The original Verona team is holding down the bottom of
table, while Chievo Verona currently sit in 10th place. And while Milan were
able to pull off a 1-0 vs. Chievo at the San Siro in October, now we are going
to the Bentegodi, a very tough stadium for opposition teams. And we are also coming off of a very poor performance and a
loss vs. Sassuolo last week. So the question on everyone’s minds is can we get
past the other Verona?
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| Donkeys aren't the only ones who can fly |
Chievo have been quite inconsistent lately, with a recent
form of W-D-L-W-L. The first loss had to be the painful one, as Hellas Verona
held them to a 3-1 win in their derby, only their second win of the season. However it is last week’s loss, also 3-1, but this time to second place Napoli, that will be
fueling their determination in this match.
For that match, Maran lined up Bizzarri; Dainelli, Cesar,
Nicolas Frey, Cacciatore; Rigoni, Radovanovic, Castro; Birsa, Pellissier, and
Mpoku. Yes, that is former Milan star Valter Birsa in that lineup, so be very
afraid. Additionally, in case you think it’s only Milan that inspires the
opposition goalkeepers, you should know that Bizzarri fended off 25 Napoli
shots with ten of those on goal, only conceding the three goals. So expect him
to make things difficult. Maran will be missing a few players, like Mattiello
and Gamberini, with Izco and Inglese listed as questionable fitness as of this
writing.
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| So Mihajlovic... |
Milan will be missing someone very important: Mihajlovic. He
will be serving a touchline ban after sharing some choice words with the ref
during the Sassuolo match. The good news is that the players can leave their
water bottles lying around anywhere they want near the technical area this week. The bad news is that it may
be harder for them to receive the awesomeness and grinta he oozes if he is in the stands instead. And after last week’s
performance, they need every drop of that they can get.
Others who will miss this match are of course Ely and Niang,
as well as Montolivo, still struggling with that tendon issue. Hopeful of a
callup are Mexes and Adriano. However the latter posted a picture of himself on
Instagram the other day wearing a ridiculous outfit while shopping in Milano.
So if you think Instagram is a reliable source, he’s probably not going to make
it. Because he probably re-injured himself wearing that clown suit.
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| This man needs to get out of the stores and back onto the pitch. Immediately. |
This is going to be a struggle, I’m not going to lie. But
the biggest struggle for fans west of Italy is going to be getting up for the
match. With Daylight Savings Time starting, we think it’s an hour later, but
for me, it will still be 3:30am, not 4:30am. That is mighty early to see a
bunch of flying donkeys trying to thwart my team’s bid for a Europa League
spot. Especially when you consider that even if Chievo Verona have spent more
time recently in Serie A than their cross town rivals, to me they’ll always be
the other Verona.
This post inspired by the music of
The Bolshoi’s “Fly”
Chievo vs. Milan
Sunday, March 13 • 12:30 CET (7:30am EDT)*
This match will be shown LIVE on
RAI in the U.S.
*Reminder to U.S. fans that Daylight Savings
Time begins at 2am on Sunday so be sure to set your clocks forward for the game