Saturday is the big day that many have seen coming since
Brescia won promotion at the end of last season: it’s Donnarumma vs.
Donnarumma. Alfredo Donnarumma was the capocannoniere last season in
Serie B, and Gigio Donnarumma is Milan’s starting goalkeeper. It’s David vs.
Goliath, the shooter vs. the shotblocker. And the strangest thing is that Milan
might not be favorites to win.
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| Brothers |
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| Not brother |
To dispel a voracious internet myth, Alfredo is NOT brother to Antonio and Gigio. In fact, they are not blood relations at all,
although they all come from the Naples region of Italy. If anyone online
bothered to fact check their internet mythology, they would learn that Alfredo
is just shy of four months younger than Antonio. So unless giving birth to a
baby who became a giant, then conceiving and giving birth to a baby who is
fully 5”-6” shorter and much slimmer than the other brothers Donnarumma all in the
space of four months was Marinella Donnarumma’ super power, then I’m going to
call it fake news. (Also, the players themselves all have publicly denied blood
relations, so there’s that.)
Alfredo scored the penalty for Brescia on Sunday as they defeated
Cagliari 1-0. For that matchup, Corini lined up Joronen; Sabelli, Cistana,
Chancellor, Martella, Bisoli, Tonali, Dessena; Spalek, Ayé, and Alfredo
Donnarumma. One could argue that it was “only” Cagliari, but Brescia looked
good, and were very confident. And they now have the added confidence of three points to start their season.
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| Brescia's midfield gem, Tonali |
For our match on Saturday, Corini will be missing Ndoj to
injury. Also in doubt are Torregrossa and Magnani. Most notably, he will be
without former Milan striker Mario Balotelli, who is suspended for the first
four matches of the season due to a nasty foul in his last match of the season
for Marseille in Ligue 1. But even without the big man, Alfredo Donnarumma is a
huge scoring threat, and could neutralize the man he shares a last name with
like kryptonite.
Our young Donnarumma played in net on Sunday as Milan were
humiliated by Udinese 1-0. For that match Giampaolo made some bizarre choices
in his starting 11, then made some even more bizarre comments after the loss, as we
discussed on the podcast this week. While he initially said he might go
back to a 4-3-3, rumors this week are that he is looking at a 4-3-2-1 Christmas
Tree formation. Not a confident decision after a demoralizing loss on Sunday, it's hard to realistically see a Milan win here.
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| It would be strange to start Jack, he's just coming back from a lengthy injury But who knows with Giampaolo? |
Giampaolo will be legit missing Caldara, Biglia, and Hernandez to
injuries. Laxalt is supposed to be transferring anywhere else, and with the mercato
still open for a few more days, anyone else could leave, I suppose. (Castillejo and Borini, that is a personal invitation.) Bonaventura wasn’t even
called up for the Cesena match, was called up but didn’t feature last week, but
the media are claiming he could start this week. I don’t believe that, but I
also didn’t believe any coach would leave all of their new signings on the bench
to start a match, either. I’m pretty sure every other coach started at least
one new player, else what is the mercato for anyway? Why on earth would
you field the same 11 players that the coach before you had available when you
had four new signings that were healthy and available? It boggles the mind.
Back to the Donnarumma showdown, though. Both players will
want their name to be the Donnarumma that is remembered from that match. And
ironically, they can both help one another do just that. If Alfredo scores, he’ll
have to get it past Gigio. And if Gigio makes breathtaking saves, they will
most likely be on Alfredo. It is a strange dichotomy in which they are both
connected, just not by blood. They will be on opposite teams, both with the same intent: to win the match for their team. It’s not just Milan vs. Brescia, it’s
Donnarumma vs. Donnarumma.
This post
inspired by the music of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Serie A Week 2
Milan vs. Brescia
Saturday, August
31 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)
This match can be
streamed on ESPN+ in the U.S.