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AC Milan will make the short trip to take on Como tonight, with Massimiliano Allegri facing off against Cesc Fabregas, his opposite number in more ways than one.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write, the fixture list in the end decided that Como and Milan would face each other twice in just over a month. The first meeting was postponed because of the Supercoppa Italiana, and the reverse will be moved because of the Winter Olympic Games.
It begins tonight on the lake, with the hosts dreaming of showing that they can stand up to the top teams, and the Rossoneri forced to win to keep Inter in contention. Inter won yesterday against Lecce at San Siro, but Napoli were held by Parma, so two points could be gained over them.
It will be a clash of styles. Fabregas is a benchmark for those who want to play possession football, Allegri is the great theoretician of the ‘corto muso’, of utilitarianism with the ball. The two coaches furthest apart in the league? Perhaps.
Journey and styles
Fabregas and Allegri were, at different levels, two quality players. By the end of their careers, they were already thinking like coaches. Fabregas, in January 2023: “I’ve been thinking for a while that I’ll be able to coach in the future. Maybe at Como in Serie A.”
Self-fulfilling prophecies. The plots of their coming-of-age stories, however, are different. Fabregas took over Como in Serie B in November 2023 and a few months later was in Serie A, while Allegri has worked his way up: Aglianese, SPAL, Grosseto, Sassuolo.
The big difference, there’s no point beating around the bush, is on the pitch. Fabregas can play vertically (even more so when Diao is fit), but he likes to control the ball and move it around to manipulate defences.
In Pisa, on Epiphany, he won the game with 73% possession. In Cagliari, in November, his team had 75%. Some of his quotes explain: “I always want the ball. For us, possession is identity. Counter-pressing is fundamental.”
Milan, on the other hand, only had the ball 39.6% of the time against the big teams. Want a symbolic statistic? PPDA, a pressing stat that indicates how many passes are allowed to opponents without challenging them.
Como are the first in Serie A – they press more than anyone, even more than Chivu’s Inter – while Milan are last because Allegri drops deep and leaves the ball to you. Besides, Leao has more fun when he has space.
Results and standings
It is one thing to have a philosophy, it is another to execute it consistently. Fabregas, after Inter hammered his side 4-0, said: “I’m stupid, I’ll be a loser because the result matters, but I think you grow more after a heavy defeat than after a victory. I can also play 6-3-1, but I prefer to lose playing like that.”
It’s the least Allegri-esque phrase in the world. Max would never put the result on the back burner, partly because it’s not in his DNA, partly because he coaches a big team and can’t afford it.
Then consider the different approach to the table. Allegri discusses average Champions League results like an engineer calculates the trajectory of a satellite, while Fabregas, after round four, said: “I don’t even know what position we are in.”
Lifestyles and words
On one hand, Fabregas, after the victory over Napoli, goes to the middle of the team and speaks like a leader of the people: “We devoured them!” On the other, Allegri, who rushes off in the 90th minute and goes to the dressing room alone.
Fabregas recently said: “Last Sunday I watched six games.” Allegri meanwhile escapes to Livorno to visit his friends whenever he can, while he is yet to try an experience outside of Serie A at present.
Fabregas is a citizen of the world, a nomadic dreamer who goes from Barcelona to London to Barcelona to London to Monte Carlo to Como, and Allegri, who says no to Real Madrid because he’s happy in the Milan-Livorno-Turin triangle.
They are different, but with things in common: a passion for technical midfielders, and being classy in the media. In the last 24 hours, Cesc and Max have made the same choice, they have delivered a truly gentlemanly eve.
Max said: “Fabregas did an excellent job, he deserves his compliments.” Cesc: “On the bench, we’re Serie D and they are the Champions League: he’s had a great career, I’ve done nothing yet.” So, watch your gaze.
Everyone’s talking about the pitch being two spans wider, but this Como-Milan match won’t be a game of inches: it’s a story of Fabregas, Allegri and their broad visions of football. At 20:45 tonight they will shake hands, and the battle of styles will begin.
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