The Derby della Madonnina is back! Milan and Inter meet for the 2nd time this season in the league, 3rd time overall, and Milan come in having won both games in dramatic fashion. In the first meeting, Gabbia headed home an 89th minute winner and Milan stormed back from 2 goals down to win 3-2 in the Supercoppa with a stoppage time winner in Conceição’s second game in charge. What will we have in store today?!
MATCHDAY:
LAST FIVE
MILAN: LWWLW
INTER: WWWWD
FORMATIONS
MILAN (4-3-3): Maignan (C); Walker, Tomori, Pavlovic, Hernández; Musah, Bennacer, Reijnders; Pulisic, Abraham, Leão
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, de Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez (C)
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 12pm EST/5pm GMT
PLACE: San Siro, Milano
WHERE TO WATCH:
Paramount+ and FuboTV here in the US of Aye (Spanish broadcast on Fox Deportes in the US); FuboTV and TLN for Canada; TNT in the UK (maybe?); ESPN for Mexico; DAZN for Germany, Austria, Switzerland; a website called GXR for our friends in India; and illegal streams that support dictators and oligarchs everywhere.
*Let us know if this needs updating or if you have additional broadcasters to add*
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
The Derby is always special and to get more than 2 a season is just something to be cherished. As a fan of many sports, this rivalry is up there with the best of them and is on equal footing with Real-Barca or Celtic-Rangers in football, soccer, futbol, or whatever you call the beautiful game.
There are lots of topics swirling around Milan at the moment, including the signing of Santiago Giménez and departure of former club captain Davide Calabria and summer signing Álvaro Morata, rumors around Tomori and Pavlovic leaving, not to mention the tension around recent outbursts and the disappointing loss to Dinamo Zagreb. Have I brought up the noise around Conceição being too strict and some players unhappy (see Calabria and Morata above)? We’ll touch on some of these now but more deeply later, as we’ll focus more on the derby today.
On the pitch, we get to see the newly signed veteran Kyle Walker. The tread on the tires are wearing down to be sure but I think he is an immediate upgrade over Royal and Calabria and can be a bridge until a more long term solution can be found. His leadership will surely be welcomed and his experience winning at the highest levels and competitions will be a boon as well.
Abraham gets the start up top and I’m fine with that. He had the winner in the Supercoppa and can be a useful player but the team needs to get him involved. If Milan sit back some, as I still think that’s the best way to play Inter, he can be important in the offensive buildup as we’ve seen him find Leão multiple times on crucial goals.
I wondered in the Dinamo-Milan post match if Gabbia and Musah might see some bench time after their errors, but Gabbia is not a full health and the thinness of the midfield, exacerbated by Fofana being out on accumulation, means Musah starts. Fofana’s absence also means Bennacer gets the start and this has me worried. He’s shown just a few flashes of his old self since returning but not enough to fill me with confidence.
Overall, it’s the same song and dance with me when playing Inter. Sit back some and take them out of their preferred sitting back and countering. They’re still dangerous but less so then when catching the opponent in transition with numbers.
FotMob has Milan in a 4-3-3 but I think it’s going to be a 4-2-3-1 while in possession and some kind of 5-4-1/4-4-2 when not. Either way, Milan needs to make sure to load the midfield when not in possession, something Fonseca did well in his only derby. Then in attack, get the ball to Reijnders and Abraham so they can spring Leão and Theo. Pulisic will be where he needs to be especially if he is playing the CAM (and Reijnders in the double pivot) as that provides a bit more positional freedom.
For Inter, they are pretty much at full health and will be angry, looking for payback. Tactically, we know what they want to do. They want to suck you in and hit you on the counter. When playing possession football, it’s overloading the wings and diagonal passes and whipping in balls. Milan will need to be ready as they don’t need much of a crack in the defense to get something.
PREDICTION TIME:
I’ve said it recently and I mean it: it’s difficult to beat a team – any team – 3 times in the same season, much less one of the best teams in the league. Milan will need to be locked in and more efficient than we’ve typically seen them to get all 3 points. BUT! I think they can get 1. Truth be told, I’ll be more than happy with 1 point when the final whistle blows.
Micahel Lisi: We are gonna lose 3-1. It’s gonna have to hurt a little more before it gets better. I’m thinking a red card for Theo and a goal from Pulisic to save total humiliation. Dimarco assist. Lautaro goal for Inter.
Hold on to your butts…
Forza Milan
gillis
*Don’t forget to check out Lisi’s Weekend Whip Around: Round 23!
**Bookkeeping: Disqus just turned on ads for their free version at the start of February. I HATE it. One of the areas of joy I have for this site is the way it looks, the Milan themes and colors, the black background for easy reading, and that you can read it CLEANLY without ads everywhere. I have reached out to Disqus to see if we can get an upgraded free version, as they do have some carveouts for non-businesses/non-profits. We’ll figure out next steps if they decline my request but we may be changing our comment section in the future. Stay tuned.