Napoli-Milan Preview: Politics Over Sport

With Napoli just one point behind Milan in the intensely contested top four spots, it's not news when players or teams might want to use every sporting advantage. However, in Italy, the Scudetto or even Champions League spots are not always won on the pitch. And I'm not just talking about the profoundly biased refereeing that has consistently and statistically given one team clear advantages for years now. This time, I'm talking about cities using their political power to give their teams bigger home advantages by overcharging, restricting, or even banning traveling fans without real cause. We saw it last year with Bologna, both in the league and in the Coppa Italia Final, and then again in a crucial match in Roma. Now, Napoli have banned Milan's traveling fans without citing an actual reason in a match that could determine a Champions League spot, which is worth bare minimum €50 million just for qualifying. It is blatant matchfixing without any recourse for Milan or its fans. Once again, it's politics over sport.

Dedicating this to our Curva, who are being blocked from supporting Milan by politics.

Milan 3, Torino 2: Pajama Party

Milan showed up at the San Siro on Saturday looking like they were dressed more for a slumber party than a football match. Wearing the "silver" version of the Slam Jam collaboration Fourth Kits, perhaps they also felt like they were in their pajamas, because once again, they did not really wake up until the second half, causing all of us to suffer for at least the first 30 minutes for sure. With just a few minutes of enjoyable football, the rest was a tough battle with a determined opponent, one that finally ended in a 3-2 victory over Torino. And that was lucky, too, because can you imagine how embarrassing it would have been to lose or even draw dressed like that? It's humiliating enough they looked like they were having a pajama party.

Actions speak louder than words.