Ahead of the Coppa Italia Derby, I invited perhaps the most shocking Milan Obsession guest of all time... an Inter supporter. Frank was brave enough to join me to talk about his Serie A and Inter fandom as well as our respective recent matches and all things Milan and Inter ahead of our Coppa Italia semifinal first leg. Check out our discussion between the ultimate frenemies...
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| Frenemies |
Milan fans are left disappointed once again after battling a relegation-threatened side and dropping points. While I will be the first to admit that this was not a perfect Milan performance, it also wasn't our worst. At the end of the day, the equalizer came from a handball. Both the opposition player and coach admitted it was a handball, but Marchetti, reffing his first Serie A match, did not. Not even after VAR checked it, which is on Guida, who is vastly more experienced. Not even wearing a new insurance company logo on our butts could insure against bad calls. They were fooled by the hand of Udogie.
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| "Excuse me, kind sir, but I do not think that goal was valid" |
All of the top six teams teams in Serie A dropped points last week, but only top of the table Milan dropped points to the 20th place team. Friday, we face the 16th place team, and in spite of being in first place due to overperforming, we need to re-establish our winning mentality and motivation with all three points. Udinese are better than their position suggests, with the need to gain points to avoid relegation (read: desperation.) No matter what you think this match should look like on paper, this one is shaping up to be a proper Friday night fight.
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| Just hoping the kit guy gets his name spelled right this time |
I will preface my rant by saying at least we have income and are keeping up with other clubs in terms of selling out. You have to have money to run a football club, and if that means literally selling our butts off, so be it. By adding a back of the shirt sponsor for the first time in history, the new wefox sponsorship adds another €6-8 million per year to our income. That makes our jersey the €39 million shirt.
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| Selling our butts off |
Anyone who read up on Salernitana or their recent history before the match could have seen this scoreline coming. Apparently, most people did not read or expect a result like this, despite Pioli's prematch comments warning them as well. Obviously, it's still incredibly disappointing. Being at the top of the table for a week again was fun. Realistically, though, this match just demonstrated Milan's youth and inexperience yet again. If you look back, you'll see that the writing was on the wall.
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| Yeah, it was kinda like that |
The Milan Obsession blog is 11 years old, and the podcast is now nine years old, so of course I had to plan some EPIC podcast guests. A worldwide lineup included Glenn in Australia, Boaz in Israel, and myself in California, USA. We discussed the news, the Sampdoria match, the San Siro pitch, and then chatted about our season favorites so far.
Saturday night sees Milan traveling to Salernitana, Lotito's former second favorite team. In the first leg, we played them just days after losing Kjaer, but managed to be in control of the match despite missing a number of other players as well. Now, Milan go to Salernitana while we sit at the top of the table, while our opposition sit dead last on the table, struggling to make a comeback with a brand new manager. But hey, they say that opposites attract.
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| Franckly no contest... or is it? |
The lunchtime game is always a bit of a surprise. For Leão's 100th appearance, he decided to score the first goal, which also turned out to be the winner. With a very unusual assist. Sampdoria tried everything, but it was their goalkeeper, Falcone, who was Man of the Match. He had six saves, many of them heartstopping. But Milan won with the one that got away. Now Milan go top of the table, although Inter have a game in hand. The table is set.
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| One goal was all it took |
Sampdoria have a fifty percent win record under Marco Giampaolo this time around, which is better than his record was at Milan. Of course, he has only coached two games in his second term with the Genovese side, but hey, who is counting? Milan are flying even higher with huge wins this week against Inter in the Derby and Lazio in the Coppa Italia, as we discussed on this week's podcast. But this is the lunchtime game, and anything can happen in 90 minutes. Certainly, no one would love to take down Milan more than Giampaolo.
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| Milan are flying high and have complete Giampaolo amnesia |
Milan are quickly accelerating toward not one but two trophy dreams, with the goal of at least achieving Champions League again. I invited Nathan, founder of Milan Club of DC, to join me and talk about the Derby and Coppa Italia wins this week, plus catching up on the mercato and all of the news around Milan.
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| Acceleration |
If you are a Kurt Vonnegut fan, this will be nothing like his masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five. Also, I am sorry. If you are not a fan, I am also sorry. You should be a fan. But I am not sorry about overpowering the Lazio regime. Statistics show they tried, but Milan were clinical and slaughtered the Eagles 4-0 with only eight shots, but six on target. It's almost as if Milan were on another planet.
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| When the good guys win the battle |
After a Derby thriller on Saturday, Milan players will need to have their feet back on the ground as they face Lazio in the Coppa Italia Quarterfinals. This is Lazio's competition, having won seven Coppa Italia trophies and five Supercoppa trophies. For Milan, it is certainly not our best competition, although we do have five Coppa Italia titles and seven Supercoppa wins. Maldini says Milan want to get to the final. I am not sure how many Milan fans care as much about it, whereas this is definitely Lazio's only chance for a trophy this season. Despite the fact that the Coppa Italia is a competition that not very many people care about, this match is all about the trophy hunt.
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| Worth the injury risks? |
We won. After two seasons of injuries and other bad luck, when it mattered most, Milan actually won the Derby. In spite of going down a goal and having a scary first half, this team fought back to not only equalize, but then win it and take all three points. No one was injured, there were no egregious referee calls, just winning. Against Inter. It really doesn't get any better than this. Milan fans are still celebrating, in a state of Derby bliss.
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| Take a bow, guys |
This Derby match is an important one in the race for both the Scudetto and Champions League qualification spots. Inter come into the match four points ahead of Milan with a game in hand, and Milan need to get their winning form back after the robbery vs. Spezia and the snoozefest draw with Juventus. Inter technically have the home advantage, except that instead of replacing the horrid San Siro pitch over the break, they Frankensteined it with patches of new grass, painting the old grass to match. So playing at home is not actually advantageous. With Inter's mercato and form, the possibility of more Milan injuries from a terrible pitch, as well as our existing injuries, this match is more likely to be a tragedy than a comedy. More of a horror film than Saturday Night Live.
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| Not just any Saturday night |
After a season of shockingly bad luck with both injuries and referees, Milan management chose not to do much of anything in the January mercato. Fans are angry and the media are criticizing the club, saying that not reinforcing in the transfer market could cost us Champions League qualification. On the other hand, our rivals, including Juve and Inter, who both spent big for reinforcements, are still playing in three competitions. Not bringing in a defender or other reinforcements was definitely a gamble. But will it pay off? Will their shrewd approach to finances also pay dividends on the table at the end of the season? What do you think about taking a chance on Milan?
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| Will their gamble pay off? |