Tuesday night, Milan travel to Bergamo to face Atalanta, where they have not won since the Scudetto season in October of 2021. But that was like three Cardinale Year Zeros ago, when Pioli was still here and Gasperini was still leading the Nerazzurri. Now we have Allegri back at the helm, and La Dea has a new leading man in Ivan Jurić. That does not change the animosity between our two sides, though, especially after the catastrophic Christmas Massacre of 2019. Even God herself has enemies.
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| De Ketelaere, Pašalić, and Daniel Maldini are all former Diavoli pretending to be Goddesses now. |
Jurić's Atalanta are actually unbeaten in Serie A so far this season. However, playing in the Champions League must have really stretched them, because they also have only won two of their eight league matches, drawing the other six. That has them five points behind us on the table going into this match, in seventh place. Clearly, things are different now after Gasperini left the club after nine long years (ironically, we will be meeting him this weekend when we face Roma.) Then there was the whole summer transfer debacle with Lookman, which was terrible for both the team and the player.
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| Musah was a Milan player until September, he knows Milan better than Atalanta. |
Atalanta's last match was a 1-1 draw with Cremonese on Saturday, a better result than Allegri got with Nicola's Cremonese in our opening match in August. For Atalanta's match on Saturday, Jurić lined up a 4-3-3 with Carnesecchi; Bellanova, Djimsiti, Hien, Zalewski; Éderson, former Milan player Pašalić, de Roon; former Milan player De Ketelaere, Krstović, and Lookman. Atalanta currently have at least seven former Milan players in their squad, with Daniel Maldini, Bellanova, Marco Brescianini, Sportiello, and Yunus Musah in addition to Pašalić and De Ketelaere, so plenty of exes to hurt Milan with. However, Jurić will not have Scalvini and Bakker available on Tuesday due to injuries.
Speaking of injuries, Allegri has recovered Loftus-Cheek, who should be available from the bench. However, he is still missing Estupiñan, Pulisic, Jashari, and Rabiot. I believe Balentien is also still out injured, which would still mean the scales tip slightly so that he would once again have more outfield players on the bench (six) than injured in the stands (five.) Make no mistake, Milan will still struggle without so many important players. Our squad is way too thin, and we have already seen the struggles without all our starters and depth.
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| Loftus-Cheek returning from injury gives Allegri one more body. |
Given the shocking number of refereeing incidents this season already and the Marotta League Italian Media machine also in full force, the AIA is sending Doveri, an experienced ref, for this one. Allegri had a lot of nice things to say about the referees in his prematch press conference, as if he was an innocent little choir boy or something. I have not forgotten that he was banned for three of our first six matches for what he actually says and does to the refs during matches. He can barely even keep his clothes on for them. Actions speak louder than words.
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| Brescianini, a Milan youth graduate, was Atalanta's POTM on Saturday. |
La Dea is "The Goddess" in English. And certainly, the use of a goddess as their nickname is a great joke, because the phrase "even god herself has enemies" definitely applies to Atalanta. In the song, it says that "she'll want the devil on her team," but Atalanta already have at least seven former Diavoli in their team. And speaking of the devils, can an injury besieged Milan hand Atalanta their first Serie A loss of the season? The results of the past few years are not in our favor. Or, more likely, will they struggle like they did in both the first 60 minutes vs. Fiorentina and the entire match vs. Pisa? And can Milan players actually overcome the circus that is VAR and refereeing right now and play well enough to overcome the refs, too? When it comes to gods and devils, perhaps the unpredictable roulette wheel that is referee decisions will once again favor Milan. 'Cause even god herself has enemies.
Milan Futuro Back to Winning Ways Away to Folgore Caratese
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| Branca was the impact sub that scored the winning goal. |
After three straight losses, Oddo's men managed a 3-2 victory over Folgore Caratese on Sunday. The first half saw much of the action, with the home side going up from a penalty in just the 11th minute. However, Futuro's captain, Duțu, scored a great header from a Victor Eletu corner to equalize just three minutes later. And Maximilian Ibrahimović scored a nice goal through traffic from the run of play in the 26th minute to put Milan Futuro ahead 2-1. Unfortunately, the lead did not last, as Gjonaj scored an amazing goal from distance in the 35th minute that Torriani had no chance of stopping. So it was 2-2 at halftime.
Castiello, who had played about ten minutes and scored for the Primavera the day before, was subbed on in the 54th, and Branca replaced Ibrahimović. Five minutes later, Diego Sia hit the crossbar, but the substitute Branca was there for the rebound and slammed it home for the winning goal. 3-2 Milan Futuro. There were chances from both sides, but Futuro held on for all three points, a great result after recent disappointments. Brief highlights are available. This win also saw them move up two spots in Group B to seventh place. They go again on Wednesday, hosting Varesina at the Stadio Chinetti in the Coppa Italia Serie D.
Reviewed by Elaine
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