Should have won the Balloon in 2010. Scored 30 goals for Inter, won the treble (the real treble including the CL), scored 2 in the semifinals and another 2 in the final of the CL.
Wasn’t even in the top 3 that year, and generally, his achievements during that period for Inter have been largely forgotten. He was a proper striker.
Amen to that.
He was one of the properest (erm) strikers I've ever seen at Inter. A walking textbook on how you play the role.
The last mile of the triplete season has his name watermarked on it.
May 5th, Coppa Italia final: 1-0 vs Roma, goal by Milito.
May 16th, Serie A last fixture, we need a win to top the table: 1-0 vs Siena, goal by Milito.
May 22nd, Champions League final: 2-0 vs Bayern, goals by Milito.
And yet to say that May 2010 was his masterpiece would almost be a disservice to him.
Because that wasn't exceptional, it was just what he did: score, any time it mattered, with such measured flair, astute vision, and impeccable precision.
His low-key career up to that point is a reminder of how much chance is involved for talented players to reach the stage they deserve to leave a legacy in the game.
Milito had a promising, but maybe not too flashing, career start at Racing. To make the leap from Argentina to Europe, he chose the path of Genoa, which at the time had been in Serie B for eight straight seasons, and had an ambitious new owner that was very determined to put an end to that.
First season was squad building, and adapting to Italy for him, he scored 12 in 20 games.
Second season, 21 in 39, with Genoa coasting the championship with flair and getting ready for having fun in Serie A with a team way too good for second division. But, the aforementioned ambitious owner was too hitchy for success and goofily tried to fix a game towards the end of the season which he really didn't need to fear they wouldn't have won. He got outed, and Genoa was demoted to C1 instead of promoted to Serie A.
Had that not happened, I'm pretty sure Milito would've rocked Serie A at 26 and would've been soon snagged by one of the bigs here.
Instead, he got hastily sold to Zaragoza in the quick dismantling of that Genoa side.
There, he perfomed flawlessly but for some weird reason he spent three full seasons there ending up with that relegation that FootballHQ recalled. Time to move again, and again he wasn't offered anything better than a comeback to Genoa which was mid-table in Serie A at the time. Great season again, and finally, at 30, Inter resolves to try and give him a first class seat.