Sunday's match is a highly anticipated matchup. Not just for third place vs. first place. Not just for Milan vs. Napoli. Nor just the matchup between champions like Modrić vs. De Bruyne. There is also plenty of anticipation for the matchup between Allegri and Conte, the two current Serie A managers who have won the most. Allegri claims six Scudetti. His first, of course, with Milan, then five more at Juventus. Conte has three with Juve, one with Inter (which he unforgettably dedicated to himself,) and is, of course, the reigning titleholder with Napoli. Both managers are known for their passionate and sometimes explosive personalities, and both managers served bans related to matchfixing during their playing careers. They are as different as they are similar, but pitting two managers who have won so much against one another will always be considered a battle of the minds.
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| When Allegri still had hair and Conte still had hair plugs. |
Despite being the two current managers who have won the most, Conte and Allegri have not faced one another since the 2013-14 season. They have also only met a total of eight times in their careers. Allegri won the first meeting, when he was at Cagliari and Conte was at Atalanta. However, Conte has won five of their matchups, with two draws as well. It must be said, however, that Napoli was not Conte's first choice. Nor was Allegri Milan's first choice and vice versa. So this match has a bit of an element of spurned lovers trying to prove themselves to the ones they truly wanted... by destroying them.
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| Conte's revenge for Milan not taking his calls last summer. |
After watching how Milan's management handled last season, Conte has to feel as though he dodged a bullet, however. And not just dodged a bullet, but also managed to win yet another Serie A title. He has erroneously claimed more than once now that "Milan has the structure of a team that made Champions League last year" and complained about the challenges of having signed nine new players, saying Napoli have an inferior squad to Milan.
Maybe his hairplugs are too tight, but he clearly missed the part where we only kept nine of our players from last season, having cleared 30 players off our roster. Or that our squad is pared down to a measly 22 players. And that perhaps we needed all of the injuries to his defense in order to try to even out the vast difference in quality of our defenses, for example. I will say that we massively upgraded our midfield, but we are acclimating 10 newly signed players as well as some returing from loans in our squad. At least Allegri did not take Conte's word bait, and in true Allegri fashion said he was not interested in what others think.
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| Milan sent 30 players out this summer, bringing in only 10... some maybe better than others. |
This summer, De Laurentiis gifted Conte a number of reinforcements, a number of them even arriving at the beginning of the transfer window. They took Lorenzo Lucca on loan from Udinese, signed Noa Lang from PSV for €25 million, Sam Beukema from Bologna for €30 million, Miguel Gutiérrez from Girona in Spain for €20 million, and Luca Marianucci from Empoli for €9 million. Despite the fact that Tare invested a lot of time and effort into trying to sign Rasmus Højland from. Manchester United, he ended up going to Napoli for a fee of €40 million. And obviously, the coup d'etat, Kevin De Bruyne, who signed for free from Manchester City. He is arguably one of the best midfielders in the world, with 24 trophies to his name.
In addition to being the title holders, with the consistency of his second consecutive season and a squad also merely added upon, Conte has the advantage of a perfect start this season. In fact, Napoli are undefeated in Serie A for the past seven months, a 16 match unbeaten streak. Their most recent win was a 3-2 win over Pisa on Monday. For that match, Conte lined up a 4-1-4-1 with: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Beukema, Buongiorno, Spinazzola; Gilmour; Politano, Elmas, De Bruyne, Mc Tominay; and Højlund.
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| Milan's much-coveted Højland scored on his Napoli debut, with some guy called De Bruyne in the background. |
Conte is facing a defensive injury crisis, as both Buongiorno and Rrahmani will be missing, and Spinazzola and Olivera also did not make the trip to Milano. Additionally, Lukaku has been out injured longterm, and he is also missing backup keeper Contini. So six of his 27 players, he will have the same number of first team players as Allegri, who has a much smaller squad to begin with.
Allegri, of course, begins with a squad of 22, and will be missing only Jashari now. Leão rejoined the group in training on Thursday, but will only be available from the bench. Balentien is also called up for this match, so apparently will not feature for Milan Futuro in their match earlier in the afternoon. Much has been speculated about how he will line up, but he will most likely continue with his preferred 3-5-2 and his preferred starters as well. It was nice to read that Sacchi approved of his trust in Santi Gimenez, whom he described as "a center forward who is always in the penalty area and can act as a point of reference." Obviously, though, the one everyone watches is Luka Modrić, the only current player in Serie A to have won the Ballon d'Or, and winner of 34 trophies between Dinamo Zagreb and Real Madrid. His list of individual honors, though, is actually longer.
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| Keep the faith in Santi Gimenez. |
Allegri is getting a massive boost from the return of the vocal support of the Curva Sud. They have apparently been promised an official return of their colors beginning at the next home match, Milan-Fiorentina. Given the circumstances, they announced that they will cheer on Sunday vs. Napoli. Having their 12th man back is a huge factor, given the atmosphere at the San Siro has been likened to a "theater" all season, or really more like a funeral parlor. Speaking of fans, hopefully, we will see none of the horrific fan behavior we saw from Napoli fans a few years ago, the year they won their first Scudetto in 33 years.
A little known fact is that Allegri actually made a handful of appearances for Napoli back in 1998, including a 2-1 loss to Milan in Naples. Conte, meanwhile played most of his career at Juventus, bitter rivals of Napoli. Winning a Scudetto for them last season seems to have earned some forgiveness for that, however, as he seems to be trusted and accepted now in Naples.
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| Allegri at Napoli in 1998, when they lost to Milan. |
Many Milan fans have been having wet dreams about Allegri returning to Milan this year, even more so given the success thus far. (Although he did lose to Cremonese in his opening match.) But Allegri pointed out in his prematch press conference on Saturday that if Sunday's match went poorly, the copious amounts of praise toward him lately and the narrative of how he has evolved would be very different. And, while it is well known that I am not a fan of his, I agree wholeheartedly on this point. The media and fans have become far to reactionary, making sweeping judgments of managers, players, and teams based on single matches or performances. It is exhausting.
Of course, even if Milan continue to be successful, it is unlikely that Allegri will win me over. That ship sailed after his first tenure at Milan. Although to be fair, I don't know which manager I hate more: Allegri or Conte. While the football world celebrates their trophies, I do not care for the lessons they are teaching players, fans, and the world with their egotistical comments and visible rages and meltdowns, none of which belong in football. Plus, their creepy voices. And faces. And just overall creepy vibes. I would never allow my children to talk to them. They may win trophies, but they are no role models for me.
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| Some Milan fans love Allegri more than others... but how many will love him Sunday night? |
However, their win records are obviously undeniable. Chalk it up to genius, a winning mentality, being driven to madness, or the pain of losing their hair, their records speak for themselves. Will there be other managers greater than them in the near future? I hope so. And I hope they will have more integrity and class than these two. But for this match, love them or hate them, it is the current two most winning minds in Serie A pitted against one another. Milan vs. Napoli. Third vs. First. Modrić vs. De Bruyne. Who will be sent off the most this season? Allegri has already served three banned matches this season. Will Allegri keep his clothes on? Will both of them even make it to the end of this match? Anything is possible in the battle of the minds.
This post inspired by the music of Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
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