As luck would have it, our opponents on Saturday in Serie A
are also our opponents in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals on Tuesday. Even
luckier, our former beloved Carletto is the manager. To add insult to injury, they
currently sit in second place on the table, a full 13 points ahead of us, and
have won their last three matches in a row. Don’t, worry, though, if things go
as badly as they seem like they will on paper, we’ll have another chance to be
destroyed by Ancelotti and his boys on Tuesday. This is only Part A.
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| Sweet if we win, painful if we lose |
Napoli’s most recent victims were Lazio, who lost 2-1 to
Ancelotti’s team while playing the last 20 minutes on ten men. For that match
on Sunday, Ancelotti lined up: Meret; Malcuit, Albiol, Maksimovic, Mario Rui;
Callejon, Ruiz, Diawara, Zielinski; Mertens, and Milik. It looks as though
Chiriches is back in training, but doubtful to be available yet, while Hamsik
is still out with his thigh injury. Rog has also picked up a knock, and will
not face Milan. Allan was dropped from the squad due to transfer rumors, so
will not play vs. Milan. Ancelotti will, however, have Koulibaly and Insigne
back for this match, so if your knees aren’t shaking, perhaps they should be.
Milan lost Higuain to Chelsea, but gained Piatek from Genoa.
To put it into perspective, Higuain and Cutrone combined have scored 17 goals
for Milan in Serie A and the Europa League this season. Piatek scored 19 goals
himself for Genoa in Serie A and the Coppa Italia, two more than the other two
combined. While it remains to be seen if Gattuso’s stubborn and constipated
tactics in attack will stifle the young Polish player, the numbers are
exciting.
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| Milan is now carrying a loaded pistol |
In addition to Bonaventura, Caldara, and Biglia, who are all
out to long-term injury, Zapata joins them with a muscle injury and will be out
at least two weeks, likely more. And Reina has a small knock, too (or maybe he doesn't want to risk facing his old side?) However, Gattuso is getting back his trio of players
from suspension: Romagnoli, Kessie, and Caldara. Musacchio should obviously
start alongside Romagnoli at the back, but Calabria should be rightfully challenged
by Conti, who put in almost 80 minutes on Monday and got an assist. Kessie
should also start, he is unique in his abilities and qualities.
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| That is what winning looked like... before we lost |
Considering that the reverse fixture was our first match of
the season, and even Ancelotti admitted we were disadvantaged by the schedule
changes, it was probably justifiable to lose that one, even
if it stung to be up first and then lose. But now our only real excuse
is that we are not as good as Napoli, so we will just suck if we lose. Still,
given the disparity of pretty much everything, on paper, it would be hard to do
anything else. Even worse, knowing that this is only Part A.
This post inspired by the music of
Foreigner’s “Double Vision”
Serie A Week 21
Milan vs. Napoli
Saturday, January
26 • 20:30 CET (2:30pm EST)
This match will be
shown LIVE on RAI Italia in the U.S.
The match can also
be streamed LIVE on ESPN+ in the U.S.