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? |
For me, potential injuries are a much bigger concern than a Coppa Italia trophy. Especially considering that once again, we are playing the second match of back-to-back matches at the San Siro, the third match in five days. This will also be the third time in a month that two matches are played in 24 hours in Milano. Due to the Frankenstein-like makeover that cost €500.000 over the international break, I don't have a lot of faith that it will be safe for our players.
Sarri's Eagles are flying high after a 3-0 win over Fiorentina on Saturday. For that match, he lined up Strakosha; Lazzari, Luiz Felipe, Patric, Marušić; Milinković-Savić, Leiva, Alberto; Pedro, Immobile, and Zaccagni. Bakayoko's BFF Acerbi is out injured, as is Akpa Akpro. As a precaution, both Milinković-Savić and Patric worked in the gym on Monday rather than training with the team.
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| Even possibly without one, you have to be wary of the other |
Pioli will be without our Vikings Kjaer and Ibrahimović, as well as the recently crowned AFCON champion, Ballo-Touré. The Senagalese player spent all but 10 minutes of the tournament out with COVID, and then out with the muscle injury sustained after those few minutes of action. Both Rebić and Tomori are reportedly still in doubt as of this writing, but both are increasingly likely to be available.
Obviously, shiny trophies are lovely. And it has been a little over five years since we won a trophy. But to win, we have to face the winner of Tuesday's clash between the whining Roma and the crying Inter in the ridiculous two-legged semifinals in March. Napoli and Inter sit above us in the league, and both still playing in Europe, so I would prefer that we take advantage of Milan not playing in Europe and focus on the Scudetto. But hey, why not target both? In the hunt for trophies, winners never say die.
This post inspired by the music of Billie Eilish's "No Time to Die"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
11:10 PM
Rating:
