It’s like a predictable movie plot. Big club tries to renew
with quality players. Big club stumbles and falls down the table. Big club
meets smaller club near bottom of the table. Can you predict the ending?
Because in a game where an apparent David meets a former Goliath, the club with
the slingshot almost always wins. Anything is possible after a two week break,
but facing off against the 16th place Cagliari right now is one of the
scariest prospects for me. So get ready for disappointment, because here we go
again.
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| What it looked like at the San Siro in August when we eeked out a lucky win |
Milan are not the only club in this matchup to have
underperformed this season. But if you watched Cagliari’s last match before the
break, you might have been surprised that Juventus managed to beat them 1-0.
There were a lot of questions about the reffing in that match, but no question
as to how well Cagliari played at home. For that match, Diego Lopez (the coach,
not the keeper) lined up: Rafael; Ceppitelli, Pisacane, Romagna, Ionita,
Barella, Cigarini, Padoin, Farago, Pavoletti, and Farias. But he is likely
still missing Joao Pedro to injury, the
guy who scored against us at the San Siro in August.
As for Milan, quite a few shots and a lucky goal against
Crotone two weeks ago doesn’t exactly instill confidence for this match. Add
the week or so of GPS-monitored vacation, and it’s impossible to predict how
the team will react. We do have good news in that Storari and Conti are our
only injuries now. And the players got to attend an event at the Diesel store
last night to unveil the new “Diesel X AC Milan” line of clothes for us fans.
That will get you pumped. Maybe.
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| Seriously? |
All in all, this match could certainly possibly go well. But
all signs point to a classic Milan fail. We are flying to Sardinia, playing in
their house, and they are probably hungrier for victory. Especially after we
stole their prized keeper Storari last year (who had massive issues with the
owner and management,) and now we’ve snatched their favorite benched keeper,
Gabriel, back from his loan, too. That’s got to hurt… us. Seriously, we have
two Cagliari-reject keepers in our squad. How pathetic are we? Anyway, this match
is more than likely to go the way of gli Isolani. So brace yourselves,
here we go again.
This post inspired by the music of OK
Go’s “Here We Go Again”
Serie A Week 21
Cagliari vs. AC Milan
Sunday, January 21
• 18:00 CET (12noon EST)
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This match will be
shown on RAI Italia and BeIN Sports in the U.S.