Milan Impress in Win over Real Madrid, but Result Little More Than Morale Boost

All the differences between AC Milan and Real Madrid faded away on Tuesday as the Rossoneri beat the world champions 4-2 in a strange friendly in Dubai.

For just 90 minutes, Milan played nothing like a seventh-placed Serie A club, beating a Madrid side that looked nothing like the team that has won 22 competitive matches in a row.

And perhaps that is the point: never did Madrid appear to be interested in winning this game. Defending was not a priority, and neither was catching up after allowing an early lead. 

"

Galliani: "We've just beaten Real Madrid 4-2. We are fine as we are." #ThingsThatHaventBeenSaid ... #Yet

— Meytar Zeevi (@RossoneriBlog) December 30, 2014"

Jeremy Menez pounced on a weak back-pass and scored the opening goal, and then Stephan El Shaarawy practically walked into a dangerous area and scored the second. He would do the same in the second half to score the third goal for Milan.

But the goals meant a lot to El Shaarawy. He pumped his fists like he did when he scored against Sampdoria last month, when he broke a 622-day goal drought.

El Shaarawy has struggled to find the back of the net since returning from multiple injuries this year. So the win is not the most important thing here: it's that Milan's biggest prospect finished a year from hell with two goals against the world's best. Morale like that is not easy to find, and he just got a big boost of it right before the transfer window opens.

Even Giampaolo Pazzini, who has not started a competitive match since May, got on the scoresheet. Pazzini is a player who says little to disrupt the team—even if he has a lot to complain about. Here is a player whose career is dwindling down and playing time is sparse, and he goes out in a high-profile friendly and scores. Pazzini is a model professional, and finally he looked like he was having fun.

Warren Little/Getty Images

And then Michael Agazzi came out and made three different saves on the most expensive player of all time. Gareth Bale could not beat him. It was like some episode of the Twilight Zone.

Of course, it's easy to get carried away with a result like this. Milan are not suddenly ready to compete with the best in the world, neither are they one of the best themselves. They took their opportunities against a team that was all too happy to give them.

And now Milan have won three trophies this season, all three of them from friendlies. That is some kind of moral victory after a year of many losses.