Sarri's Lazio side were hit with the flu this week, with reports that up to ten players had fever and other flu symptoms as late as Thursday morning. Most of them, if not all of them are likely to have recovered and be available by Sunday night, but will have missed some crucial training time. Meanwhile, Milan played a brutal Coppa Italia match against Inter on Tuesday, and despite creating a lot of chances, were once again subjected to a controversial referee call. The loss was harsh enough, but how many ref calls can this squad move past and not let it affect them? This match will be all about which team makes the best recovery.
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| Whichever team recovers best will take all 3 points |
In true Italian fan fashion, Lazio Ultras are planning a protest for this match due to ticket prices. As a result, about half of the 19,000 tickets sold as of this writing have been sold to Milan fans. Way to support your club at home, Lazio fans. They're probably still upset about Lazio's 1-1 draw with Torino last week. For that match, Sarri lined up Strakosha; Lazzari, Patric, Acerbi, Marušić ; Malinković-Savić, Leiva, Luis Alberto; Felipe Anderson, Immobile, and Zaccagni. As of this writing, Pedro is in doubt with a muscular problem and Marušić is the last remaining player with flu symptoms.
Pioli has some good news in that probable future Lazio defender Romagnoli is fully recovered. Rebić did personalized training on Friday, and Ibrahimović trained partially with the group, so both are hopeful to possibly maybe perhaps potentially be available on Sunday if they don't injure themselves at halftime. Pioli will still definitely be missing Kjaer, Florenzi, and Castillejo to injury. Hopefully, his defense will also recover for Sunday and return to their pre-Coppa clean sheet form.
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| Romagnoli has recovered, Ibrahimović mostly, but will either play? |
We are counting down to the final matches of the season, and every mistake will count, especially the referee's, so let's hope that Guida does not turn into Giuda. We play last of the top three teams, so will know what we need to do. Hopefully we can go to the Stadio Olimpico and bring home all three points, but this one will be all about the team that makes the quickest recovery.
This post inspired by the music of The Cranberries "Zombie"