After an action-packed but scoreless
draw at the San Siro two weeks ago, Milan head to Athens for a battle
of the best of group D. Milan are currently top of the group by two points, but
that could change with a defeat tomorrow. With only one win in our last six
competitive matches, Milan also need to get back to winning ways for morale
purposes. But AEK are a tough team and not easily disposed of. Certainly they
kept us off the scoreboard last time. So Milan are heading to Athens and
heading into the fray.
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| Flashbacks |
AEK
have been struggling a bit lately with a record of WLDLW in the Greek Super
League. They currently sit third in their league, however, and are coming off
of a 1-0 win against Panionios on Sunday. For that match, Manolo Jimenez lined
up: Anestis; Vranjes, Cosic, Lampropoulos, Galo, Lopes, Simoes, Galanopoulos,
Araujo, Livaja, and Mantalos. I think Milan fans wish that Anestis wasn’t
available, as he had a spectacular game against us before and shut out our
every possibility of scoring.
Montella has some important missing pieces. In addition to
Conti, of course, he’ll be missing Biglia, Calabria, and Bonaventura as well.
Suso has not trained for two days due to a muscular injury, but he was called
up anyway. Which means Montella’s squad-rotation-to-prevent-injuries policy
only applies to the players who aren’t MVP of a match in a game we actually
won. Hope Suso is really okay to play, we can’t afford to lose him right now. Also, Montella will have Bonucci back, and even though many people don't think we need him, we absolutely do.
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| Release the Cutrone. |
We always knew AEK would be the toughest team in our group.
And they proved us right when they came to our house. But Milan have been
building a bit in intensity the past few matches, even if being clinical is
still a massive issue for us. A win would go a long way to improving morale
surrounding Milan. And with Gattuso the only apparent option to Montella being
considered, who has even less experience coaching in Europe, we’d better hope
that morale improves quickly. So ready or not, here we are, heading into the
fray.
This post inspired by the music of
Danny Elfman’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” soundtrack
AEK Athens vs. AC Milan
Thursday, November
2 • 19:00 CET (2pm EDT)*
*European Daylight
Savings Time is over, but U.S. is still on Daylight Time until Sunday
This match will be
shown LIVE on your local Fox Sports channels in the U.S.