Hellas Verona have surprised many this season with
better-than-expected results. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of their
campaign is their lack of goals. With only 6 goals in as many games, they are only
behind Milan on goal differential. So if either team can take three points away
from Verona on Sunday, it will be the team with the better defense. Or perhaps
it will be the team for whose fans this game is more than a religion.
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| Mommy, please don't let their special needs player hurt us |
There is no love lost between our teams, as Verona fans will
be quick to remind Milan how many Scudetti were lost at the Stadio Bentegodi
(two, if you are keeping track.) And to add insult to injury, Verona
were the first to draw Milan blood last year at that very same stadium,
with a brace from numero uno, Luca
Toni. Let’s hope Milan’s desire for revenge overcomes all of the other odds, or
that we can at least keep up our habit of scoring more goals than we concede.
With two teams with the same results, this match could
easily be decided by home advantage, which unfortunately goes to Verona. Not
only is Verona one of those fortresses, they are a team whose fans would
literally bleed for the shirt, even just for three points against a “big” club
like Milan. However Milan have a number of returning players to reinforce a
squad that has accomplished quite a lot on grinta
alone. And our experienced players have quite a lot of experience playing in
big matches, too.
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| Keep him off the scoresheet, please |
Verona are coming off of the international break having
defeated Cagliari with a singular late goal by Tachtsidis in round six. For
this match, Mandorlini lined up Rafael; Marquez, Moras, Marques, Agostini;
Ionita, Campanharo, Tachtsidis; Toni, N. Lopez, and Gomez. While Mandorlini
looks to have Benussi and Martic available after injury, Christodoulopoulos and
Obbadi are unlikely to play. Sala and Campanharo are both unlikely as well,
after training injuries earlier this week. But it is Ionita and Tachtsidis who
have two goals each, and with Toni’s taste for Milan blood, Mandorlini still
has plenty of options to hurt us.
Milan are still missing Montolivo, who will be missed at
least twice as much this time due to De Jong’s suspension. That’s right, we
could see that duo of Essien and Muntari that Inzaghi put out in his 4-2-3-1 in
training last week (shudders.) Diego Lopez is still a doubt, despite returning
to training this week, as are Saponara and van Ginkel. However Abate,
Bonaventura, and Menez look likely to be available, so we are definitely better
off than before the break. Well except for missing De Jong. That's gonna hurt. Bad.
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| "Wait, you're telling me I have FOUR assists already?!" |
But perhaps the biggest fear we should have is the Bentegodi
and the fervent Verona fans. To say that their team is a religion to them is an
understatement. And I read that they got permission to increase the stadium
capacity by nearly 4,000 more seats for this match, too. With their history of
hurting Milan and nearly 50,000 gialloblu disciples, they don’t even need
to score more than their one goal per game average. Hopefully, referee Valeri
will not take a starring role, but rather facilitate a great match between two
teams with a lot of heart. And may the red and black devils triumph over the
yellow and blue zealots… (please?)
This post inspired by Hozier‘s “Take
Me To Church”
Verona vs. Milan
Sunday, October 19 • 15:00 CEST (9am EDT)
This match will be shown on BeIN Sports and RAI in the US
Check comments for stream links ahead of the match