Leonardo’s Milan, his ‘Seleção Brasileira’
The re-birth of Milan’s ‘Seleção Brasileira’ has led to Rossoneri’s return to good form. Dida is making decisive saves on a regular basis, Ronaldinho has started running back and helping the midfield by pressuring the opposition, Thiago Silva is protecting Nesta during those rare moments where Sandro struggles, and Pato seems to have grown even stronger since emerging from the dark period he suffered after Siena. The youngest of the Brazilians looks like he has freed himself of Kaka’s shadow. Ronaldinho recently said: “with Leonardo it’s easier.” This may be true, but it must be kept in mind that Leo was not always nice with Ronaldinho, leaving him on the bench for quite some time at the beginning of the season. Leonardo’s strategy seems to have paid off however, as Ronaldinho’s performances have been improving every week and he is slowly becoming more and more important for this team having scored three goals and provided six assists already.
Perhaps the most difficult case to resolve was that of Nelson Dida. Dida has always been criticised and was dropped to the bench due to his regular injury problems, Nelson was even relegated to last place on the goalkeeping ladder. Yet, chance brought about another opportunity for the Brazilian, injury to Storari and Abbiati meant he had to play against Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu. The rest of the story is worthy of a Hollywood movie script; his dreadful error for Raul’s opener, Milan’s comeback to win in the Bernabeu for the first time in History, and the subsequent miraculous saves he has made in every game since then including the last minute save on Raul in Tuesday’s return leg at the San Siro. When asked about Dida, Leonardo explained: “It’s a fantastic story. Nelson’s entire career has been made up of extreme highs and lows, but no matter what, he has always come out on top.”
Leonardo himself did not have the easiest of times. He began his career as Milan manger dreaming of Santana’s Brazil, a dream he lock away in his bedside table while he re-built morale, only to bring out it again at the right time. The results are there for all to see, Leonardo often states: “I’m Brazilian, I will always attack, it is in my nature.” It was for this very nature that Galliani and Berlusconi decided to appoint Leo as Milan manager, it is with these same ideas that he has brought Ronaldinho back and recovered Pato after he had seemingly lost him. Pato went through a very difficult period after his goals in the opening game at Siena, nevertheless Leonardo played him in every game and displayed complete faith in the young Brazilian, a faith that has since been fully re-paid with excellent performances.
The final piece of Milan’s ‘Seleção Brasileira’ is Thiago Silva. Compared to the rest of the stories, his seems almost boring. However, he is one of the most important pieces of this team. He has been impeccable since his first game at Siena. In addition to his performances, Thiago has shown an incredible level of maturity considering it is his debut season in Serie A, a league where defending is constantly scrutinised.
Milan’s rebirth began when Ronaldinho scored his first goal of the season at Bergamo against Atalanta to save a point against a team that were at that moment bottom of the league. That point meant that the players were able to go into an international break with some sort of serenity. The first game after the break was against Roma, a game that signalled Milan’s comeback, since then, the Rossoneri have been transformed due to a number of factors such as Alessandro Nesta and Marco Borriello’s return to fitness, Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo’s incredible work in the midfield but also thanks to the Brazilians mentioned above, and a coach that threw caution to the wind in order to play attacking football, a style of football that has seen them go from 15th to 4th in Serie A, and top of their Champions League group. Whether Milan will be able to keep it up is hard to say, but certainly all of Italy hopes they can as they have started providing all Italians with entertainment due to the football they play.
