Milan have their proverbial backs up against the wall this season. After going out of the Champions League at the Group Stage, there are only eight matches left to fight for a European spot of any kind for next season. Sitting solidly in ninth place at this point, that is now just a fool's hope. We are in the Coppa Italia Semifinals, which for some inexplicable reason are a two-leg round, while every other round is only one leg, including the final. Still, in 2025, when players and everyone else are concerned about the number of matches, we're doing this. Worse still, of course, we've drawn our cheating, slimy, scum-sucking cugini, Inter. But winning this round and then progressing to the final gives us a chance at another trophy and guaranteed access to the Europa League next season, too. So despite playing a hated rival, for Milan, this is a desperation Derby.
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| Milan are desperate for access to Europe next season. |
Obviously, Inter come into this match at the top of table. Despite their owner defaulting on €800 million in debt last year and their club being taken over by an American hedge fund, no one had any problems with the legal or financial issues involved. (Meanwhile, years after being sold, an Interisti prosecutor actually opened a sham investigation into Milan's ownership.) In fact, while all of it was going down, Serie A awarded them yet another Scudetto. And this year, while Napoli were in first place, they did not receive a single red card (again, just like the year we won the Scudetto,) until they were ahead on the table, they were just finally given one to help the referees have some semblance of credibility.
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| Dimarco probably wet the bed thinking of having to face Kyle Walker again. |
After a 2-0 win over Udinese in December, Inter defeated Lazio 2-0 in the Coppa Italia Quarterfinals in February to earn their spot in the Semifinals. Most recently, in Serie A, Inter narrowly defeated Udinese 2-1 once again on Sunday. For that matchup, The Other Inzaghi™ lined up a 3-5-2 with: Sommer; Pavard, Acerbi the Racist™, Augusto; Darmian, Frattesi, The Turkish Traitor™ Mkhitaryan, and Dimarco; Marcus the Molester Thuram™, and Arnautović.
Inter have some big injury misses, including Lautaro Martínez, Taremi, Asllani, Dumfries, and Zielinski all out, and De Vrij in doubt due to fitness issues. Both The Other Inzaghi™ and Barella earned suspensions following the Udinese match, but those suspensions will apparently apply to the next Serie A match, not the Coppa Italia, so we will unfortunately have to witness both of their whining and crying. And I know they are scared, because Milan have managed to defeat them twice already this season, and a draw was the best they could do in our third meeting. I can handle the crying if it means we won, I savor their snake tears in victory.
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| Milan need our Big Defender Energy. |
Conceição will have Musah back after suspension, but obviously, Loftus-Cheek will be out for a while after his emergency surgery on Sunday. Emerson Royal is also still out, but Álex Jiménez will be available for this one, despite being suspended for our next Serie A match. So, Conceição has all but two players to choose from, which is a good problem to have. Particularly when facing your bitter city rivals who are a full 20 points ahead of you in the league... again.
One player that is the most likely to start is Rafa Leão. While Conceição wisely keeps these kinds of issues in house, the media speculated ad nauseum after he did not start on Sunday vs. Napoli, and they were not kind to Conceição in all of that speculation with the excuse of the thigh muscle issue Sunday morning coupled with the loss, either. Between Fonseca and Conceição, I think I read that Leão has started from the bench a record ten times this season. Which in and of itself accounts for our ninth place standing.
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| When Leão creates, it's difficult for opposition teams to find an answer. |
It is a shame that each Milan manager has an adjustment period to figure out what makes Leão tick and how to get the best out of him, because the team's results suffer, too. Each manager sees his talent and tries to enforce what they want for him and his career. But as Pioli finally figured out, Leão is "an artist, a genius" and the best way to motivate him is to stop trying to motivate him. Or at least stop trying to make him conform to your beliefs about what he needs to be. Leão plays football for joy, not for stats, and when you give him more freedom and encourage him to have fun, he is unstoppable.
Certainly, we could use an unstoppable Leão in this match and also in the second leg two weeks from now. But we all know that the real determining factor will be whether Inter's check to the referees clears. Referee errors are the most painful against Inter, given their many, many, many advantageous calls, also known as the Marotta League. Getting to the final would do a lot for the mentality of the players and give Milan one last chance at getting a spot in Europe next year.
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| Can Conceição calm the storm around the team and add to his trophy collection? |
Also, with the way the press have treated Conceição, having him win two trophies in a season would demonstrate how ludicrous and disrespectful they truly are. Plus, no one outside of Inter wants to see them lift any trophies this season, let alone still have a shot at three (or four if you count the Club World Cup this summer.) Milan did already relieve them of one trophy this year, it would be nice for us to do an Italian Cup Derby Double. But to be perfectly honest, for Milan, this is a desperation Derby.
This post inspired by the music of Bambi Thug's "Doomsday Blue"
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Reviewed by Elaine
on
3:00 AM
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