To close out their Summer Tour, Milan have returned to Perth in Western Australia, where they played a friendly vs. Roma last Summer. They will be facing local A-League side Perth Glory on Thursday before heading back to Milano for the rest of their preseason preparations. Their visit last year found a passionate group of Milan fans, including the members of the Milan Clubs Australia, which is the combined group of Milan Clubs from Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. With the prospect of Milan possibly playing the first Serie A match outside of Italy next year vs. Como seemingly only waiting on the approval of UEFA and FIFA, this friendly is truly about seeking glory in Perth.
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| Milan found glory (and a trophy) in Hong Kong after defeating Liverpool 4-2 |
Playing in Australia is quite an adjustment for the players, as not only is the travel a long distance, but the seasons are reversed. So instead of the sweltering heat they have been training in, they have been training and playing in the middle of Australia's winter. But the players seem to be enjoying themselves. They were greeted with a special gift for each of them from Milan Clubs Australia and they have enjoyed being up close and personal with Australian wildlife. Fans have been able to attend a special Meet & Greet event with some of the players and also former Australian and Milan player Zeljko Kalc and Milan legend Serginho, as well as meeting the players after an open training session.
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| A warm official welcome from Perth and Western Australia. |
Perth Glory finished at the bottom of the A-League last season, which is the top flight of Australian football. They played their first match of the season in the Australian Cup on Sunday, a heartbreaking loss on penalties to Wellington Phoenix, who had finished two places above them on the table. For them, this is a high profile friendly, for Milan, perhaps we have found a team at our level after such a terrible season last year.
Allegri's Milan have already played two high profile friendlies, of course. The first was vs. Arsenal in Singapore last week, which ended 1-0 for the English side (but with a spectacular practice shootout afterward which Milan won 6-5.) On Saturday, Milan were in Hong Kong to face Liverpool for the Hong Kong Football Festival. Milan only had 32% possession compared to Liverpool's 68%, and Liverpool got 18 shots off, but only seven were on target. But Milan took advantage of their counter attacks, and managed an insane eight shots on target of a total of ten shots. The match finished Liverpool 2, Milan 4.
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| Leão paid tribute to his former Portugal teammate, Liverpool's number 20, Diogo Jota |
The match was as much about Liverpool having a difficult game, perhaps partially due to the loss of Diogo Jota. Fans in Hong Kong created a lovely tribute featuring his initials and number at the beginning of the match, and all fans clapped in the 20th minute in honor of his number 20. While this match was clearly positive for Milan, with an improvement vs. the Premier League champions, there is still much work to do. Estupiñian made a lackluster debut, subbing on in the 63rd minute. However, he had only just arrived less than 36 hours before and was likely still jet-lagged, and the only full training he had participated in had been interrupted by lightning storms.
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| Loftus-Cheek scores against former Milan player, Milos Kerkez. |
On the flip side, there were plenty of positive performances from other players. The goals were scored by Leão in the 11th minute, assisted by Pulisic; then Loftus-Cheek in the 52nd minute, assisted by Leão, and a surprise brace from Okafor. His first was in the 59th minute, after a great run and cross from Saelemaekers, then he closed it out with a goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time, running around everyone, including the keeper, to slot it home for Milan's fourth.
For this match, Allegri will have had a few more training sessions amidst all the travel and fun. He will also have Álex Jiménez back, but obviously Modrić and Gimenez are still on vacation and will join the team next week when they return to Milanello. No new signings have been made since Saturday, but we did see the miraculous exit of Emerson Royal to Flamengo, which was perhaps the win of the entire summer. Lorenzo Colombo also made his loan deal with an obligation to buy to Genoa since our last match, hopefully he does well there. Allegri's available players for this one will be:
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| Allegri's starting 11 vs. Liverpool in the new |
Goalkeepers: Mike Maignan, Pietro Terracciano, Lorenzo Torriani, and Matteo Pittarella
Defenders: Davide Bartesaghi, Matteo Duțu, Pervis Estupian, Matteo Gabbia, Álex Jiménez, Vittorio Magni, Strahinja Pavlović, Filippo Terracciano, Malick Thiaw, and Fikayo Tomori
Midfielders: Warren Bondo, Christian Comotto, Youssouf Fofana, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Yunus Musah, Christian Pulisic, Samuele Ricci, Alexis Saelemaekers
Forwards: Samuel Chukwueze, Rafael Leão, Mattia Liberali, Noah Okafor
* Five players were called up from Milan Futuro or Primavera teams, indicated with italics Newly signed players are indicated with bold italics.
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| Okafor celebrates the second goal of his surprise brace vs. Liverpool. |
Thursday's match should be fun, with the least pressure of the preseason friendlies so far. Both Allegri and Leão spoke of respecting their opponent in their prematch press conference, and the importance of remaining "switched on" against a team without a squad valued at €1 billion. We also know the fans there will do everything to create the best atmosphere for the match, too. If you listened to the podcast with Paul, the co-founder and President of Milan Club Adelaide, you'll remember all of the amazing things they did last year when Milan came to Perth. So far, they've already upped their game, so I can't wait to see what they bring to the match. This should be one for the fans, even if for the teams and the city, it's more about positive PR and seeking glory in Perth.
This post inspired by the music of INXS's "Devil Inside"
Reviewed by Elaine
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