Coppa Italia Round of 16 • Milan-SPAL Preview: Plan B

Normally, no one really cares about the Coppa Italia. Even with tickets as low as €5, only about 20,000 people are expected to attend on Wednesday. That is compared with more than 60,000 people who came to see Ibrahimovic’s debut on a weekend. However, this time, perhaps more fans should care. The winner of the Coppa Italia qualifies for the Europa League, and with so many teams and so many points separating us from European spots, winning the Coppa Italia might be our best opportunity for Europe next year. This could be our Plan B.

I don't remember Salamon doing that when at Milan...

SPAL are dead last in Serie A, absolute bottom of the table. However in December, they knocked Lecce out of the Coppa Italia with a very convincing 5-1 win. Yesterday, they lost 1-0 away to Fiorentina, where Semplici matched Fiore’s 3-5-2. He lined up: Berisha; Cionek, Vicari, Felipe; Strefezza, Murgia, Missiroli, Valoti, Igor; our old pal Petagna, and Di Francesco. He will be missing D’Alessandro and Fares to injury. SPAL have one less day of rest, having played on Sunday, but also have our other exes, Paloschi and Salamon, who could come back to haunt us.

Sorry, Petagna, we need this one, old friend

It’s really a shame that a single win means so much to Milan right now, but the fact is that Saturday’s win was a massive boost in mentality. Pioli will now have to decide if Ibrahimovic plays, and if so, how much, as we will play again on Sunday. His health and form are so essential to Milan, we will have to be very careful not to wear him out. Pioli will be missing Duarte and Biglia still to injury, and I have not heard how Caldara and Kessie are after Saturday’s match as of this writing.

Oh, yeah, Semplici, we picked up a new player, if you hadn't heard

What should be a benchwarmer’s night’s dream will probably be taken very seriously. The underdogs are the most dangerous, and we absolutely need to win this match to go on to face Torino in the next round. It’s not what we would have wanted to be taking so seriously at this time of the year, but here we are. We need this win for morale and for a chance at the Europa League qualification next season. Jump on the bandwagon for our Plan B.

This post inspired by the music of Cigarettes after Sex

Coppa Italia Round of 16

Milan vs. SPAL

Wednesday, January 15 • 18:00 CET

This match can be streamed LIVE on ESPN+