ICC Tournament: Real Madrid-Milan Preview: Back for More

Originally when I saw this fixture, I jokingly said that Real Madrid were ‘coming back for more’ after Inzaghi’s Milan beat them 4-2 in a friendly in Dubai at the end of the year last year to gift us the questionably prestigious Dubai Football Challenge Cup. But this is not Inzaghi’s Milan, they are no longer Ancelotti’s Real Madrid, and they will definitely not be playing in Dubai. More appropriately, the concept of ‘coming back for more’ would apply to them dispatching the darker side of Milan 3-0 on Monday, and now they are coming back for the other half of Milan. So since there is really nothing else to do but fear the worst, I am opting to relish in the fact that they beat Inter 3-0 on Monday. Aren’t those words beautiful? Maybe they’ll be coming back for more from us tomorrow, but truly, let’s just take a few minutes and relish in the beauty of Inter getting decimated….

That won’t be nearly as entertaining after tomorrow’s match, I’m sure, when we could easily have a video that is equally or more entertaining to Inter fans. Which is all the more reason to watch a slightly longer, HD version:

Okay, enough with the premature schadenfreude. Rafa Benitez may have bombed at Napoli, but now he’s got a team that costs tons more, so he’s got that going for him. Plus, with his time in Serie A, he’ll know our weaknesses well enough. When they beat Inter on Monday, Benitez lined up a starting 11 of Keylor Navas, Danilo, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Kroos, Casemiro, Bale, Isco, Ronaldo, Jesé. Hard to know with friendlies if it will be a similar lineup or if he’ll want to give some more time to others. But they are certainly a quality side, and we would be lucky to get a result this time around.

Mihajlovic has more players available this time around. With 30 min. each under their belts when we beat Inter on Saturday, either Bacca and/or Luiz Adriano could potentially start, that is if they are not exhausted from their lengthy interviews the past few days. Abate and Menez could possibly be available, too. We know Mastour is in South Africa, trying not to get attacked by sharks, and that Agazzi, Albertazzi, Verdi, and Zaccardo are all back in Milan, the latter with the important job of displaying his new Nike boots. Unlike the Adidas boots James Rodriguez wore on Monday when he scored the third goal against Inter in this shorter  52 second version of all of the goals:

Alright, sorry, I just couldn’t help myself. Inter’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Real Madrid was only slightly less delicious than our 1-0 beatdown on them from Saturday. And since I am going to watch the Real Madrid match at 5am tomorrow, I am paying that forward with some delicious schadenfreude now. Whatever happens in our match, we’ll still have Inter’s 3-0 defeat from Monday to console ourselves with. Let’s just hope that somehow Real Madrid are not actually coming back for more.

This post was inspired by the music of Plain White T’s “Hate (I Really Don’t Like You)”

ICC Tournament

Real Madrid vs. AC Milan

Thursday, July 30 • 20:00 CST (8:00am EDT)

Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai

This match will be shown on FS1 in the U.S.