Perhaps he had dreamed it a thousand times, or maybe it was only his thoughts - a goal against Lazio, "what would my father say?".
The mind of Milan centre-half Alessio Romagnoli was a strange and unusual one before playing the Coppa Italia match against Lazio. A hidden love for I Biancocelesti, it was never revealed because of his past playing with Roma. But on Tuesday it broke the ice at a press conference: "I'm a Lazio fan - as a child I went to the stadium with my father ...". However, today marked that decisive goal against his childhood club, and perhaps has created a displeasure within himself in this celebratory phase for Milan...
As a child, from 5 years of age, Romagnoli looked up to Nesta and tried to emulate him. A true idol, and his only reference. Because of this, he wears the number 13 in his honor. He broke into Italian football with his childhood club rivals Roma at the age of 17, making his senior debut on December 11th, 2012 against Atalanta, under coach Zeman. He scored his first goal in 2013, and was sold to Milan for a fee of €25 million in 2015, after returning from loan from Sampdoria, where he has now completed over 80 games.
Today he sends Milan into the final of the Coppa Italia after defeating Lazio, and does not rejoice in respect. When he looked up after scoring that penalty kick, he saw the Curva Nord where he used to go as a child, and he smiled. With his teammates celebrating he also smiled, as his Milan side now have 13 games without defeats, with the defense improving game-by-game (keeping the last 6 games without a goal against). The Gattuso effect seems to finally be working, flipping a switch to get this Serie A side back on track to being one of the top teams of Europe again.
