Friday, Milan will travel to Bergamo to face Atalanta. Friday also happens to be St. Nicholas Day, which is celebrated in many countries by the giving of gifts. St. Nicholas was known for his generosity, so I am personally calling upon him for help in this one. Ever since the traumatic Christmas Massacre in Bergamo a mere five years ago, Milan has fared well playing away to Atalanta when the match was not played in December. However, last year, Milan suffered a 3-2 loss again to Gasperini's side when played in this month. And as if that wasn't omen enough, the referee for this match is La Penna, the same referee who presided over the 5-0 massacre in 2019. So Milan will need more than luck against La Dea (the Goddess.) That's why I'm pleading to please save us, St. Nicholas.
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| Save all of us, please, St. Nicholas. |
To be fair, the Christmas Massacre was Pioli's ground zero upon which he built our Scudetto-winning team a mere two and a half years later. However, Fonseca is a poor man's Pioli. He was handed a squad that was older, more experienced, nearly double in value, and he's still benching or subbing out our best players and complaining about how other teams play in Serie A week after week. But perhaps some of the good energy will still be around, like from the year after the trauma, when Milan defeated Atalanta 2-0 at home on the final day of the season to secure their return to the Champions League. Or the next season, the Scudetto year, when Milan won 3-2 in Bergamo in October, of the following season, when Milan drew with Atalanta 1-1 in August.
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| As Paolo Maldini said, you just need to wait on young players. |
It's just hard to imagine a scenario where Atalanta, currently one point behind league leaders Napoli, having won their last eight league matches and being talked about as an outlier contender for the Scudetto this year, would allow a team like Milan to defeat them. Especially not in their house. Their last match was a 2-0 win over Roma on Monday. For that match, Atalanta lined up a 3-4-2-1 with: Carnesecchi; Kossounou, Hien, Kolasinac; Bellanova, Éderson, de Roon, Ruggeri; the Milan-owned (until February 1st) De Ketelaere, Lookman; and Retegui.
They were missing Gasperini, and he will miss our match as well, as he is serving a two match ban for... shock... insulting the referee. They will also be missing Scamacca, Cuadrado, and Zappacosta to injury. Amongst Gasperini's 23 players called up for this match are three former Milan players: former Milan youth player Brescianini; the briefly Milan player but still Milan fan Pašalić, and, of course, De Ketelaere, the one that so many people dragged Paolo Maldini's name through the mud for signing. However, he repeatedly said that young players like that need time, and De Ketelaere has begun to demonstrate that. He recently became the only player to play for an Italian club who has ever been involved in five goals in one Champions League match with two goals and three assists vs. BSC Young Boys.
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| Camarda did not play for Milan Futuro, he was saved for the first team, but will Fonseca play him? |
As for the players who are still at Milan, Fonseca will still be missing Florenzi, Jović, and Bennacer. While Bennacer has completed his personal recovery and has now returned to Milanello, he still has work to do before he is ready to train with the team. Both Maignan and Theo Hernández are back after their absences on Tuesday, and Sportiello and Loftus-Cheek both had minor problems following Tuesday's Coppa Italia match, but are reportedly fine, according to Fonseca.
It's difficult to know what is actually going on with our players, because he spends most of his press conferences ranting about Italian defenses and how hard his job is, or talking about how he must make Leão as ambitious as he is talented, probably because Fonseca himself never amounted to much as a player and wants to live vicariously through him. Funny how no one is calling him out for the fact that Milan has played significantly better as Leão has stopped being benched.
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| Fonseca credits himself for "fixing" Leão, but playing time was the real issue all along. |
Obviously, St. Nicholas can only do so much when management are so football clueless and have hired such a strange choice for a manager. But they are focused on the 125th Anniversary celebration and the launch of the new 125th Anniversary Kit that was released this week. Plus, we do have enough decent players to give Atalanta a run for their money.
And maybe, just maybe, without Gasperini actually on the bench, we could be granted this one wish – to make up some of the nine point deficit between Milan and Atalanta by getting a result in this one. I mean they have scored 26 goals and only conceded four in the league. Can't we change that ratio, even the slightest bit? I won't trouble you by putting my shoes out for this gift, but I'm begging you please, save us from more December trauma in Bergamo, St. Nicholas.
Milan Futuro Take a Point in Their 1-1 Draw Away to Campobasso
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| Stalmach celebrates with Chaka Traorè, who provided the assist for his goal. |
Following all the international break postponements, Milan Futuro are finally all caught up in Serie C after facing Campobasso in their 1-1 draw on Thursday. Futuro conceded an early goal in just the seventh minute, but were able to equalize with Stalmach's first goal for Milan Futuro in the 31st minute. Chaka Traorè hit the crossbar, and Jiménez had a shot that was just wide in the second half, but they were unable to find a winner.
There was drama when Bonera got sent off in the 37th minute for challenging the referee. So he will not be on the sideline for their match on Sunday against Gubbio, either. And also at the end, when Samuele Longo was mixing it up with a Campobasso player after the final whistle. Even with the point, however, this still left Milan Futuro in 19th place after 17 rounds. After all Ibrahimović said about this project being about developing young players, it's starting to feel like his priority is giving his friends jobs. Because it is getting harder and harder to watch the highlights week after week as they continue to concede goals, despite being some of the most talented players in their group (as even Abate said on Sunday.)
This post inspired by the music of Vince Guaraldi Trio's "A Charlie Brown Christmas"