2016/17 Season review – Crazy moments, Supercoppa and the Chinese
July marks the beginning of a new season. One that the rossoneri fans expect to be much better than the last four. A new beginning but also the perfect time to review the past season.
30 June in the regular calendar has no special significance. The summer has just begun, vacations are planned, and so on. In football, however, is the day when the football season officially ends, therefore it is a time for a detailed review of the just finished football year.
AC Milan’s 2016-2017 was a crazy year. Italian daily newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, awards the Oscars inspired prizes to those who were the protagonists or major events of a past season full of beautiful moments. The absolute protagonist is definitely the 18 year old prodigy Gianluigi Donnarumma, the most talked about footballer, but also the best rated among Milan’s players. A young but already mature goalkeeper who has surprised everyone, from spectacular saves to the renewal case that is keeping everyone in suspense. The rossoneri’s best moment of the 2016/17 season was of course the Supercoppa Italia win in Doha, Qatar, against Juventus. Beautiful, shining, majestic like any other respected trophy, the signal of a Milan capable to compete again after many years of anonymity.
Not to be forgotten is without a doubt the end of the soap opera with the Chinese property, concluded in the best ways after months and months of voices and negotiations. The farewell of Silvio Berlusconi after 31 years of reign was painful but necessary, the arrival of Yonghong Li and his associates instead is hope for the future.
Perhaps the best moment of the season took place in San Siro, Cristian Zapata’s equalizer in the derby. A crazy and overtime goal that gave the rossoneri a golden point, almost a sign of the rediscovered love between the fans and the club. Special remarks then go to Manuel Locatelli as the best debutant, the 94-th minute penalty given to Juventus considered to be the controversy of the year and the transfer market moves till now by the new ownership. A good preamble to write another beautiful football story, that of 2017-2018.