Instead of playing with FC Schalke against relegation in the Bundesliga, Malick Thiaw is used at AC Milan in the Champions League. The German U21 captain shined in the round of 16 first leg against Tottenham Hotspur. His commitment is not self-evident.
Slightly wide to the left, Malick Thiaw unable to score. The 21-year-old from AC Milan almost crowned his top performance in the 79th minute. It would have been the first goal for his new club. His header wasn’t placed enough, but that was negligible on this evening. The Italians won the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 with an early goal by Brahim Diaz (7th) – and that was mainly because of the ex-Schalke player. As a central defender, he had driven his opponents Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Dejan Kulusevski to despair and prevented any scoring chances.
“It’s something you dream of as a little kid,” Thiaw said after his first game in the Champions League on Amazon Prime Video. “I took it easy, focused on the game and my strengths. I think I did quite well.” An assessment that the Italian press does not share. Instead, it puffs it up and charges it with grandeur. “The San Siro has a new legend and it comes from Germany. Aggressive and tough, Thiaw will definitely become a fixed star in the Milan squad,” wrote the “Gazzetta dello Sport” about the appearance of the German U21 international. The “Corriere dello Sport” commented: “Thiaw is the protagonist of the first half, in which he fully deserves the applause of the fans. He does not make a single mistake.”
Thiaw’s praise from his coach Stefano Pioli should be more important than the praise from the press. “He played a great game,” he enthused of his defender, whom he has only played six times this season. “I see how he works every day in training. This kid is a to be reckoned with.”
An assessment by which Pioli will have to be measured in the future. Because up to this premier class evening, Thiaw had played more minutes for FC Schalke 04 than for Milan this season. With the 90 minutes against Tottenham, he comes to 323 minutes for the Italians, 270 for Schalke, which the defender left on August 29, 2022 just before the end of the transfer. By then he had already played three games for the newly promoted team in the Bundesliga, for whom he had played for seven years.
But then he was signed for five years by the Milan side, who paid his €7m fee from the proceeds of the resale clause of Lucas Paqueta, who joined West Ham United from Olympique Lyon for more than €60m. A transfer that was necessary for Schalke’s tight cash register: “It was a difficult decision for us to let Malick go,” ex-sports director Rouven Schröder said at the time: “We always have to consider the economic aspects of all decisions – like that like last winter, when we still refused a transfer. The general conditions are different now and financially so good that we have now agreed to the transfer.”
For Thiaw, however, the change was initially not worthwhile. Although he was one of Pioli’s preferred candidates: “Malick is a quick and intelligent player with good technique. He is absolutely suitable to play in our team.” But then Thiaw was only allowed to play for seven minutes in the seventh game after his transfer, making his debut against Hellas Verona before having to wait again. He has only started three times in the league so far. Pioli relied on Pierre Kalulu, Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Theo Hernandez in defense – with whom he had won the championship last season. The first title for Milan after eleven years.
But while AC Milan only conceded 31 goals in the championship season, there are already 30 this season after 22 of 38 games. The club is fifth in Serie A, apart from leaders SSC Napoli, who have a gigantic lead of 15 points has the first pursuer, the lead is extremely narrow. Atalanta Bergamo and AS Roma, third and fourth in the table, have 41 points, like Milan, while city rivals Inter are second with 44 points.
Six games without a win made Pioli change his mind before the game against FC Torino last Friday. Thiaw was allowed 90 minutes, Milan kept a clean sheet and won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Olivier Giroud – their first win since early January. What worked against Turin should also work against Tottenham. “There was never a lack of trust in Thiaw,” Pioli assured after the game.
A curious statement, since he still didn’t use the player for a long time. Now, when Thiaw got his chance, he showed why the manager’s words are right. There was no sign of his limited playing time for Milan, he acted confidently and without nervousness. He won 78 percent of his duels against the top stars of Tottenham. Milan’s club icon Paolo Maldini could also have contributed to self-confidence: “I’ve spoken to him a lot in the past few months. I’ve seen his development and told him: don’t give up.”
Antonio Di Salvo should also have watched the game with great interest, after all Thiaw is his captain in the U21 national team. They have their first game of the year on March 24 against Japan, and then in the summer the European Championships in Romania and Georgia, where the defending champions have to play against England, the Czech Republic and Israel in the preliminary round.
Incidentally, it is not a matter of course that Thiaw leads the German selection. The 1.94 meter tall defender was born in Düsseldorf and always lived in Germany until he moved to Milan. But it was not until spring 2021 that he was naturalized, previously he only had Finnish citizenship. His mother is Finnish, his father Senegalese – in August 2017 he was even nominated for the Finnish U17 national team, but did not play. Immediately after his naturalization, he was called up by the then coach Stefan Kuntz for the German U21s for the first time, but had to give up behind Nico Schlotterbeck and Amos Pieper for the 2021 European Championship. Without Thiaw, the team became European champions. At the age of 21, he is still young enough to possibly defend his title. His recent appearances at Milan should only encourage Di Salvo to count on him again this year.
Thanks largely to Thiaw, AC Milan have won an international knockout game for the first time since the Europa League match against Ludogorets Razgrad in February 2018. In 2021 they had reached the round of 16 with two draws with the better away goal ratio in the Europa League intermediate round against Red Star Belgrade, but failed there at Manchester United, in the previous season they were eliminated early as the group bottom. The Italians now go into the second leg in London on March 8 with a narrow 1-0 win. It is to be hoped for Thiaw that his missed goal chance will not take revenge.
