This season has been a
fairy tale for the Serie A teams in Lombardy. Milan are in third place,
Atalanta in a very unexpected sixth place, and Inter… well two out of three
isn’t bad. With nine wins, a draw, and six losses, Gasperini has woven a magic
spell that has seen his team play much better than expected. And with a little
reverse psychology (“We will play possession football,”) Montella has also
gotten better results from Milan. But what will happen with both fairy tale
seasons meet?
Ironically, both teams are
seeing a bit of reality hit them at the same time. Atalanta’s reality is
hitting them in the form of injuries. For our match, they are missing
D’Alessandro, Paloschi, Berisha, Cabezas, Konko, and Suagher. And if Paloschi
sounds familiar, yes, Inzaghi’s self-appointed heir will not face his former
club at the San Siro. For last week’s 3-1 loss to Udinese, Gasperini lined up
Sportiello; Caldara, Masiello, Toloi, Gagliardini, Kessie, Spinazzola, Conti,
Petagna, Gomez, and Kurtic. And yes, that is also former Milan striker Petagna,
who will be fit to face his former
club at the San Siro.
Montella’s side may have
lost to Roma on Monday, but his injury luck is changing for the good. Both
Bacca and Bonaventura returned to training this week, and both are expected to
be available for tomorrow’s match. Kucka will also be back from suspension. So
actually, it should only be Montolivo and Calabria out, probably the fewest
injuries we’ve had all season. Which means Montella’s nightmare this week is
choosing from a wealth of players for once. That’s hopefully a very good
problem to have.
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| Please refrain from all goals and celebrations during our match tomorrow |
On paper, Milan have the
advantage: home stadium, fewer injuries, placed higher on the table. But
Gasperini’s side has been underestimated before this season, to the tune of
three points lost to those teams who were not prepared. Certainly Atalanta are
dangerous, and Milan will need to play at their best to get a result. It will
be very interesting to see what happens when two fairy tales collide.
This post inspired by the music of Inno
Milan
A very happy 117th Birthday to AC Milan!
Here’s to more victories, more trophies, and more red and
black!
Milan vs. Atalanta
Saturday, December 17 • 18:00 CET
(12noon EST)
This match will be shown LIVE on RAI
and BeIN Sports in the U.S.