After a week that Serie A probably wishes never happened, Milan host Parma at the San Siro. Milan's 1-1 draw with Como on Wednesday, all drama aside, was a disappointing two points dropped and a ninth draw this season. And while there are clearly forces working against Milan, I cannot help but think that Allegri's mentality that a draw is better than a loss is flawed. Sometimes, a loss can reset a complacent mentality of continued dropped points. Which brings me to Parma. Parma are 13th on the table, so neither a big team that Milan has dominated, nor a traditionally lower table side, the kind that Milan has struggled with all season. They are kind of in that sweet spot of the great unknown, aka the danger zone.
 |
| We need to believe, but this match could trip us up. |
Carlos Cuesta has Parma on a two match winning streak, which makes seven wins, eight draws, and ten losses for them this season. Their most recent win was a 2-1 win over Verona last week with a stoppage time winner. For that match, Cuesta lined up a 3-5-2 with: Corvi; Del Prato, Circati, Valenti; Britschgi, Bernabé, Mandela Keita, Sørensen, Valeri; Mateo Pellegrino, and Strefezza. Cuesta will be missing Circati to suspension after he picked up a fifth yellow card vs. Verona, and then there are the injuries. Suzuki is still out after Saelemaekers broke him in our 2-2 draw with Parma in November. (Hopefully, the fact that Saelemaekers never publicly apologized to him will not bring Karma upon us.) Also injured for Parma are Almqvist, Ndiaye, and Frigan.
 |
| Parma may want to seek revenge on Saelemaekers. |
As for Milan, Allegri himself will be suspended after he defended his own player against the opposing manager in one of the most shocking displays of poor sportsmanship I have ever seen from a manager before. Allegri's absence should actually give confidence to fans, as his assistant, Landucci, has convincingly won each of the four other matches he has managed for Allegri this season. Hopefully, the third red card is not tempting fate, particularly given the circumstances.
And those circumstances, as well as all the absurd referee errors Milan has suffered this season or even the blatant disparity and favoritism over the past five years, will hopefully all serve to fuel the players to win against all odds. Even if there are more incidents, more referee errors, they have shown that they have what it takes to dig deep and win in spite of it all.
 |
| Rabiot's return will be important. |
Allegri Landucci will be missing Santi Gimenez, who is nearing return, but still not recovered from his surgery. Pavlović is a big question mark after being brutally injured on Wednesday. Initially, he was not expected to make it due to the internal bleeding on his leg, but he is Pavlović. I have a hard time imagining a world where he allows anyone to prevent him from at least being there to support his teammates on the bench. Obviously, Rabiot will be back from his unjustified suspension, which will be incredibly helpful. There are also reports that we might finally see a Leão-Pulisic duo up front again finally, even if both of them have been less than 100% for much of this season.
 |
| Will we finally see what everyone has wanted to from this duo? |
There are some people who are pressuring Milan to win the Scudetto, while others are content just getting back to the Champions League after such a chaotic season last year. No matter where you stand, you can take heart from Milan's recent win over Bologna, another unpredictable matchup due to their position on the table. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic, and just as many to be pessimistic, when you look at ref errors and Allegri's small team mentality this season and the dropped points in our first matchup with Parma in November. Which is why a match like this can only truly be considered to be in the danger zone.
This post inspired by the music of Garbage's "Chinese Fire Horse"