Things
are not well at Cagliari. They may be in 14th place on the table, with more
than twice as many points as the three relegation zone teams, but they have
conceded the most goals in the league, at 42. So far. Their
hero-turned-villain, goalkeeper Marco Storari, has seen 36 of those goals hit
the back of the net himself. And now it seems that he is being pushed out in a
move that will directly impact Milan. Maybe. Or perhaps this game will change
that. What we do know is that a loan swap deal that was said to be hours away
from being done was suddenly postponed until after this game. No one has said
why, but maybe Milan just wanted to keep on winning.
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| Injuring teammates, or the Storari Special™, is what he does when he's a hero |
I have
had so
very much to say about this loan swap deal between Storari and Gabriel.
Cagliari should benefit and Gabriel would get playing time, but it could impact
Milan long past the six month loan term. Earlier this week, Cagliari officials
said that Storari asked to leave Cagliari, but that he was a “model
professional.” Yesterday, Storari said he
did not ask to leave. Both sides are trying to paint a pretty picture
of him, I suppose for maximum marketability, with Storari reminding fans of his
past heroic days at the club. This after his public fighting with both coach
and management. Interestingly, Storari met with Milan earlier this week and
then denied that he had asked to leave Cagliari. It was also after that meeting that the
deal was postponed until after the match. Huh. Maybe they’re just waiting until
he turns 40 tomorrow, rescuing him from himself as both a birthday present and to show Milan’s commitment to
youth.
But
Storari is neither the only Marco nor the only ex-Milan player currently at
Cagliari. Marco Borriello, in his quest to love as many clubs as he has women,
and having already played for STD-like exes such as Roma and Juventus, has four
goals in seven appearances for gli
Isolani this season. Jokes aside, he should be feared. And not just for once serving a
ban due to treating the STD. He’s like the ex who slept with all of your female
family members after breaking up with you, but still waits for you every night in the alley with a baseball bat.
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| Still stalking Milan after all of these years |
Two other
Marcos with no Milan history are defender Marco Capuano and striker Marco Sau.
The latter also has four goals, but in 16 matches so far. Don’t let that fool
you, though, he was one of the forces that destroyed the mighty Guspini Terralba
5-0 in a friendly training match with Cagliari yesterday. And before the break, Cagliari
actually beat the trauma center that is Sassuolo this season. Granted, Sassuolo
played on ten men for an hour. And Rafael, in goal instead of the benched
Storari, still conceded three goals, too. But it was also a very valuable three
points. For that win, Massimo Rastelli lined up Rafael; Alves, Salamon,
Capuano, Pisacane, Farias, Di Gennaro, Barella, Padoin, Dessena, and Giannetti.
Borriello is doubtful as he has just returned to training after an ankle
injury, and Padoin is suspended for this match due to card accumulation. Ionita
and Melchiorri will also miss this one due to injury.
Milan
could go either way. They could be energized by beating
Juventus on penalties to win the Supercoppa just before Christmas, or
they could still be hung over from all of the celebrations. It’s really hard to
know how all of the travel, travel
delays, winning, weight training with the trophy, etc. will do to our
young squad because most of them haven’t won a trophy before. Certainly Abate,
who won both the previous Supercoppa and the last Scudetto with Milan is
behaving strangely.
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| Have some pizza with that Supercoppa |
With both
Calabria and Mati Fernandez returning to training this week, only Montolivo is
out injured. Is that just too perfect a scenario? Everyone else in the squad
fit. And so long as there is not a trophy to be besmirched, we shouldn’t even
have to see everyone’s favorite captain. It’s perfect. I will say I will kinda
miss Luiz Adriano, who is reportedly only a medical away from joining Spartak
Moscow. Gabriel will be watching closely, as he could be standing behind that
dreadful defense in a Cagliari kit as soon as next week. Poor kid, he deserves
better.
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| Out with the old, and in with the young player returning from injury |
The first
game after the holidays is always tricky. If our players were lucky enough to
not wake up to coal this morning, maybe La Befana will have given them some
focus. Will that winning mentality we’ve seen have transformed into a kind of
winning muscle memory? Or will the curse of the ex-es spoil the bringing home
of the Supercoppa? Let’s see if the fans will even return to San Siro to see
our trophy winners play. Hopefully, despite all of the distraction of a
potential keeper swap, Milan will find a way to keep on winning.
This post inspired
by the music of The Crystal Method’s “Keep Hope Alive”
Buona Befana to all! May the spirit of Ibrafana bless us
with 3 points on Sunday!
Milan vs. Cagliari
Sunday, January 8 •
18:00 CET (12noon EST)
This match will be
shown LIVE on RAI and BeIN Sports in the U.S.