Whatever is happening at the San Siro tomorrow, it is being overshadowed in the news by the interview fans have waited six long months for. Since Maldini and Massara were suddenly sacked on June fifth, we had only heard the gaslighting from Cardinale, Scaroni, and Furlani, who, as it turns out were all architects of or complicit in this plan. But Maldini finally was able to control his emotions enough to speak evenly and tell the truth about everything that happened in an interview for La Repubblica. Some people question his timing, given the difficulties the team is suffering right now. But I think it takes the pressure off the players, it frees them from all the secrets. This interview allows them to face Frosinone tomorrow with Maldini's blessing.
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| Maldini loves this team more than this management could ever comprehend. |
You can read the interview for yourself, and you can be guaranteed that I will be writing more about it, but since we have a game tomorrow, I will attempt to focus on that. For a minute, at least. Frosinone come to the San Siro in tenth place, eight points behind Milan. Their most recent match was a 2-1 win over Genoa on Sunday. For that match, Di Francesco lined up: Turati; Oyono, Okoli, Simone Romagnoli, Marchizza; Bourabia, Barrenechea; Soulè, Reiner, Arijon Ibrahimović; and Cheddira. Di Francesco has five players out injured for this match: Marchizza, Harroui, Mazzitelli, Kalaj, and Lirola.
Pioli will once again be missing nine players. Giroud is serving his second of his two match ban. Out with injury are: Rafa Leão, Okafor, Kalulu, Thiaw, Kjaer, Pellegrino, Caldara, and Sportiello. Yes, that is five central defenders out, leaving only Tomori available. Therefore, Pioli is definitely calling up Simić from the Primavera, who has been called up before and will undoubtedly start. Camarda will also be called up again, along with Chaka Traorè, Lapo Nava, and Alex Jiménez, all young players from Abate's team as well.
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| Di Francesco could easily take advantage of Milan's distractions right now. |
Maldini's interview was hardly the only distraction this week, as Florenzi gave testimony about his involvement in the betting scandal again on Thursday, this time to the FIGC. But in some very, very good news, Bennacer is called up for tomorrow for the first time since being injured by Calhanoglu in the Champions League semifinal in May. I cannot think of a better birthday gift for our mighty midfielder than to return to match fitness.
Milan are still somehow in third place in Serie A, but suffered a devastating 3-1 loss at home to Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday. With injuries at a catastrophic level already, Milan are on the brink of elimination from the Group Stage, which will likely result in a loss of approximately €100 million in revenue compared to last year. So why would Maldini choose to speak up now?
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| Tomori is the last center back standing. |
First of all, he shared that it took him this long to process what happened and be able to speak about it in an appropriate way, and who could blame him? As a fan himself, he must be hurting so much more than us, watching what he built be destroyed like this, watching his players be systematically injured because of everything going on around them and management not doing the right things to protect them.
But actually, his timing is perfect. It takes the pressure off of the team and their performance. Finally, no one is talking about Leão while he is injured anymore, for example. And he told the truth, freeing them up from the silence they have had to live with since his departure. The players cannot really say anything about management, as they are all under contract. But that is okay, he said everything for them. I would expect they must feel quite relieved for the world to know the truth about the hell that they have been living with. And maybe, just maybe, the points he shined a light on will force some change and help them.
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| Last time we saw Bennacer, he was injured, too. Can't wait to have him back. |
Maldini's words certainly cannot replace the nine missing players on Saturday. Nor can he solve the problems in management from the top down. He shared yet again how much he loves this club and how much it means to him, but that it is now in their hands. He only asked that they respect its history, which they clearly have not. But the players can. Every time they take the pitch. And I expect they will do that going forward. Because he was more than just a technical director or even a mentor to them. So I hope they will all remember that when they put on the shirt, it is with Maldini's blessing.
This post inspired by the music of Måneskin's "BLA BLA BLA"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
5:00 PM
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