Sunday marks Milan's first competitive match of the 2025-26 season. Because they both finished eighth on the table and lost the Coppa Italia Final to Bologna in May, they play beginning in the First Round in August rather than the Round of 16 in December. Milan are starting the season with a recycled new manager, Massimiliano Allegri. Although he won't be on the bench for this match because he thought it was a good idea to perform a raging striptease for a referee who did not call a foul in the Coppa Italia Final a year ago when he was with Juventus. So he was given a two match suspension in the Coppa Italia and asked to keep his clothes on, for all of us. So seriously, this match comes with a warning for Allegri: Not Again.
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| This team... ready or not, is taking the pitch at San Siro on Sunday (sans Allegri.) |
Also something we wish we would not have to face again: personal tragedy. Both teams will be wearing black armbands to honor the passing of little 14 month-old Elliott Verreth, son of Bari's new Belgian midfielder, Matthias Verreth. His young son came down with a virus, was hospitalized, and passed away very suddenly a little over two weeks ago. No parent should ever have to go through losing their child, especially their firstborn.
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| "Matthias, we're with. you. Together on the pitch and in life." The entire Bari squad met the mourning young father at the airport upon his return. |
Due to the tragedy, the team canceled their training retreat and also a friendly as he rushed home to Belgium. The whole team was also at the airport to greet him and support him when he returned. They have supported him with the beautiful message, "Matthias, we're with you. Together on the pitch and in life." Verreth is reported to be called up by Bari manager Fabio Caserta, and also expected to be in the starting lineup, so it will likely be a very emotional match.
Bari, of course, finished in ninth place in Serie B last season. This summer, they improved their squad with a number of new signings, including the aforementioned Verreth, signed from Brescia; Danish forward Christian Gytkjær from Venezia; Greek center back Dimitrios Nikolaou from Bari; the midfielder from Austria, Matthias Braunöder, on loan from Como; Sheriff Kassama, Italian center back on loan from Trento; and the young Italian winger on loan from Napoli, Emanuele Rao. Bari won three of their four preseason friendlies, including a 3-0 win over Serie C side AZ Picerno last week. Caserta has called up 24 players for this match.
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| De Winter arrived this week nearly as quickly as Thiaw left. |
Milan have chosen to do another Cardinale Year Zero, with the following 23 players having exited the club thus far:
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| Another 23 players out thus far, Cardinale's Year Zero 3.0. |
Tare has been a very, very busy man, as there have also been seven new signings for the first team, all of whom will be presented at the San Siro ahead of this match. They are:
Samuele Ricci from Torino, number 4, transfer fee €23mLuka Modrić from Real Madrid, number 14, free transfer
Pietro Terracciano from Fiorentina, number 1, free transfer
Pervis Estupiñian from Brighton, number 2, transfer fee €17m
Ardon Jashari from Club Brugge, number 30, transfer fee €36m + bonuses
Koni De Winter from Genoa, number 5, transfer fee €20m + bonuses
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| Athekame's negotiations seemingly took forever, We'll all see if they pay off. |
Milan have played preseason matches vs. Arsenal in Singapore, Liverpool in Hong Kong, Perth Glory in Australia, Leeds in Dublin, and Chelsea in London. We have been able to see all but the two most recent of our new players play thus far, and our midfield is much improved, while our defense has been depleted, it is actually barebones and quite scary. Perhaps when the new signings acclimate, it will be improved, but we have downgraded at every position, so I expect to be disappointed.
For Sunday, Allegri Marco Landucci, Allegri's assistant who will be taking charge of the match given Allegri's night of insanity, is expected to use a 3-5-2 system that Allegri used several times in the preseason. Predictions are that the newest players are likely to start on the bench, as they will trust the players who have trained with the team since July. Should we win this match, we will go on to face Lecce, where Camarda and our former loanee Sottil are playing now, who defeated Abate's Juve Stabia 2-0 on Friday while playing on ten men.
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| Camarda celebrates his assist in his first official match for Lecce in the Coppa Italia. |
The many fans are excited for the first match at San Siro this season, the Curva Sud are not. Despite the Ultras investigation resulting in jail time for former Curva Sud leader Luca Lucci and his circle of criminals for drug smuggling/dealing, associating with the 'Ndranghetta crime family, violence, and more, the local authorities continued sanctions against the Curva throughout last season, preventing them from bringing flags, banners, and coreografia into the stadium for most of the season.
Now, it has actually gotten worse. Despite installing facial recognition technology, implementing new ticketing policies and other security measures to help keep criminals from entering the stadium, the club has imposed a "blacklist" of Curva Sud members who are not allowed to buy season tickets in the second ring, the area reserved for the Curva Sud. Originally, it was reported that the people blacklisted would be those who had previous stadium bans for serious infractions.
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| Fans who attended this protest are now being denied the right to purchase their season tickets in the Curva. |
However, the Curva Sud released a message stating that there were far more people than that on this list, including those whose only "crimes" seem to have been protesting management at Casa Milan. The bizarre thing is, they are allowed to buy season tickets in other parts of the stadium, which don't have as much security, and where they can transfer their tickets to others if they wish (tickets in the second ring are non-transferrable as a security feature.)
Also, the club has said they are allowed to buy any single match tickets that are still available in the Curva Sud's area. So it's clearly not about safety or security. The club are clearly trying to silence those who speak out against them. And the team, the fans in the stadium, and everyone around the world are going to be punished without the atmosphere the full Curva provides. Amongst those on the list who are not permitted to purchase season tickets in the second ring are: those who play drums, lead chants, those who create the amazing coreografia, and those who have protested against the club's management. Not again. This is low, even for this management.
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| Please, Mister, not again. No one wants to see that. |
Instead of an exciting, positive start to the season after a very disappointing season last year, this one will be filled with mourning, an incomplete roster, a bench that is missing the new manager, and more anger than ever before from the most passionate fans at the club. It would be nice to have just one match where we could just cheer our team without distraction, or fear of being knocked out in the first round of the Coppa Italia by a Serie B team and becoming the laughing stock of Serie A (again.) However, that is not how this management rolls. So instead, we are filled with at least some trepidation or even dread going into this match. Not again.
This post inspired by the music of Garbage's "Sisyphus"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
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