Fiorentina-Milan Preview: He Wants Revenge

Remember that guy Montella? Spent a lot of time on his hair, matching his socks to his outfits, etc.? Probably spent as much of his time at Milan at Diesel getting all of his free clothes as he spent thinking about lineups? Yeah, that guy. Well he’s back at Fiorentina again, and still seems hurt about getting fired by Milan. So while Gattuso is just trying to save our season before he gets the axe, we’d better watch out for the pretty boy coach, because he wants revenge.

"Do I look good?"

Montella replaced Pioli in April, who said his “professional and human qualities were being questioned” after almost two years at the helm. But Montella has not been able to infuse that “new coach smell” on the squad, and is still winless since his return. We all know he would like to make Milan his first win. However, he lost 1-0 last weekend to relegation threatened Empoli. For that match, he lined up Lafont; Milenkovic, Pezzella, Vitor Hugo; Mirallas, Benassi, Veretout, Frenandes, Biraghi; Simeone, and Muriel. Veretout was sent off in that match, and will serve the first of his two match ban vs. Milan. Pezzella was injured and had surgery on his face this week, so will miss, and they are still missing Pjaca to an ACL injury.

Gattuso has a longer list of injuries (or as Montella would call them “excuses.” Although Biglia and Paqueta are called up for the trip, they will not be playing. Biglia, because of his bruised hip, and Paqueta because of his season-ending three match ban. Bonaventura, Caldara, and Calabria are all out for the season. Strinic is still not recovered, but Conti and Calhanoglu have been called up and are hopeful, despite recovering from injuries themselves. The big question is will Gattuso discipline Bakayoko and keep him on the bench after his horrible display of character last week? Or will he throw reason out the window and start him for the good of the match?

Will he? Or won't he?

For Milan, every match is a must win and we must also wait for others to drop points if we are to dream of Champions League qualification. For Montella, he really has nothing to lose except his job, but we all know that is just a matter of time anyway. But what he really wants from us is revenge – sweet, glorious revenge against the club of his childhood dreams that rewarded his poor performances with an exit from the club. And just for that alone, not even for qualification so much, Milan need to win this one.

This post inspired by the music of She Wants Revenge

Serie A Week 36

Fiorentina vs. Milan

Saturday, May 11 • 20:30 CEST (2:30 EDT)

This match can be streamed LIVE on ESPN+ in the U.S.