Tonight Milan visit Madrid to face our biggest European
opponent, Real Madrid. In our glory days, Milan were Real Madrid’s biggest
challenger for Champions League Titles. In 2007, when Milan last won the
Champions League for our seventh title, Real Madrid had nine titles. But while
Milan fell into the abyss of mismanagement, Los Blancos won four more titles,
including the last three in a row. However their glory days look to be in
jeopardy now that their marquee player, Cristiano Ronaldo, left the club for
Serie A. While their roster is still far more competitive than Milan’s, this
friendly could be a little more interesting in his absence.
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| Bringing the glory days back? |
Real Madrid set out to become one of the richest clubs in
the world, and they certainly have done well enough in that way. Likewise, the
Bernabeu is one of the most prestigious venues in the world, too. It is there
that our young Milan squad will play this match against Lopetegui’s slightly
diminished side. Under Zidane’s stewardship and with Ronaldo, they only managed
to finish third in La Liga, but they did pull off an unprecedented third
Champions League title in a row. Lopetegui is fresh off his stint as coach of
Spain, where he was fired from two days before the World Cup for divulging that
he would be taking the reins of Real Madrid after the World Cup is over. I
guess you could say that they are a team with something to prove, even if this
is only a friendly.
Gattuso has everything to prove in a friendly against a team
like Real Madrid. He helped to lift our last Champions League trophy, and
played for Milan in their glory days. Now he and his fellow former Milan
players Leonardo and Maldini are all anxious to return the club to its glory
days as soon as possible. Having brought in former Real Madrid striker Higuain
should help with our scoring deficiency of recent years, but the team are still
very young and lack both the experience and quality of Lopetegui’s side.
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| Higuain likely to debut for Milan against his former club |
There is one stat that is on our side as we travel to
Madrid: Milan have contested for this trophy three times, and have won by
defeating Real Madrid two of those three times. Another positive is that
Montolivo was not called up for the match, the only player missing without
injury or impending transfer. Speaking of injuries, Strinic, Reina, and Abate
are all missing with minor injuries. Silva, Antonelli, and Locatelli did not
travel with the team due to their impending medicals ahead of planned
transfers. Despite only one week left before the season kicks off, Milan’s
circumstances this summer have left the majority of our transfer activity for
the last minute, so Gattuso’s side that he has tonight my still change
significantly before our first competitive match.
This match means nothing, really, although there is a trophy
for the winning team. I suppose it would be a source of pride for Real Madrid
to win it, especially since they have won the last twelve consecutive editions
of the Trofeo Santiago Bernabeu. But in actuality, it is a good opportunity for
a test against European rivals ahead of the kickoff of their forthcoming
seasons. And maybe, just maybe, with both clubs in varying stages of
rebuilding, it will provide us with a glimpse of their respective glory days.
This post inspired by the music of Imagine
Dragons
the Trofeo
Santiago Bernabeu
Real Madrid vs. AC Milan
Saturday, August
11 • 21:00 CEST (3pm EDT)
This match will
NOT be shown LIVE on TV in the U.S.
Real Madrid TV
will air the match via realmadrid.com, Facebook, and Twitter