Berlusconi reaping the benefits of keeping faith with Allegri

Say what you like about Silvio Berlusconi’s political career, he’s proved a better judge of football than most owners.

Pausing in the midst of the election campaign last week to give an opinion on his team’s chances against Barcelona he told journalists: “We won’t be able to go out and play in the way I’ve always wanted Milan to play. This time Barca will boss the game and we will have to confront them so they don’t boss the game too much.”

Football and politics are so intertwined in Italy that Milan’s win was hailed as a definite boost to Berlusconi’s electoral chances. If you think that’s far-fetched, when he gave the go-ahead to sign Mario Balotelli last month the opinion polls recorded a 2% rise in his rating. Exactly the same happened in 2001 when Milan signed Rui Costa and again in 2008 with Ronaldinho.