Chievo-Milan Preview: Easter Surprise

After a painfully long International Break, our boys will travel to Chievo on Saturday, the day before Easter. Whether or not you celebrate Easter, it is traditionally riddled with the celebration of Spring and new life, which is very appropriate for our squad this year. Especially with our current run of form. But with nine squad members having traveled with their International teams this past week, will our resurgence continue? Or will the Flying Donkeys give us an Easter surprise?

"I give you six months of my career and all I get is this chocolate egg? Really?"

Chievo currently sit in fifteenth place, bottom of a six-way tie that actually starts in 10th place, but their position determined by goal differential. So they have a lot to gain if they win and some of those other teams draw or lose on Saturday. After a draw to bottom of the table Palermo mid-February, they lost to Sampdoria and Fiorentina before winning 2-0 over second place Napoli and then another 2-0 win against bottom dwellers Pescara. So we are in the way of the Flying Donkeys clawing their way back up the table, and I’m sure they’d love nothing more to use us as a stepping stone to get there.

Acerbi will also likely want to get some revenge on the club that loved him and left him. I anticipate that if he can’t stop our Triple Threat™, he will politely ask them to stop being so awesome. Speaking of awesome, both Thereau and Paloschi have seven goals each, so if Acerbi and friends can’t stop our onslaught, they will be looking to equalize at the other end. And Paloschi has already announced he will celebrate if he does, too. Corini could line up a starting eleven similar to that of their Pescara match: Puggioni; Andreolli, Cesar, Frey, Drame; Guana, Cofie, Rigoni, Hetemaj; Paloschi, Thereau.

Paloschi turning out to be more of a rotten egg

Meanwhile, Allegri will have a difficult time determining which starters are the least tired from International duty. Yepes and Zapata will have travelled all the way back from South America, although neither played on Tuesday. Muntari will have come back from Ghana following Sunday’s match where he played just under 60 minutes.  Balotelli, El Shaarawy, Montolivo, De Sciglio, and Abate, will be coming back from Malta, all having played 70+ minutes on Tuesday following their trip to Geneva last week which saw their plane struck by lightning. And of course, Salamon coming back from having made his debut in Poland with his national team, having played 87 minutes on Tuesday.

On the flip side, Pazzini is hoping to be fit by Saturday, which gives Allegri an option if Balotelli is tired. And Niang, of course, who is fully rested. Boateng should also be available to play whichever position Allegri bestows upon him this week, unless he is too worn out from partying with Sepp Blatter last week. Pretty much everyone else should be rested and available, meaning look for a Bonera-Antonini-facepalm in the back and Robinho to take a lot of shots up front. Unless, of course, some of these players celebrate Easter with a resurrection of form.

Antonini and Bonera working as hard as they do on the pitch

Hopefully, Allegri will weigh out the benefits of an important three points going into our tough schedule of Fiorentina-Juventus-Napoli in the coming weeks and start some players that may not be as rested as he likes. He can always look to the bench in the 91st if that’s not working. I am hoping that when I open up my chocolate egg, the surprise is a convincing win, three points, and a game worth watching. Sorry, Acerbi. You do seem like a really nice guy. But you are also a Milanista, so for you, it’s a win-win. Do the sporting thing and help me with my Easter surprise, okay? Thanks in advance.

This match inspired by the music of The The

Chievo vs. Milan

Saturday, March 30 • 18:30 CET (1:30pm EDT)

This match is being shown LIVE on RAI in the U.S.

(look for stream links in the comments before the match)