Coming in to this match, Milan are just two points behind
third place. With Inter losing to Cagliari on Friday, a win could put is in
that third place spot. Above Inter. Where every Milan fan wants to be. However,
there is a strange, almost magical force standing between us and gloating to
our cugini: Sassuolo. While Milan have a slight head to head advantage,
it seems like Sassuolo trouble us more than other teams with similar budgets
do. Still, Milan just have to win this one. Not only for morale, but for
advantage.
 |
| Can Milan hold their mentality and take the advantage? |
Sassuolo haven’t won any of their last four games, having
tied two and lost two. De Zerbi would love nothing more than to get his team
back to winning ways, even if his boss, Squinzi is a self-proclaimed Milanista. Their most recent match was a 1-1
draw with SPAL. For that match last weekend, he lined up Consigli; Demiral,
Peluso, Ferrari; Adjapong, Sensi, Magnanelli, Rogerio; Boga, Matri, and
Djuricic. Matri actually does have two goals this season, which is double what
he scored at Milan, so he is one to watch out for.
Gattuso has a new injury worry in Kessie, who took a knock
on Tuesday. He did train with the team on Friday, however his fitness will be
left up to the last minute. Caldara is playing with the Primavera today as his
last step to regain fitness, so he won’t be available for this match. Also not
quite available for this match is Zapata, although Gattuso said he would be
back soon.
 |
| "It's not about you, Alessandro, it's FFP, sorry, we can't afford you" |
Milan took
a step backward on Tuesday in their Coppa Italia match. Not just
because of the scoreless draw, but because of how they played. So this match
will either go much better or we will choke, it’s unlikely to go the same. If
it goes much better, it’s because Gattuso probably literally let a fire
underneath the players. If they choke, it will probably be because we have the
opportunity to take third place, and that is what we typically do. However, when
we played them in September, it was a goalfest.
This Milan has evolved so much recently that perhaps they will just surprise
us. Maybe we’ll take all three points and give ourselves the advantage.
This post inspired by the music of Survivor’s
“Eye of the Tiger”
Serie A Week 26
Milan vs. Sassuolo
Saturday, March 2
• 18:00 CET (12noon EST)
This match
will be shown LIVE on ESPN+ in the U.S.