Empoli President Fabrizio Corsi admits it was ‘already an honour and a big occasion for us to be at San Siro’, let alone beat Inter, but Tommaso Baldanzi won’t be leaving next season.
The Tuscans had only one previous Serie A victory at San Siro, sealed by Tommaso Rocchi in stoppages in January 2004 after Emre Belozoglu was sent off.
This time around, Baldanzi saw his finish squirm under Andre Onana’s body, but Milan Skriniar saw red for a second bookable offence just 40 minutes into the game.
Corsi visited the locker rooms after the final whistle and was clutching the Inter jersey of former Empoli midfielder Kristjan Asllani.
“It is already an honour and a big occasion for us to be at San Siro. We are a small club with 50,000 inhabitants who would all fit inside this stadium!” Corsi told Sky Sport Italia.
“I want to give all the credit to these fantastic lads, the coach and staff. We’ve won five or six times at San Siro in the last few decades and I was always on the sofa. This time my whole family was here. I was hoping for a draw here, but we got an historic victory.
“Let’s not also forget that in the past we were relegated losing here without deserving it, but whoever wins gets to write the history.”
This was not entirely out of the blue, as the Tuscans went into this game unbeaten in four and had already held Lazio to a 2-2 draw.
Now Empoli have leapfrogged both Fiorentina and Juventus in the Serie A table.
“I am sure our fans will enjoy that tonight, but the truth is they are challenging for Europe and we are trying to avoid relegation, so they are two very different seasons.
“I also wish to underline that the goal was scored by a lad who came from our youth academy and was in the squad that won the Primavera youth Scudetto two years ago. He was one of three of those players on the field today, two for Empoli and the other was Asllani.”
Baldanzi was on target for his fourth goal in just 10 Serie A games this season, so the 19-year-old is inevitably looking to the future, but in no rush.
“I am sure Baldanzi will reach an important club, but for the next year and a half, he needs to stay at Empoli and complete his growth process. The big clubs do not have the time to help players develop and become complete.”