Dinho lights up the Milan Derby!

By: fetyani | September 29th, 2008

I’m still in yesterday celebrating the derby victory against Inter. And thanks to the man of the hour Ronaldinho who scored the decisive goal. R80 was in the starting 11 and continued to astound Milan fans and all the skeptics by the loads and made them cheer for Il Gaucho. A header was how Dinho made the spotlight on him, a celebratory run filled with rejoice showed his passion; followed by a few steps of some Samba dancing got him all the love from the Rossoneri at the San Siro.

Ronaldinho’s winning goal in Derby Della Madonnina,

High quality version of the goal

Ancelotti said that Dinho is still not 100% ready, this actually comes as good news. If what we are all seeing now isn’t Dinho on full throttle, then I wouldn’t want to be the team facing him when he’s 100%. For now let’s enjoy this and hope Dinho gives his best this season and win the main (also, somewhat only) objective, the Scudetto; UEFA & Coppa Italia are secondary. Milan will face Zurich on Wednesday in UEFA, too early to know if Dinho will start.

One big issue is the formation. Ka-Pa-Ro (Kaka-Pato-Dinho) the problem here is when those three are fielded together upfront, it means Milan are going with the Christmas Tree (4-3-2-1) formation, which isn’t the most popular formation among the Rossoneri fans these days. Although it works against big teams or teams who attack often and give Milan space. Another disadvantage is the shortage of goals using that formation. So in all honestly for Milan’s benefit it’s better to field 2 strikers. The question now remains if 2 strikers will play and Kaka behind them, there’s no place for Dinho. You can’t have 4 attackers in one team; you’ll have a huge gap in the midfield. Solution? Let’s hope Carletto Ancelotti figures out the best suitable solution for this team and find the proper formation to continue winning and clinch the Scudetto.

Here is what Dinho had to say after the game,

“Scoring in the derby is a great emotion. The celebration? It was spontaneous and instinctive considering the joy I felt. I hoped to score, I missed the goal. I scored my first goal in a derby and the first with the Milan shirt. I am happy also because we all wanted to give president Berlusconi a birthday present.
I think the team played a great match today, against a strong team like Inter. This victory gives us confidence.”

A few comments from other Milanisti,

Brazilian team mate Kaka,

“I think Dinho’s goal today was important for him, we are all happy for him. Everyone expects from him what he showed tonight, you can see he wants to do well.’”

And Capitano Paolo Maldini,

“I’m happy for him. He’s a lad who works hard, he has quality and he showed it.”

Galliani,

“ I am very happy, more so for Ronaldinho. We have loved this player for a long time and he knows it. He only has to find the right condition, but he is still the best. We strongly wanted him, it was the most difficult negotiation in my 23 years in football.”

President Berlusconi,

“Ronaldinho played a great match. His name had been obscured a bit by what happened at Barcelona. Now he is himself again. He’s scored a great goal and did great things, which are worth the price of the ticket. He was decisive. I would also like to see him play further forward, not only on the left wing where he did well.”