Defeat Proves That AC Milan Have Been Bested by Genoa on and off the Field

AC Milan’s six-match unbeaten run came to a dramatic end on Tuesday night at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, where they lost 3-0 to Genoa. The result not only restored a sense of realism following last weekend’s win over Juventus but also marked the latest chapter in a strange relationship between two clubs.

Judging on the match itself, there wouldn’t seem to be much of a connection between Milan and Genoa.

The atmosphere was raucous, with the home crowd baying for fouls and cards at every opportunity. Meanwhile, the two sets of players didn’t stop bickering throughout, and the away side left the pitch with one less man than they started the game with.

However, the intimate relationship between the two clubs manifests itself away from the field of play, rather than on it. More precisely, it shows itself within the chaotic, unpredictable and often nonsensical world of the transfer market.

The last time a player did not arrive at Milan from Genoa in some way over the course of a season was during the 2007-08 campaign. To contextualise how long ago that was, back then Alexandre Pato was a youthful prospect with an exciting career ahead of him. Also, Carlo Ancelotti was still in charge—and Milan were European champions.

They were different times, but since then countless players have arrived at or returned to Milanello following time spent with the Grifone.

In 2008-09, Marco Borriello rejoined Milan after an exceptional year of goalscoring at the Marassi. The next year, Davide Di Gennaro came back to the club after time spent at Genoa as part of a co-ownership agreement.

The 2010-11 season saw Milan continue this special transfer-market association by recruiting three players in Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Marco Amelia. Stephan El Shaarawy followed them the next year.

This pattern continued in more recent years with Kevin Constant, Valter Birsa, Luca Antonelli, Juraj Kucka and Andrea Bertolacci all swapping Genoa for Milan, albeit the latter did so through AS Roma, who bought 100 per cent of his playing rights before selling him on for profit. Additionally, M’Baye Niang and Suso spent time on loan at Genoa before returning to the Rossoneri.

Seeing so many of their finest players depart for the same club would cause unrest with any fanbase. Consequently, the hostile atmosphere created by the Genoa fans during Tuesday’s clash with Milan was perhaps understandable.

However, Genoa do not appear to have lost out in their relationship with Milan, a notion only furthered by what transpired in their latest meeting.

After just 11 minutes of action, Nikola Ninkovic stooped to head home from close range following a superb, curled cross by Tomas Rincon. And while Milan gradually asserted greater …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com