The away match to Udinese is always a difficult one each season. A match made more difficult by the racial abuse of Maignan two years ago and the subsequent performative gestures made by Udinese and its fans that were a little too much, followed by a successful appeal of their partial stadium closure, of course. But with Maignan serendipitously injured for this one, he won't have to deal with the not-racist racists there. Instead, this match will be sans Allegri after his red card last week vs. Bologna. Again. In fact, he'll miss Tuesday's Coppa Italia match as well, which means he will have missed three of his first six matches due to his compulsion to rage strip for the referees. So, for this match, there will be no jacket required.
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| No jacket, no party. |
Last season, Udinese brought in German manager Kosta Runjaić, who led them to a 12th place finish in Serie A. That was apparently good enough for him to keep his job, and he was given some reinforcements this summer as well. They brought in a pair of center backs, Saba Goglichidze from Empoli and Bertola from Spezia, as well as right back Alessandro Zanoli on loan from Napoli. Like Milan, they really strengthened their midfield, bringing in Arthur Atta from Ligue 1, Lennon Miller from Scotland, Jakub Piotrowski from Bulgaria, and Nicolò Zaniolo from Galatasaray. Up front, they brought in a Danish striker, Adam Buksa.
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| Okoye is also suspended and will miss this one, but not because of a jacket. |
Udinese are undefeated in their first three matches, with two wins and a draw, putting them a point above Milan on the table. Their most recent win was a 1-0 victory over Pisa last week. For that match, Runjaić lined up a 3-5-2 wiht Sava; Bertola, Kristensen, Solet; Ehizibue, Piotrowski, Karlström, Atta, Kamara; Bravo, and Davis. Runjaić will also be missing his starting goalkeeper, Okoye, who is currently serving a two month suspension due to illegal betting.
Milan will be without Allegri himself, who was as incensed as everyone else about the shocking referee and VAR decisions last week, only with less self-control. He keeps insisting that he simply took off his jacket and calmly folded it neatly, and that is a nice story that he keeps telling himself. However, we won't know what he does with his jacket this week, because he lost his privilege to be on the pitch.
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| Last time we went to Udine, Pavlović scored... can he do it again? |
There was some good news this week in that Pavlović recovered from his muscle injury and will be available for Marco Landucci, Allegri's assistant, whom I assume will be in charge of this one again like the Bari Coppa Italia match. Maignan, however, is not quite recovered, and neither is Leão, so they will both miss this one. Jashari is obviously out as well, recovering from his broken leg.
That means that Terracciano will start in goal, and Allegri/Landucci will have to sort out what they want to do in attack. Nkunku looked great when he came on last weekend, but is he fully fit yet? And is Pulisic fully recovered and able to play all 90 minutes? Or at least start? Will Ricci get a start after his impressive performance last week? How many minutes will Modrić play after playing all 90 minutes vs. Bologna? We do know that the Curva Sud will be there, because it is an away match, so they can have banners and flags, and they are not blacklisted. So at least we will have our twelfth man at such a difficult stadium.
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| Modrić opened his account last week, Udinese have been warned. |
I wish I could say that I knew what Allegri was planning to do, but he will not even be there. He also has a Coppa Italia match on Tuesday that we cannot lose. Even if we did already defeat Lecce in Serie A, it was not pretty. He seemed acutely aware of how difficult this match will be in his prematch Press Conference, so I hope he has made plans accordingly, and that the guys are up for it. Not that he will have a chance to scream at them and gesticulate wildly, let alone rage strip for the referees as he is so prone to do. Because for this match, there is no jacket required.
Milan Futuro Drop Points to AC Leon Midweek
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| Balentien, who also made an appearance with the first team, scored his first goal in this match. |
Massimo Oddo's Milan Futuro are still undefeated, but they did fumble a two-nil lead over AC Milan on Wednesday and had to settle for the 2-2 draw vs. AC Leon at home. This was their week one match that had been rescheduled due to national team duty for a number of the Futuro players. And it started of well enough, with Perina opening up the scoring in the 22nd minute with an assist from Chaka Traorè. After the half, Balentien doubled the lead with his first goal in the 62nd minute, assisted by Maximlilan Ibrahimović.
However, Davighi came right back and scored one for Leon to bring them back into the game, and their captain, Bonseri, who had been threatening the entire match, equalized in the 79th minute. Milan Futuro were able to hold out for the draw, but it was obviously disappointing not to take all three points, having been up by two goals. Brief highlights are available. Dropping points left Futuro in fifth place in Group B, and on Sunday, they will have a very big match hosting top of the table Chievo Verona at the Chinetti.
This post inspired by the music of Black Flag's "Rise Above"
Reviewed by Elaine
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