Milan are hosting their Lombardy rivals Atalanta, who have often caused more than trouble for the Rossoneri (at least with Gasperini at the helm.) However, Milan fans, like the Eye of Sauron, have turned their anger to a tiny little man who was crowned CEO of AC Milan three and a half years ago, despite having zero experience as a CEO or in football at all. For example, there is a petition demanding he is fired that has over 40,000 signatures as of this writing. And Cardinale... imagine buying a club for €1.2 billion and putting some investment portfolio hobbit in charge of your investment? And yet, after getting Maldini fired, being on the opposite side of every rift in management, and destroying the sporting sector, trading players in and out like the stock market, requiring the sale of a big player to be sold every June just to balance the books, rumors are that the people who actually know football are on their way out, no communication, and this little traitorous rat-faced weasel is reportedly staying for good. But the fans will not allow that to happen quietly. So, while there will be a football match Sunday night, fans are far more focused on sharing their Furlani fury.
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| How Milan fans feel right now. |
Also, it is Mother's Day, so once again, the players will be wearing the "maiden names" of their mothers on the backs of their jerseys once again to honor them. This is an initiative started three years ago (looking at you Furlani) which gives the credit for all the incredible love and sacrifice these mothers have given to get these players where they are... to the fathers or grandfathers of the players. And women, in particular mothers, are so often overlooked anyway. But to claim that they are honoring them but to not actually honor them is so sad. Like putting the wrong name on a diploma or addressing a gift to the wrong person instead of the person who deserves it.
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| She wears his name on her jersey every match, why is he not allowed to wear her real name? |
That's right, all they had to do is use the mothers' first names to actually honor them. Instead, they are using surnames, which could be the husband or father, the grandfather, or any member of the family, including the players themselves. Also, imagine calling your mother by her last name only? It's such a disingenuous and lazy effort to "honor" the mothers. Obviously, it was an initiative conceived by a man, and I'm guessing he's about 5'6" (167 cm) tall and did not learn about properly showing gratitude to mothers at Harvard.
But I digress, Atalanta arrive at this match in seventh place. Their most recent match was a 0-0 draw with Genoa last weekend. For that matchup, manager Raffaele Palladino lined up a 3-4-1-2 with Carnesecchi; Scalvini, Djimsiti, Ahanor; Zappacosta, de Roon, Éderson, Zalewski; our former De Ketelaere; Scamacca, and Krstović. He is only missing one player, wingback Bernasconi, to injury, so will otherwise have a complete squad for this match.
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| Has Gasperini been drinking blood again? He looks so much younger. |
Similarly, Allegri is missing Modrić, who suffered our second facial bone injury and surgery of the season after Loftus-Cheek. He will also be missing Tomori to suspension, so De Winter will obviously deputize for him. The replacing of Modrić is a much more difficult problem to solve. Most recent reports say it will be Ricci and Loftus-Cheek paired with Rabiot, while others claim that Fofana could be moved deeper instead of bringing Ricci in. In attack, Allegri is rumored to be starting an actual striker–Santi Gimenez is apparently going to be given a start alongside Pulisic in attack.
Allegri's Press Conference for this one was filled with his usual low energy out-of-touch toxic positivity, literally talking about "the glass half full," and how our destiny is "in our own hands." What he does not realize is that after a year like last season, none of that is comforting. Our Champions League qualification is in far too tenuous a position for him to be so glib. He repeatedly begged for the fans' support, but he does not seem to be aware what we have been through. For example, Furlani has tried to dismantle the Curva Sud and fill our stadium with tourists. No wonder they will be vocally protesting against him for this match in addition to the social media petition that has been circulating.
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| They clearly don't teach you anything worth learning at Harvard. Please leave our club. |
Anyone wondering why fans are angry with Furlani should not have to dig very far for answers. When Cardinale purchased Milan in 2022, they were Scudetto winners. Under Furlani, they fell to eighth place last season, in a mere three seasons. This year, after being forced to hire both a Sporting Director and a manager he did not want, we are still struggling to qualify for top four and return to the Champions League. Also, Cardinale fired club legend Maldini as if it were nothing, yet our CEO with zero experience who is clearly failing is still here? Make it make sense.
Meanwhile, in Serie A, our slimy cousins claimed their 21st Scudetto last week, covering our Milan Store in Milano with their filthy stickers. They have been unscathed in numerous scandals that just disappeared because of the power that Marotta and Inter wield. Under Furlani, Milan have a negative political clout, and have suffered on and off the pitch. Not only that, but it is clear that this management have no desire or knowledge of how to compete with Inter. That is completely unacceptable from fans.
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| Santi Gimenez praising the fact that Allegri is finally going to give him a start again. |
I need several thousand words to begin to cover Furlani's countless crimes in the transfer market, but a prime example is this past January. Milan were offered Donyell Malen on loan with obligation at a reasonable price. Furlani passed and instead signed Füllkrug on loan with option, the cheap route. Malen went to Roma and scored 12 goals since January. Füllkrug scored one goal for us in our lowest scoring season in ten years. The fans have had enough.
Allegri and the team have their work cut out for themselves, overcoming themselves to try to get the three points they desperately need to stay in the hunt for that Champions League spot. At least it seems that Allegri is finally going to do something different instead of doing the same thing that has not been working. But it will not be easy for them, because in what should be a fortress filled with support, they will likely have to endure the hostility of the fans, who may be more focused on their hatred of management than the actual match. The San Siro will be filled with Furlani fury.
Reviewed by Elaine
on
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