Milan have a task at hand. They cannot afford to be distracted by recent or past history, they must only focus on the match at the Bentegodi. Which is a challenge for anyone, as it can be such a hostile stadium. But with 16,000 Milan fans rumored to be traveling to support them, perhaps they will be buoyed by the red and black passion. Pioli should also have the most players available that he has had all season, quite the opposite of the last time we met Verona. In this third from the final match, every detail will matter. But the most important factor will be Milan's mental strength.
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| A 6'5" source of our mental and physical strength |
Tudor's side sit in ninth place on the table, and would need a series of miracles to qualify for a European spot. However, Verona have a long history of ruining Milan's Scudetto dreams, and will not be playing for anything less than three points on Sunday. With recent form of W-L-W-D-W, their most recent three points were taken in a 2-1 win over relegation zone Cagliari on Sunday. For that match, Tudor lined up Montipò; Tamèze, Casale, Ceccherini; Faraoni, Ilić, Hongla, Depaoli; Barák, Caprari; and Simeone. He will be missing Pandur out injured, and has Dawidowicz and Diego Coppola in doubt due to fitness as of this writing.
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| Back when Milan were still given penalties when fouled in the box |
Pioli is only missing Kjaer and likely Daniel Maldini, everyone else trained on Friday and is available to be called up. So great to have nearly a full team after so many injuries this season, but also a bit of a headache for him to know who to give time to. There is no room for error, and that starts at the top.
Most importantly, he will need to have the team prepared mentally. They will need to face whatever happens with Doveri, who is an experienced referee, but has made some notably big errors in big matches before. Milan will also need to manage the pressure of having everyone else having played beforehand. Luckily, their belief has seen them through this season, through to the final whistle. Milan fans are counting on their mentality to win this one, counting on their strength.
This post inspired by the music of Billie Eilish's "No Time to Die"