When the towering twin forces of the city of Milan dipped into the last winter transfer market, they targeted similar territory. The headline signings in both the red and blue half were Scandavians. And there the comparison probably ends.
AC Milan rolled back the years and chose fire, in the form of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the domineering Swede. Inter Milan made their economic calculations, pushed long and hard to sign a footballer in his peak years.
They chose ice, in the former of the demure Dane, Christian Eriksen, then aged 27. For most of the 12 months since, AC Milan looked like they had made by far the better choice.
Ibrahimovic, who turned 39 last October, has been transformative in his second spell with the club. The Rossoneri are top of Serie A in large part thanks to his goals, and his manager, Stefano Pioli, barely ceases from lauding the benefits of Ibrahimovic’s drive and leadership for an otherwise young squad.
On Tuesday night, though, Pioli was obliged to acknowledge that Ibrahimovic can set some very bad examples, too.
He was sent off in the Coppa Italia derby against Inter for a second yellow card, having earned his first during a confrontation with Inter’s Romelu Lukaku that was ongoing during the match and featured insults that Ibrahimovic may yet have to explain to an Italian Federation investigating whether or not they were racially charged.
Ibrahimovic and Lukaku both scored in a fiery Cup tie. But as 10-man Milan held out for extra-time, someone unexpected stole the show.
Eriksen had come off the bench after 88 minutes. That counts as a significant run-out for Eriksen. Sightings of the midfielder – who a year ago was being unveiled at La Scala opera house, amid much boasting that Inter had prised him away from Tottenham Hotspur for a seductive €20 million ($24.2m) because he had let his Spurs contract run down – have become rarer and rarer.
So rare that, while Inter were putting together their run of nine successive victories in Serie A from late November into the new year, Eriksen started just once. He was taken off in that match against Cagliari before the hour, and only peeped in on the gathering Inter momentum when manager Antonio Conte gave him five minutes at the end of a comfortable win at Sassuolo and just one minute on the pitch when Bologna were already defeated.
By that stage, Eriksen and every major club in Europe had been informed the Dane was for sale as long as Inter could get their investment back.
The sport’s economy has changed so much in a year of pandemic and recession, that the moving on of unwanted Eriksen became complicated. But the view of him, from Conte, and his employers may just have shifted.
Trotting into Tuesday’s heated derby, Eriksen applied the cool, unruffled precision that sets him apart as a footballer. Deep into stoppage time, he arched a superb free-kick over the Milan wall and sent Inter into the semi-final.
Conte welcomed the goal as a turning point in the unhappy story of Eriksen at Inter. “I told him to go out there and shoot,” beamed a coach who has spent long periods talking of how Eriksen needs to reshape his game, play deeper in midfield, to fit in at Inter, and even longer periods not using him at all. The tune has changed.
“He has great quality and intelligence and I hope that goal will relax him,” Conte added. “Maybe he’s too polite and shy sometimes, but he is a key part of what we are doing, and he’ll stay that way.”
Across town, nobody was describing Ibrahimovic as shy or polite. Details of his exchanges with Lukaku emerged, including the phrase "your voodoo tricks", which seem to relate to a bizarre episode in the past in which the owner of Everton, then Lukaku’s employer, used the word ‘voodoo’ about the player’s motivation for a transfer. After the sending off, Ibrahimovic posted an anti-racism message on social media.
The Swede should learn the length of any suspension today [Friday], ahead of a busy Saturday in the Serie A title race.
The leaders, Milan, can ensure they keep top spot by beating Bologna in the afternoon. If they slip up, Inter, who host Benevento in the evening, could make up the two point gap between first and second. In between, champions Juventus are at Sampdoria.
Juve trail AC Milan by seven points, but have a match in hand and are masters at stealthily capturing the league leadership in the second half of a campaign.
