The games before Easter are always a little strange. Everyone plays on the same day and it can be hard to keep up with everything that goes on. This time, the game is preceded by an international break, so it is even more difficult to know what condition all of the players are in and how they will perform in this match. Add to that the fact that a number of Serie A players and staff from various teams contracted COVID-19 while out on international duty, and we really just don't know for sure who will even be available to play. Considering Sampdoria are in tenth place coming into this one, they have "The Tinkerer" as their manager, and we are playing the early lunchtime game, this game could be an Easter surprise.
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| Hopefully our Easter surprise is something like this |
Sampdoria are coming off of a 1-0 win over Torino before the break. Their wins this season have largely been against mid- or lower-table teams. However, they did beat Inter in January, so they are certainly capable of winning against a larger club. We did beat them 2-1 in their house in December, but unfortunately for us, we have a much worse record at the San Siro.
For the Torino match, Ranieri lined up Audero; Bereszynski, Tonelli, Colley, Augello; Candreva, Thorsby, Ekdal, Jankto; Quagliarella, and Gabbiadini. Ekdal has muscle problems and will not play on Saturday, while Torregrossa is also battling a muscle problem and will be evaluated ahead of the match. The Blucerchiati are on 35 points, which is enough to ensure they don't get relegated, but not enough to push them into a Europa League spot. But don't expect them to be complacent, every team would love to take points off of a team like Milan.
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| The on-loan-from-Inter Candreva got away with this last time |
Pioli has some injury concerns. Calabria is recovering from his surgery, while Maldini, Romagnoli and Mandzukic are still out recovering from muscle injuries, so will miss this match. Leao is still in doubt as of this writing, and Brahim Diaz picked up an injury on international duty that caused his ankle to swell, so is also in doubt for tomorrow's match. Depending on the condition of the players who represented their national teams, Pioli may have a strong starting eleven for this match.
Milan are in a position that we need to win every single game to have any hope of overtaking Inter to win the Scudetto. We obviously have to wait for them to slip up, too, but we cannot afford to slip up ourselves. Despite the early time and facing a team that is unpredictable, it will be important for Milan to come together and play like we know they can to take all three points in this match. A win after the break would actually be a great Easter surprise.
This post inspired by the music of Us3's Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)