latter could have been the winning goal, but other times we would have lost games like this in the 97th minute. Also because, for a change, the refereeing was brazenly in favor of the hunchbacks, with Maresca waving 3 yellow cards to ours on the first attempt at (legitimate) protests, instead ignoring two killer entries by Kostic on Ricci and by Locatelli on Sanabria. What is certain is that Juric’s boys gave everything. Control of the game has almost always been ours, and even if we missed the goal (nothing new, alas), we certainly played like a bull. Despite the usual limitations, we also tried to win it, but without changes in quality, against an opponent who only thought about dirtying the match, it wasn’t easy. Here are the changes. Given that I consider Juric’s umpteenth choice to start Tameze with right arm as crazy, I would have at least dared to have Ilic and not have removed Sanabria. But I would have also changed Vojvoda (substituted in the 78th minute) and Bellanova (who came off in the 85th minute due to cramps, which he had already suffered in the 75th minute) first. As for the defense, we have already written it a thousand times: despite the injured Schuurs and Djidji, Sazonov, Vojvoda and Lovato can play in the right third position (strictly in order).
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And, perhaps as the fourth choice, a certain Dell’Aquila, leader of Scurto’s Primavera. Tameze is good as a midfield sub (we need it!), but he can only be useful in defense in extreme cases, not now. Against Juve, Juric also entrusted him with the very difficult task of marking Chiesa. After just 7 minutes the Juventus player took 3 meters from him in a burst of 15, crossing undisturbed for Vlahovic, who luckily caught the post. Then the Frenchman managed to get the measure of him a little, but if the ball had gone in, we would probably still be here crying. With the 0-0 in the derby, Torino is the team that has kept a clean sheet at home the most times in this championship (11), which has never happened to the Granata within friendly walls in their history in Serie A, reaching the remarkable figure of 16 clean sheet in total. However, compared to the defensive fort, the dust was too often wet in attack: 13 matches without a goal. As for the derbies, the last 18 matches in the championship have seen us not cry only 5 times, with draws that sometimes left a bad taste in our mouths, but with 13 defeats. Surely this time, after many matches, in the final minutes we didn’t live in total apnea entrenched in defense, but, on the contrary, we were on attack, even risking making a coup. If there had been Zapata instead of Lazaro, that cursed ball would certainly have gone in. Even the numbers confirm the good performance of the team: 13 shots at 8, 2 at 3 on goal, 12 scoring opportunities at 8, 6 corners at 2. So, there’s no denying it, regret is the prevailing feeling.
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Regret for a match that could and should have been won, if we still wanted to have a remote chance of European qualification. We are not running, but we are ninth, -4 behind Lazio and Naples, ahead of Fiorentina (+1, with a game less) and Monza (+2). There are still six matches: almost prohibitive Inter and Atalanta away from home, tough Bologna and Milan at home, then Frosinone and Verona, both fighting for survival (the first at Grande Torino, the second away). Very, very complicated. But with the heart seen in the 2nd half we can do anything. It’s necessary to believe it, it’s necessary to try. President Urbano Cairo’s comment to the question “There are those who fear that it may have been Buongiorno’s last derby in the granata shirt” is interesting. “No, no – the answer – and I must say that he marked Vlahovic very well”.
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We will see. The hope that Bongio remains is the last to die, but we must be realistic. However, there is still time, but before closing I have to tell you how our “away” after the derby ended, otherwise what news is it? With my son we met with Domenico, one of the best friends of all time, a high school classmate at Volta, obviously from Granata. With him and other new friends, Vittorio, Giorgio, Fabio and Fabrizio, we went to dinner in the usual Birreria Don Giovanni, a stone’s throw from Grande Torino, to comment on our beloved Toro. Ah, the most popular chant was “We are not hunchbacked ass…”. Lots of laughter, old and new friendships that are welded,
with beer in hand and grenade in his heart. This is why you have to try: for the wonderful people of Granata.
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Tags: Chronicle derby Rome Turin Beer hand grenade heart
