Pioli returns to the Stadio Artemio Franchi and the team that he coached prior to Milan. This would be an emotional game anyway, with ex-Milan players Saponara and Bonaventura now wearing the Viola jersey and Tatarusanu having formerly played for Fiorentina as well. For Pioli, his memories of losing captain Davide Astori during his time there will always be with him for this matchup. Milan can't afford to get too emotional, however, because Italiano's side have done better than expected this season and will not miss an opportunity to take points from Milan. It will be important that we don't get caught sleeping.
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| If Tatarusanu picks up where he left off against his former team, we'll be fine |
Fiorentina currently sit seventh on the table, one point behind "The Special One's" team and ahead of Allegri's "midtable" team on goal differential. This despite the fact that both of those managers make almost six times as much as Italiano, with squads that are far more expensive as well. Before the break, Fiorentina beat Spezia 3-0 at home, then lost 1-0 to a last gasp goal after the referee had sent off Milenković and the Viola were on ten men.
For that match, Italiano lined up: Terracciano; Odriozola, Milenković, Martinez Quarta, Biraghi; Bonaventura, Torreira, Castrovilli; Callejón, Vlahović, and Saponara. The aforementioned Milenković will be suspended, as will Martinez Quarta for card accumulation. Nastasić is out injured as well, creating a serious defensive crisis for Italiano's side.
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| Please don't let them hurt us |
This wouldn't be a Milan side without fresh injuries, so Calabria came back from national team duty injured and Rebić suffered a last minute injury in training on Friday. Still out, recovering from their respective surgeries, are Maignan and Plizzari, although both are making progress. Castillejo has not yet recovered from his muscular injury, so will also be unavailable.
The good news is that Messias, Florenzi, and Romagnoli have all recovered and are available for Pioli on Saturday. If you do the math, that only gives us five injured players out, so pay attention for the player who gets a calf strain stepping up onto the bus or something ahead of the match.
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| Back from injury, back from Ghostbusting, "Siamo pronti" |
Emotions and mutual respect should be present for this match, even if there are a number of players missing for both sides. Both coaches have done very well with their respective sides, even if Pioli has the obvious advantage of a bigger club with more expensive players and the consistency of being in his third season with the players. However, Milan must be careful not to assume that we will win this one. Let's hope that on Saturday, we don't get caught sleeping.
This post is inspired by the music of Lush's "Sweetness and Light"