It’s matchday 26 and the dancing Gasperinis come to town. This series has gone back in forth in recent years and if Milan wants to keep it that way they’re going to need to play better than they have the first two times they’ve played them this season.
MATCHDAY:
LAST FIVE
MILAN: LLWWW
ATALANTA: WWWWW
FORMATIONS
MILAN (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Hernández (C), Gabbia, Thiaw, Florenzi; Bennacer, Adli; Leão, Loftus-Cheek, Pulisic; Giroud
ATALANTA (3-4-1-2): Carnesecchi; Kolasinac, Djimsiti, Scalvini; Ruggeri, Ederson, de Roon (C), Holm; Koopmeiners; De Ketelaere, Miranchuk
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 2:45pm EST/7:45pm GMT
PLACE: San Siro, Milano
WHERE TO WATCH:
Paramount+ and FuboTV here in the US of Aye and Canada, BeIn for our Aussie pals, ESPNPlay for our fellas in T&T, JioTV for our Indian leoni, and illegal streams that support dictators and oligarchs everywhere.
*Let us know if this needs updating*
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
Shortly after Stefano Pioli took over Milan in October 2019, Milan traveled to Atalanta and lost 5-0. This is the infamous dancing-Gasperini game. What it also was was the start of Milan’s turnaround. Milan had lost 7 of 16 games before that 5-0 drubbing but only lost twice after that and went unbeaten for the last 12 games of that campaign to save their season and get into Europa by finishing 6th. Milan would finish 2nd the year after, win the Scudetto the year after that, and make the Champions League semi-final and finish 4th last year.
Since the 5-0 loss, Milan had gone 4-2-1 vs Atalanta heading into this season. In the first league matchup in early December, the game went back and forth but a very late a wonder goal by the now-in-the-MLS-Luis-Muriel gave all 3 points to Atalanta. These two teams played in the Coppa about a month later and Atalanta took all 3 points there as well, and now the series stands at 4-2-3 since the 5-0 game.
After that little recent history lesson, bringing this back to the now and Atalanta are the hottest team in the Serie A next to Inter and are 7 points back of Milan at the moment, albeit with a game in hand. Milan had been riding high in the league since the December loss to Atalanta until last week and had one of those days in a 4-2 loss to Monza. They technically lost again this past Thursday in the second leg Europa game vs Rennes but were playing with a 3-0 lead and ended up taking the tie 5-3 on aggregate.
This doesn’t mean things have been good and the most glaring issue is the leaky defense. Tomori and Kalulu are almost back (Kalulu on the bench) but tightening things up now is desperately needed. Maignan has been shaky too and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him bounce back today.
Scoring hasn’t been an issue and Leão seems poised to finally break out of his Serie A scoring slump after midweek goals the last 2 weeks in Europa. And let’s not forget Theo’s habit of late of going coast-to-coast with memorable goals vs Atalanta. I sure wouldn’t mind seeing one again today. I’m not thrilled with Adli starting over Reijnders even if Reijnders played midweek, so I’ll be watching how the double-pivot and RLC do working together to close down space on defense but also linking play from the back. This particular issue with Adli/RLC in the has allowed teams deep possession in Milan’s half and has broken offensive buildup. Hopefully we can see progress here.
Now onto Lisi for his prediction and betting ideas…
Lisi: Some sort of hideous 3-2 win. Take the over. You know CDK will either score or get an assist
I’m expecting a bounce back from Milan and a 2-1 or 3-2 win. As I mentioned above, I think this could be the game Leão ends his Serie A goal drought. Pioli always seems to get his guys to respond and I’m expecting more of that today.
Forza Milan
gillis