Parma nearly didn’t make it back to Serie A this year. Then
they did, but were going to have a five points deduction. Then that was
overruled, too. Which is why they now sit in sixth place on the table only two
points behind Milan. I mean why actually punish a storied club like Parma for
matchfixing when they could be a storyline in Serie A? Because in Italy, anything goes.
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| Singlehandedly bringing legitimacy back to Parma |
Parma have much history in Serie A, but less so in the last
two decades. Their fall from grace was due to financial wrongdoings on the part
of their owners. But after bankruptcy, they have impressively climbed their way
back to the top division, even if they used a few illegal text messages to get
to the highest rung. In all fairness, at least the player who was guilty of
those texts received a two year ban, even if the club that benefitted from his
texts went unpunished. Now that Parma are here, though, they are proving (hopefully
legally) that they belong, and their position on the table shows they are a
force to be reckoned with.
Parma’s current form in Serie A is L-L-D-W-W. That most
recent win was their 2-1 win over Sassuolo last week. For that match, D’Aversa
lined up a 4-3-3 of Sepe; Bastoni, Alves, Gagliolo, Iacoponi, Scozzarella,
Barilla, Grassi, Inglese, THE Gervinho, and Siligardi. Also within the squad is
one-photo Milan player Biabiany, for those who remember that picture. D’Aversa
has the opposite problem of Gattuso, where his players are mostly returning
from injuries, which should boost them even more.
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| Gattuso knows about gritting his teeth |
Gattuso’s injury list… it feels like it’s just getting
longer. Bonaventura, Biglia, and Caldara all out long-term. Musacchio and
Romagnoli should be out another couple of weeks. Strinic is back in training and
hopes to return within the next month. Bakayoko and Cutrone suffered knocks on
Thursday, but are expecte to “grit their teeth” and play in this match. But
there is some good news, too. Conti should be available for this match. We saw
Calhanoglu play his best game in a while on Thursday, and he reported that
finally, his foot is fine and he is 100% again. Rodriguez and Kessie were
rested in Thursday because of long-running minor problems, hopefully that will
help them, too. Castillejo will be available after his Europa League
suspension, but Higuain will be serving the second of his two-match ban in
Serie A.
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| Montolivo's improved his looks while sitting on the bench |
Despite some positives, Milan are an injury-ravaged squad.
Thursday, Gattuso showed some indications that he could be finally learning how
to manage them, even if we don’t know if the problems causing the Injury
Apocalypse are resolved yet. Well, and there’s the fact that he
specifically mentioned possibly playing Montolivo tomorrow. But tomorrow is
also a big test in that we are facing a rival who sit just behind us on the
table. At the end of the match, that could be changed. Especially if we play as
poorly as we did on Thursday. Because at the end of 90 minutes, anything goes.
This post inspired by Dramarama’s “Anything
Anything”
Serie A Week 14
Milan vs. Parma
Sunday, December 2
• 12:30 CET (6:30am EST)
This match can be
streamed LIVE on ESPN+ in the U.S.