Tomorrow
night in Catania, Milan will face Spanish side Real Betis. I assume this match
was organized to put Carlos Bacca in a very large suitcase and have Betis drop
him off at Sevilla’s stadium when they head home. But then again, maybe not.
Besides, we probably want some money for him. Or, with the Trofeo TIM having
been cancelled this year and us not facing Sassuolo preseason, maybe Milan felt
the need to play another team with green colors. It’s really hard to know. In
reality, this is actually just another preseason friendly. Our last one, I believe. A good chance for Montella
to try some things out, like his previously mentioned 3-5-2 formation, now that
Bonucci and Biglia are eligible to play in competitive matches. So it’s the
perfect time to go green.
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| Will we struggle against this green team preseason? |
Real
Betis Balompié have already played a lot of preseason friendlies and have
another one tonight vs. Cordoba. Most recently, they defeated Stuttgart 2-1 on
Sunday. But after playing teams that matter, like Stuttgart, Cordoba, and Milan,
they will be having a little warm-down with Inter on Saturday. So really, we are the
pinnacle of their preseason.
From
Milan’s standpoint, this is a great opportunity for Montella to put his
tactical ideas together and test his proposed new 3-5-2 system if that is what
he is going to do. With our first leg of
our Europa League qualifier vs. Macedonian side Shkëndija only eight
days out, and just over a week and a half until Serie A kicks off, this is a
great chance for him to fine tune his tactics for those competitive matches.
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| Getting ready for the Europa League |
The
aforementioned Bacca would do well to hitch a ride back to Sevilla with Betis,
honestly, as he and Paletta have been left off of the list of players available
for the Europa League. Hard to know if Montella would play them in a friendly
or not. Romagnoli is still working to regain fitness for his meniscus issue.
But I believe everyone else will be available for tomorrow, including
Montolivo, unfortunately. While it is customary to play as many players as
possible in a friendly, I’m really hoping he starts something like his starting
eleven just to test things out.
I guess
we would want to win this thing for self-respect and team morale. But I think
the bigger issue would be to give playing time to those who need it and to try to
sort out a system for competitive play. I’m really hoping that Montella doesn’t
start one eleven and then literally change out the entire team for the second
half again. That doesn’t seem prudent. But if we can challenge Betis and put
our stamp on them as the best Milan team, then maybe we’ll be ready for next
week and Serie A kickoff. Sorry, Real Betis, but this might not be so friendly
after all, even if we’re going green.
This post inspired
by the music of The Muppets “(It’s Not Easy) Bein’ Green”
AC Milan vs. Real
Betis
Wednesday, August 9
• 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)
This match will NOT
be shown LIVE in the U.S.