It’s no
secret that Milan have an unusual relationship with Sassuolo. If by unusual,
you mean a knack for losing to the little giants. But it’s not just their
propensity, since being promoted, to beat us in the most spectacular of ways. I
believe it goes all the way to the top. Their owner, Giorgio Squinzi, is a
chemist by trade. He is also a lifelong Milanista and makes no secret about
that. He has discovered the perfect formula to not only beat Milan, but to find
amazing success with the smallest of budgets. It begs the question as to
whether or not football is more science than sport.
 |
| Proud Milanista, chemist, and football genius |
Sassuolo
have achieved so much in the three and a half years since they have been in
Serie A. Squinzi, along with former Sporting Director and now CEO and General
Manager Giovanni Carnevali, have truly made wine out of water, making the most
out of so very little money. They own their own stadium, the second of only
three clubs in the league to do so. They have a squad that has achieved so much
more than it should have. A squad that is mostly Italian, and they have also fearlessly played young players, before Milan
made it cool to do so. Some of their young players have already gone on to
bigger and better things. Like becoming the biggest joke of a penalty taker
ever. But seriously, he was good at Sassuolo. And they have kept the same
coach, Eusebio di Francesco, for almost five years now. Well except for a brief
five week affair with Malesani three years ago. C•••o. And last year, thanks to Brocchi’s Milan and his loss to
Juve in the Coppa Italia, they even qualified for the Europa League this
season. Talk about chemistry.
 |
| "Wait, Sassuolo cheated on me with Malesani?!" |
This
year, they started out well enough in the Europa League qualifications, beating
Lucerne and Red Star Belgrade. But in Serie A they began to struggle due to a
plague of injuries, and also went out of the Europa League to Rapid Vienna.
They currently sit in 12th place on the table, but with some important players
finally coming back from injury. Their current form is W-L-W-L-W, with recent
losses to Juventus and Chievo. I am no chemist, but I do know that if they are
following their win-loss pattern, then they should lose to us (hey, we can only
hope, right?)
Their
most recent match was a 2-1 win over Udinese last week. For that match, Di
Francesco lined up Consigli; Peluso, Acerbi, Dell’Orco, Gazzola, Aquilani,
Duncan, Pellegrini, Matri, Politano, and Berardi. Yes, that is the same Berardi
who scored four goals on us in a single game a couple of years back. And yes, those
are Acerbi, Aquilani, and Matri who are former Milan players. They all play
better in the Neroverdi for some
reason. In fact if you’ll remember, Acerbi, also a lifelong Milanista, scored
against us in October when we managed to beat
them 4-3 at the San Siro. But while Di Francesco’s injury fortunes have
changed, he will still be missing Ragusa, Antei, Lirola, Magnanelli, and
Biondino to injuries on Sunday.
 |
| So many things wrong with this picture... he may be legal tomorrow, but get your hands off of our Gigio! |
Milan, of
course, are still missing key players Bonaventura, Romagnoli, and Antonelli,
while also missing Montolivo. It was a terrible omen that Montolivo began light
individual training on the pitch this week, let’s hope that our success without
him continues in spite of that. Sosa has begun to impress as Milan fans’
opinions of Locatelli have become both shortsighted and impatient. And while
the overall performance against Fiorentina on Sunday was dreadful to watch,
they got the job done, and that’s the most important thing.
The
question remains: Can Milan beat their kryptonite team away? In the stadium
that is not quite a home stadium for Sassuolo, but still they own it? (The shrewd
Squinzi bought at a public auction when they were being promoted to Serie A.) They
have beaten us in four of our seven meetings so far in Serie A. Can we even the
score on them on Sunday afternoon? Or will our chemistry with them curse us again? I
hope that at the end of the match, Milan players and staff not only commend
Sassuolo for what they have accomplished, but also console them for their loss.
I may admire Squinzi and company, but like him, I am a Milanista. And winning
is the only formula I know.
This post inspired
by the music of Oingo Boingo’s “Weird Science”
Sassuolo vs. Milan
Sunday, February 26
• 15:00 CET (9am EST)
This match will be
shown on RAI and BeIN Sports in the U.S.