Allegri has said all season that our position on the table did not matter until March. After being robbed of three points vs. Parma three weeks ago, Milan made statement wins vs. Cremonese and then obviously the Derby vs. Inter last week. Now we are away to Lazio, and there is the potential for any little thing to mess up our ultra boring, super defensive, slow roll to the finish line. For one, the referees, obviously, who remain the story line of this season. Secondly, Daniel Maldini, who was treated poorly by Milan, and also has a history of scoring against us. And, as if that wasn't enough, there are so many other things that could go wrong, such as silly mistakes, injuries, and more. So Milan will need to have a perfect game, and also hope that the stars align, because now this is when it matters most.
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| Time to see if this team can beat the refs and the odds (as well as Lazio) |
If you'll recall, Milan defeated Lazio 1-0 at San Siro in the most dramatic of ways in December, but then turned right around and lost 1-0 to Lazio in the Coppa Italia at the Olimpico, knocking us out of that competition. We know that going to the Olimpico is always difficult, and Lazio rarely make it any easier. However, Sarri and Lotito got the band back together, and it's not going as well for them. Maybe it's because we have their former Sporting Director, Igli Tare, but they sit in 10th place on the table.
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| He's started scoring, we know what that means for us. |
Their most recent match was a 2-1 win over Sassuolo on Monday. For that match, Sarri lined up a 4-3-3 with Motta, Marušić, Gila, our former captain Romagnoli, Tavares, Dele-Bashiru, Cataldi, Taylor, Isaksen, Daniel Maldini, and Zaccagni. However, Sarri has been hit with a lot of injuries all of a sudden, so his call ups for this match leave his team spread rather thin. He will be missing Cataldi, Gigot, Provedel, Rovella, Romagnoli, and Bašić to injury.
Allegri got some good news this week as Santi Gimenez finally returned to training. Obviously, he is not ready to start, but it will be good to have him back soon. However, we are still missing Gabbia and Loftus-Cheek to injury, and Rabiot is suspended this week for a series of imaginary disciplinary acts that the ref cams conveniently deleted the footage of. Derby hero Estupiñan is reported to get the start ahead of Bartesaghi, who is probably still recovering from his muscle injury, anyway. There is debate as to whether he will start Jashari or Ricci in Rabiot's place, but it is most likely that Jashari will get that spot.
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| Every victory not stolen is that much sweeter. |
Of course, after the Derby win, they assigned Guida and Chiffi to this match as head ref and VAR ref, respectively. Which is kind of like playing with a loaded gun. So anything truly can happen. People are starting to get excited now that Inter are within sight, but after last year's chaos, I will be so happy just to make Champions League, I'm not going to lie. This is the kind of match where Allegri's shrewd mind thrives, but he has no control over things like crazy referees or silly errors from players. So it will depend as much on luck as on determination, mentality, and skill, right when it matters most.
This post inspired by the music of Annabelle Dinda's "The Hand"
Reviewed by Elaine
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