Milan’s Fikayo Tomori: ‘It was sweet for all of us. We knew we could do it’

Fikayo Tomori had been warned. As Milan chased their first Serie A title since 2011, the one player in the squad who had been a part of it back then spoke up. It was Zlatan Ibrahimovic. “He was like: ‘Guys, if we win, be ready because it will go crazy,’” Tomori says.

Even so, it is doubtful whether anything could have prepared Tomori and his teammates for the reaction to what they achieved on the Sunday before last, getting the result they needed at Sassuolo to deliver Milan’s 19th Scudetto. And certainly not for the scenes during the open-top bus parade the following night.

The reports vary but some claimed there were as many as one million fans out in celebration, slowing the bus to a crawl as it navigated its way to Piazza del Duomo from Casa Milan, the club’s HQ. Red flares burned; the outpouring of emotion was extraordinary.

“It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before – so many people,” Tomori says. “It was a three-, four-, five-kilometre drag but it took hours. To see everyone on the streets … I can’t really describe it.”

Few thought Milan would be able to hold off their city rivals, Internazionale – not with such a young, unstarry squad (Ibrahimovic aside) and definitely not with the inexperienced back four the manager, Stefano Pioli, came to rely upon. Tomori, 24, was partnered in the centre by Pierre Kalulu, 21. The full-backs were Davide Calabria, 25, and Theo Hernández, 24.

You win nothing with kids and not at Milan, where the shirt is so heavy. But they would finish with the division’s joint-best defensive record. During the run-in they conceded twice in 11 matches.

“No one expected us to do it,” Tomori says. “So when we did, it felt even better – kind of proving people wrong, it was sweet for all of us. We