Thursday night, Como host Milan in a match that was meant to be played in December, but Milan were too busy seeking riches in Saudi Arabia. Not only does the Lega Serie A have zero morals when it comes to who hosts their Supercoppa, but they are really, really bad at scheduling. And for Milan, despite the prize money they were given for the purpose of the Saudi government's sportswashing of their human rights violations, this match comes at a more difficult time than originally scheduled in terms of both injuries and mentality. Still, the match must go on, so both teams will be making up for lost time.
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| Time to rally the team and make up for lost time... and points. |
When Como finished tenth last year in Serie A, people really started to pay attention. For such a small club to finish so high in their first season back in Serie A, that was an accomplishment. With the wealthy Indonesian owners willing to invest, and a project that also includes former Barcelona player and manager Cesc Fabregas, this season, we meet them when they are in sixth place with 34 points, and could actually be one of the teams challenging for top four. Which means this match is even more important.
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| Como may be a smaller club, but they have big ambitions. |
Ironically, their most recent match this past weekend, like Milan's was also a last gasp 1-1 draw with Bologna. Sure, you could argue that Bologna finished on ten men, but there were plenty of incidents in that match. Fabregas lined up a 4-2-3-1 with Butez; van der Brempt, Diego Carlos, Kempf, Alberto Moreno; Perrone, Da Cunha; Vojvoda, Nico Paz, Jesús Rodriguez; and Douvikas. Fabregas has four players out with injuries: Goldaniga, Addai, Assane Diao, and our old pal Morata.
Some people have tried to stir up controversy this week as Como's pitch has been widened by one meter ahead of our match. However, this was a request that Fabregas had made some time ago, and the league only just now approved it. (Which raises far more questions about the Marotta League than it does any poor intentions on the part of Fabregas or Como, to be honest.) And the new width is still two meters shy of the maximum width allowed by Serie A, so it is not like they are trying to bend or change any rules.
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| Willing to play through pain. Badass. |
When it comes to lost time, Milan only have two players officially on the injury list. And one of them may actually play on Thursday night. However, there is still not a single attacking player who is 100% fit. Santi Gimenez is obviously still out, and Allegri indicated his return will not be until at least March now. Meanwhile, during the first 60 minutes of the Fiorentina match, Füllkrug broke a toe. Yet he trained with the team on Wednesday, and may actually be on the bench vs. Como.
We still have Leão struggling with his adductor muscles, Pulisic struggling with his hip flexor issue, and Nkunku still gaining match fitness to reach 100%. In defense, Allegri will have Tomori back from suspension, but now, we will have Pavlović out after his head injury on Sunday, for which he received nine stitches. So we will still be relying on De Winter, who has gratefully really stepped up. We also saw that Bartesaghi plays well in Pavlović's role, but then we have to ask ourselves how many times Allegri will punish everyone (including the player himself) with starting Estupiñan again.
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| After a couple of rough matches, De Winter has become a reliable backup in defense. |
Unfortunately, once again, the Curva Sud will not be traveling for this match. Como have introduced an absurd ticketing policy, similar to Juventus,' that requires away fans to sign up with the Como website, which causes problems in purchasing tickets for those who have Milan Cuore Rossonere cards. Milan's Curva Sud and other Ultras have been protesting against these ridiculous policies since they began, in hopes they will slow rather than spread. And honestly, I cannot blame them. But they will be sorely missed, and their support is rather desperately needed in this hour.
This match should have been played nearly a month ago. And instead, due to Milan losing their Supercoppa semifinal, the players had an extra-long break, while Como also had an extended break without the trip to Saudi Arabia. After back to back draws against relegation sides, Allegri has his hands full just to keep mentality up, whilst more and more players seemingly have fitness issues every day. But here we are, and the football must be played, no matter the circumstances. We can only hope that the healthy players are all committed to making up for lost time.
Our next match is: