A dream come true

Who’d have thought it? I still have to realize it. After eleven years, we won the Championship.

By winning the last match of the championship we could finally raise the cup. A whole season with bated breath, pulled until the last minute of the last match, with the fear that the teams below could overtake us.

For me, seeing my favourite team win the Scudetto is like a dream come true. Of course, since I was born in 2001, we have won several trophies, including two Champions League titles, but I was too small to remember the excitement of seeing a cup raised to the sky.

But I remember perfectly the championship won in 2011, just when Ibrahimovic played. After so many years, he came back, and he contributed to the realization of the dream.

This year I managed to go to the stadium many times to support my team, strictly in Curva Sud.

When we couldn’t for various commitments or for the lack of tickets, my friends and I were at the usual brewery to suffer all together.

Woe to those who dare to change seats! They were the same from the first to the last game, being just a little superstitious.

And so it happened on the evening of 22 May 2022. The tickets to go away were finished in 10 minutes, so I couldn’t buy them. So we ended up at the brewery.

I could feel the tension before the game. I even arrived half an hour earlier than the beginning because I couldn’t stay still at home. I’ve never worn my team’s jerseys when we looked at them in the brewery, so for luck, even that night, I was dressed normally.

The first fans arrive, and the climate is even warmer. As usual not even the shadow of my friends until five minutes before the kick-off. While I was already sweating from the tension waiting for them.

It’s 6 pm, and the game starts. The sound of the projector is high, and the whole room full of people must be able to hear. The first choruses begin, incitements, applause, snort for the wrong goals. But at a certain point: <<<Leao, in speed, passed in the penalty area, Leao, ball on the right, goes central for Giroud who kickkkkk! And they are in advantageee! >>. And then everyone standing, hugs, rejoices, the chairs fall to the ground. The number of decibels in the brewery rises dramatically. Then the scene is repeated twice more.

All the second time the chairs did not exist, we spent him standing up, jumping, singing and waving flags. The taste of victory was already anticipated.

The game ends, we are the champions of Italy. Running towards the station, now we are going to celebrate in Milan. We set foot outside the Milan station, and we are overwhelmed by the expected flow of fans in ecstasy like us.

The streets were already full of cars ringing, the glowing torches were burning the air, and the acrid smell of smoke bombs entered the lungs.

I didn’t want to miss a moment, photographing to remember every second of that magnificent evening. At the same time, I wanted to fully enjoy it by actively participating in the festivities.

The small size of my camera, the XF10, was once again efficient, leaving it in my pocket when I didn’t need it, having my hands free to hold the red and black flag or light some smoke.

I used the constant smoke clouds emitted by the smoke bombs to create some new composition, keeping almost always the man as the main subject.

I love black and white for the kind of photographs I take. It helps focus on the emotions and expressions of the subjects I immortalize. But this time, I let myself be tempted by curiosity in trying to photograph not only in black and white as usual. It was so nice to see red all over Piazza del Duomo that I thought it was a waste not to keep a memory of those colours. So I discovered the vivid colours that are capable of capturing this camera. It is also interesting the mix of blue and red that is created in my compositions.

The next day, party again. This time the open bus with the players passes through the streets of Milan.

Standing right under the bus, in the midst of the agitated crowd and among endless pushes (including those by the police excited by the idea of being able to use their strength without being able to be attacked), I managed to capture the players too, even though I didn’t have the zoom available.

As soon as I see a situation that might be interesting, I run over there, and I try to do anything to get a meaningful photo of this scenario, like a person lighting a smoke bomb. It’s like a call to me, it tells me to get to that place right away.

Shooting under these conditions was not easy. For me, who likes to get into the crowd’s mess, it was difficult not to get elbows or unintentional handfuls in the face of the euphoric people who celebrated.

Due to its ease of focusing, it rarely fails to capture a moment. But shooting at night, in the dark, for the first time, I encountered some problems. Using autofocus, several photos did not come into focus, because the sensor could not recognize the subject, also blame the smoke, the rapid movements and the low lighting.

Very satisfied, instead of the pictures where through the closing of the diaphragm and the slower exposure times, I was able to capture a good depth of field with the effect of moving flags.