Charles Ducksbury gives his thoughts after the victory over Milan.
In many ways I agreed with President Setti before the game. It's better to face a big club first rather than a fellow provincial side..if you should lose then it's no real panic, whereas a victory can even set up the entire season with the confidence and momentum gained.
All of that is a long way ahead though, for now it's better to savour the moment of a famous victory before plans begin for next Sunday's game against Roma. Pre-game the attention seemed to be entirely on Mario Balotelli, the attention seeking striker ignoring pleas to focus on the game by tweeting 'People of Verona, meet a man of BRESCIA'. Knowing the rivalry between Verona and Brescia this was something aimed at provoking reaction from the butei, but what he got instead was calm and measured applause and the fans cheering his name every time he attempted a shot or pass. The mind games worked, Balo was terrible and took his frustrations out on the corner flag before sulking on the pitch at full-time.
The game itself went almost perfectly. The Bentegodi was rocking but we started slowly. Milan seemed confident, shown with their excellent goal scored by Poli, although my Gialloblu eyes saw only very disappointing marking from Moras that allowed the midfielder to amble through and finish. In fairness this is the only negative. The reaction was excellent and although the equaliser came through a set-play (Toni hammering home a header from a corner) our play merited the goal, a few chances had been missed and the pace of particularly Martinho on the left causing the Rossoneri all sorts of problems. Milan didn't seem to react to falling behind and the momentum was with us.
Second half was more of a counter attacking game from Verona. We defended relatively deep without giving any chances away, whilst the pace when countering was almost frightening. The second goal arrived from a beautiful, outside of the right boot cross from Jankovic onto Toni's head, who beat Abbiatti down to his right. Gialloblu orgasm, the Bentegodi lifted from the ground.
Even after the goal, Milan didn't have a plan and we could have made it 3-1 on two occasions. First, Martinho ran 60 yards with the ball at a speed that would have left Usain Bolt in his dust, before hitting a thunder shot that Abbiatti palmed over. Then from a corner, Maietta headed straight at the keeper when either side would have seen another goal.
Milan eventually reacted but nothing of any major danger, a cross across the 6 yard box was missed by all, before Rafael flapped at a cross in injury time but that ball was cleared. The full-time whistle brought Balotelli slumping in the penalty area whilst the fans celebrated. It was a famous victory, the first time since 1988 that we have won on the first day of a Serie A season.
Will the win define the season? Far too early to say. But beating the team that finished 2nd last season can do no harm. In many ways Roma next weekend is a tougher exercise and may give us a clearer indication about these players capabilities. But after years of seeing games such as Potenza-Verona, Verona-Paganese, Pro Sesto-Verona, it was strange to see us once again line up against a club like Milan. Hopefully it won't be another 11 years before we 'welcome' them (and Mario ) back to Bentegodi.
Six points from the first four games is very acceptable given the high standard of the opponents. Milan, Roma, Sassuolo and Juventus are all tough games at any point in the season for various reasons, never mind them being the first games of the season, four points would have been pleasing, so to win two games is very positive. In my mind the Milan game was a one-off game played with heart and adrenaline, the following three games gave me more of an indication of Verona's capabilities. In many ways, the Roma and Juventus games were similar, we lost concentration after the first goal and within ten minutes were we beaten. This is something Mandorlini will look to address, particularly against the stronger teams in the division.
