Milan head to the Italian capital on Friday looking for three points against the eighth place Lazio side. After a great run of form in the league, Milan were left disappointed in their last two matches, and will be looking to take all three points at the Stadio Olimpico. Despite a fantastic offensive performance and holding Atalanta to only three shots on target on Sunday, some questionable refereeing once again left the scoreline lacking for Milan, while Lazio were completely overrun by Fiorentina on Monday. So, on Friday, Milan will be hoping for better refereeing and the perfect offensive performance in the capital.
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| Going to the capital to score goals. |
Unlike Milan, Lazio made it through to the knockout round of the Champions League. Their first leg with Tuchel's impotent Bayern Munich in Rome ended in in a 1-0 win for Sarri's side, and they go to Germany next week for their second leg. But ahead of that, they face Milan at home after losing their last two matches in Serie A. Their most recent match was a 2-1 loss to Fiorentina on Monday, where Lazio had exactly one shot on goal. For that match, Sarri lined up: Provedel; Lazzari, Casale, Milan's former captain, Romagnoli, Marušić, Guendouzi, Cataldi, Alberto; Isaksen, Immobile, and Felipe Anderson. Sarri will be missing Rovella to injury, and Patric is also questionable as to whether or not he will return from injury as well.
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| Less than two years ago, he lifted the Scudetto in the Rossoneri, now he is the enemy. |
In a bizarre twist of fate, Pioli only has one player injured. Let me write that again: Pioli only has one player injured. Tomori has been back in training for over a week now, and is called up for this match, which leaves only Pobega out injured. Of course, Jović will be serving the second match of his two match suspension for this one. And Reijnders missed training on Wednesday due to the birth of his first son, so it is unclear whether or not he will be traveling with the squad. However, this still gives Pioli so many more options than he is used to. Perhaps he will even line up his notorious 5-0-5 system that armchair managers are claiming he has prepared.
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| Celebrating Papa Reijnders and the return of Tomori this week. |
One thing is certain: both sides need the three points. On the last podcast, I expressed some uncharacteristic optimism for the rest of the season, but I did not factor in the potential for referees to continue favoring certain teams and making errors against Milan. While Milan have struggled away, and the Olimpico is a tough place to play, Lazio have struggled overall, particularly in scoring goals of late. Milan have better form, and have managed to score in every match this calendar year, but will need to play without the errors they have been making of late. And above all, Milan will need to go to the capital and play the perfect offense.
This post inspired by the music of EON's "Spice (With Notes)"