Milan Future, yes, but in practice the Future is now. The upcoming season also knocks on the door of the Under 23, because an important part of the path of the second Rossoneri team will be the same as the squad trained by Fonseca. It’s not a figure of speech, but official guidelines illustrated in recent days by the club: “The team will gather on July 8 and train at Milanello in close contact with Paulo Fonseca’s team, effectively forming a single group”. So the same day of gathering and essential moments of sporting activity carried out together. The first official outing of the team trained by Daniele Bonera will be the Coppa Italia C (August 11), then the championship will start on August 25.
ideas
—
Devil in Group B, the one in central Italy. Some away games will be more comfortable, others more uncomfortable, others still evoke courses, recurrences and pages of Rossoneri history. In some cases they will be intersections with decayed nobles who in the past also frequented the top championship. In short, there is a bit of everything. One of the most particular ideas is certainly the challenge with Ternana. Exactly: Daniele Bonera against Ignazio Abate, that is to say six seasons together in the Milanello locker room, one Scudetto and one Italian Super Cup in the trophy cabinet, 141 times called up together, of which 63 on the pitch next to each other. It is their first experience on the bench of a professional club, one returning from Pioli’s staff and the other from the Rossoneri Primavera. But it is an intersection that also tells something else, behind the scenes. Given that the two have always been good teammates, but never friends in the strict sense of the word, the last weeks of last season were lived with a certain weight by Abate. Who, from his point of view legitimately, saw the promotion from the Primavera to the Under 23 as a natural outcome. The Rossoneri club, in reality – and not exactly at the last minute – chose Bonera for the second team and Abate – who still wanted to start coaching a team of “big” players – at that point decided to say goodbye to Milanello and look around. Finding a home in Terni.
the memories of the curi
—
Another suggestion will be in Pescara, the stadium where in ’92-93 Van Basten scored a fantastic hat trick in the crazy 5-4 Rossoneri after the equally crazy 4-4 of the first half. Scrolling through the scorers makes your eyes pop: Allegri, Paolo Maldini, Lentini, two own goals by Baresi, Massara and the hat trick by MvB in what would be his last season as a footballer. Here, in Pescara this time there will be Francesco Camarda, fresh from a “blessing” one-on-one by the Dutchman himself. And then? Then there are other particular challenges. For example the stars and stripes one between Gerry Cardinale and Spal’s number one, Joe Tacopina. The Rossoneri will also return to the Curi in Perugia, where in ’99 they won the championship with Zaccheroni. This time at most there could be a promotion to Serie B, but the name of this Milan is Future: the first objective is to raise and wean young talents.
