GdS: ‘The cup wild card’ – how Abraham convinced Conceicao and aims to win over Milan | OneFootball

Tammy Abraham continued his trends of both scoring against Inter and scoring in the Coppa Italia during last night’s semi-final first leg.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport report, Abraham is the man of the moment not only because this time he kept Milan afloat in view of the return leg in April 23, but also because he confined Santiago Gimenez to the bench.

Not many could have predicted it back on February 5, when Gimenez set up Joao Felix to score against Roma, also in the Coppa Italia. It seemed like the beginning of a fairy tale, and nothing prevents it from being one, but at the moment ‘the script is at least on hold’.

Credit goes to Tammy, who ultimately did a very simple thing: he took his place, deserving it with facts in the eyes of the coach. For example, he was excellent when he came on against Lecce and Como, against whom he served Reijnders for the winning goal.

In the meantime Gimenez was struggling and stumbling, and in the end Sergio Conceiçao was convinced to make a change: Abraham as a starter against Napoli (where he did badly, like all his teammates) and as a starter in the derby.

There were actually two ‘goals’, because Tammy saved a header from Stefan De Vrij near the goal line in the first half that Maignan seemed to be late reacting to. He has now scored nine goals for the season and – for a season of rehabilitation and return after a long absence due to injury – it isn’t bad.

He has scored nine as a reserve centre-forward too, because first there was Alvaro Morata and then Gimenez arrived. The hierarchy of the last few games is something new that Tammy will bring to the table at the end of the season, when his future will be decided.

He arrived at Milanello on a dry loan and so the situation is yet to be clarified, as he admitted after the game:  “I don’t know my future now. Milan is a great club, I want to fight until the end for this club. Staying doesn’t just depend on me. It was a very important goal for us.”

“Do we believe? Of course, we must always be alive, always focused on the objective. Today I was in the right place at the right time. I’m happy to have scored again in a match like this. We played with confidence, courage and passion. This is how we can win every match. We are Milan.”

Abraham is the Coppa Italia man (he has four goals and an assist in three matches) and the derby man (he also scored in the Supercoppa Italiana). All that remains is to complete the job in three weeks.