Last week, both before and after the Juventus match,
Montella said that Tuesday’s clash with Genoa would be the big test. After
playing just three days earlier, being able to get a result away to Genoa would
be a bigger test of our form and abilities right now. And I agree. Especially
after surprising even ourselves with the win, having the guys be able to settle
in, focus, and play a solid 90 minutes will tell us more about where we are
heading than beating the number one team. And if they can’t, that will tell us
something, too. Either way, though it is an early midweek match away to the
twelfth place team, this game really is the big one.
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| Can we follow that performance up? |
It is also a big game for Genoa. Having tasted defeat in a
fiery Derby della Lanterna this weekend, they will want to use home advantage
and get their team back on track. Genoa have twelve points, with three wins,
three draws, and two losses as well as a game in hand that was postponed due to
weather. But after Sunday’s Derby defeat, they can’t rely on that game alone to
climb the table.
Speaking of the Derby, Juric lined up Perin; Burdisso, Orban, Izzo, Veloso, Rincon, Rigoni, Laxalt, Edenilson, Simeone, and Pandev. Juric is fortunate in that he has several players just coming back from
injuries and should only be missing Serge Gakpe to injury for our match.
Montella has the unfortunate job of bringing everyone down
to earth in time to go to the Marassi and try to prove themselves. And he’ll be
doing that without Vangioni, Montolivo, Calabria, Fernandez, Bertolacci, and
likely Zapata and Antonelli as well, all due to injury and fitness. It's hard to know how many starters from Saturday he'll repeat, as they'll have tired legs and he'll want to avoid more injuries.
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| Will they survive the Marassi? |
But everyone will be tired, both teams played big games on
Saturday. But Milan won, and Genoa lost, so mentality and focus will be every
bit as important as physical fitness. However, playing away to the Marassi is
no easy feat. I’ve called it the Haunted
House before, which is even more appropriate, playing there the week
before Halloween. But history and superstitions aside, it will be tough to walk
away from there with a result. I know we’re all still smiling from Saturday’s
result, but brace yourselves. This one is going to be the big one.
This post inspired by the music of
Danny Elfman’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” Soundtrack
Genoa vs. Milan
Tuesday, October 25 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)
This match is being shown LIVE on RAI in the U.S.