Playing away to Cagliari is never easy. Last season, immediately following what was arguably Fonseca's best win, Cagliari met Milan goal for goal in a tense 3-3 draw. Even when Conceição met them at San Siro immediately after winning the Supercoppa, Cagliari managed to earn the 1-1 draw. However, this time, Cagliari have a serious point to prove after Cardinale insulted their club in an interview back in October. And for Allegri, he is returning to the club that launched his Serie A career, where he won the won his first Panchina d'Oro (Golden Bench) award for best Serie A manager for the 2008-09 season, as voted by his peers. Cagliari will be facing some angry Milan fans after violating the regulations and not giving them enough tickets while also charging them double what the home fans are paying. Needless to say, emotions will be running high as everyone is facing the music.
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| Gabbia returns to lend a hand, but only starting from the bench. |
Cagliari currently languish in 14th place with four wins, six draws, and seven losses. They have taken a chance by hiring the young manager and former Cagliari player Fabio Pisacane in his first senior coaching job. But don't let that deceive you. His Primavera team defeated Milan's Primavera team 3-0 in the Coppa Italia Final this past April. Plus, everyone knows that in Sardegna, anything is possible for Cagliari. Even last week, away to Torino, they won 2-1, having come back from a goal down. For that match, Pisacane lined up a 3-5-1-1 with: Caprile; Zappa, Deiola, Luperto; Palestra, Adopo, Prati, Mazzitelli, Idrissi; Gaetano, and Kılıçsoy. Pisacane is missing some important players to longterm injuries, including Bellotti, Folorunsho, Zé Pedro, and Felici, whose season is already over with a torn ACL.
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| After destroying Milan's Primavera last season, a win vs. Milan would be Pisacane's next target. |
Allegri returns to the club he both played for and managed, but he will be doing so with a squad that is battle weary. The star from Sunday's win over Verona, Nkunku, will miss this one with an ankle issue. Santi Gimenez, of course, is still recuperating from his surgery. Milan will officially submit the paperwork to the league on Friday for new striker Niklas Füllkrug, and have received a waiver to allow him to play. However, Allegri pointed out that he is not fully fit, having not played many matches for West Ham this season, so he will start on the bench.
Rafa Leão will be back, but he has not played in a month, so Allegri is unsure how many minutes he has in his legs. Pulisic just returned to training on Thursday, and apparently is still struggling with a hip flexor issue, so it remains to be seen how many minutes he has, either. Which means we don't even have a single attacker who is fully fit. The goals will need to come from somewhere.
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| Will Leão be able to surf again so soon from injury? |
In defense, Gabbia also just returned to training on Wednesday after his knee injury, but will start from the bench. Which is why the news that Pavlović was suffering with a fever and flu-like symptoms was devastating, because that would leave Tomori as our only starting defender. However, Pavlović will travel with the team, and it is hopeful that he will be available for Allegri. Otherwise, Odogu or Bartesaghi will play in his place.
In October, while being interviewed on The Varsity podcast, Cardinale managed to be his ignorant American self while trying to make a completely different point, actually. What he said was, "In the U.S., nobody wants to watch Cagliari vs. Lecce and that's an issue. Competition is the essence of sport, but it isn't rewarded economically."
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| Excuse me, Cardinale, what Milan fan doesn't want to watch Camarda play? |
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that he is so out of touch with his own team that he has not even been seen at a match in well over a year now. Unlike the previous owner, Gordon Singer, who was at the match on Sunday. Elliott Management are given a lot of grief, but the Singers came to every match they could. They actually cared about Milan. People are noticing the Singers' continued presence compared to Cardinale's extended absence.
But I digress. Cagliari's president, Tommaso Giuliani, who also attends his club's matches and actually knows about football and competition, fired back right away with a statement on his Twitter account:
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| If Cardinale actually had the balls to show up for a Milan match, maybe he'd understand competition. |
"Dear Cardinale, it's easy to say that "Cagliari-Lecce interests no one" when you only know Sardegna as a tourist. The eighth club in Italy by fanbase deserves to be watched, respected and–who knows–maybe someone in the USA roots more for Cagliari than Milan."
Even as someone who absolutely supports Milan over Cagliari, I would watch Cagliari-Lecce any day of the week, well before I would tune into the Premier League, which was Cardinale's actual point. And, by the way, Cardinale's RedBird has a big stake in Paramount+, which has the Serie A broadcast rights in the U.S. (Which has the worst interface, worst app, and by far the worst commentators and pundits ever.) So it's actually his job to make sure that people want to watch Cagliari-Lecce. Like how dumb is he? And, as if that wasn't enough, a group of U.S. investors just acquired a stake in Cagliari. So he basically pissed everyone off in Italy and the U.S.
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| There are reports that Balentien returned to training this week as well, but will he play for the first team? |
Perhaps it is partially in retaliation for Cardinale's idiotic American comments, but Cagliari ignored Serie A regulations and only allowed Milan fans half of the tickets they are supposed to, which means that people who had already spent hundreds of Euros booking flights to Sardegna now cannot actually go to the match. And while the home fans only have to spend €25 for this match, Milan fans have to pay €49 to sit in what the Curva Sud rightfully called "a stadium built with construction site scaffolding tubes."
Milan's management finally did take the away ticket price cap issue to the last Lega Serie A meeting, where they decided to form a committee to further investigate the matter, even though UEFA and every other top five European league has a price cap on away tickets. And apparently, there is no consensus, so it is unlikely to get through when it goes to vote. Which has led some to suggest that Milan do the same things at San Siro – double the prices for away seats and limit the tickets for their fans.
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| Pulisic has been carrying this team on his back with his goals, but for how long can he do so? |
For the stakeholders in this match, this is not just another game. This is about pride in your team and your city, and about standing up for what you believe to be right. Both teams are missing important players, and both managers have a point to prove as well. Allegri will need all three points to stay on pace with the top four, and Piscane needs every point he can get to not only stay well above the relegation zone, but ideally push Cagliari up the table. Emotions will be high for fans and players both, even if the management are largely the cause, and anything could happen as they're facing the music.
This post inspired by the music of Garbage's "R U Happy Now"