Date: 20 August 2013
Time: 1845 GMT
Venue: Phillips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Milan tackle our season opener tomorrow in a game that’s much more than just a game, needing a good result in order to avoid an elimination that would most certainly put a blight on the rest of the season and lead to the loss of a huge chunk of revenue this ‘year one’ Milan needs.
The opponents are PSV Eindhoven, currently top of the Eredivisie after three games of the season so far. Aside Fernabache, they were probably the worst possible draw and true to form, Milan promptly drew them; in much the same vein that Barcelona have become perennial opponents over recent years.
This is going to be a difficult game and in more ways than one. The Dutch side are three games into their season already, with a hundred percent record and having scored a bucketload of goals. Aside the obvious inference that they are in imperious form, there is also the issue of they being at a far better state of fitness compared to a team tackling their first competitive fixture of the season. Milan are coming off pre-season and are obviously at a lower state of fitness, form, and preparation and than their opponents which should not be discounted in a game like this.
There is also the question of Milan’s history with PSV, most specifically that semi-final game in 2005 that featured a certain Philipp Cocu, now manager of the side. Every Milanista worth his salt remembers that game, and how incredibly difficult it was for Milan to progress. It was an incredibly tight game,only decided on away goals with a 90th minute goal from one of the most unlikely sources, immediate past skipper Massimo Ambrosini. It was a terrific game at a terrific period for Milan, the subsequent final exempted, of course. But it was a battle worthy of any semi-final, and whilst both sides have significantly lesser quality from that time, history is one thing one can never discount in football.
There is also the question of Allegri’s poor record in knockout competitions, which is something that should never be overlooked. In three years as Milan boss Allegri has always had issues dealing with one-off games, not just in the UCL but even the Coppa Italia as well. He has not always had the best tools and sometimes the draw has not been too kind, but the fact remains and it should be a worry.
PSV themselves have sold several of their best players, including Kevin Strootman and Dries Mertens, but in that uncanny way of Dutch sides, seem to have found a new supply line of talent including a Belgian kid everyone is raving about. They play fast paced technical football, and as this Milan are particularly vulnerable to the counter attack they could find spaces to exploit.
Now onto our team, which quite uncharacteristically for this Allegri era had a particularly ok pre-season; aside those first 30 minutes or so against Manchester City, the team held their own pretty well against all their opponents. Now pre-season is never an accurate measure of how a team would perform once the season starts, exhibit ‘A’ Juventus; but it’s a pointer of sorts and whilst this team is not quite the finished article, we can be sure they would give their all in every game and hopefully can hang in there with most teams.
Individually, Balotelli is fit and roaring on all cylinders after the minor scare during the international break. He even found the time to bag a brace yesterday against Derthona to remind everyone. Ignazio Abate is also back from injury, and I for one am glad to have him back. The team is more or less sorted out, with pre-season showing us that instead of abandoning the 4-3-3 alltogether, Allegri intends to have his team seamlessly transition between that and 4-3-1-2 this season. Which is probably why he loves that damned Prince Boateng so much, as he is able to fill either trequartista or right-wing roles, and though he does both to little effect, that does not seem to matter to the Mister.
Silvestre seems to be settling in well, and the word is that he might even deprive Zapata of a starting berth. Poli has proven his quality already during pre-season, but I doubt very much that Allegri would start him. With De Jong in the middle and Montolivo on the right, Allegri would probably complete the trio with Nocerino or Muntari. Nothing against Poli but his manager is a conservative fellow. Thus one can expect a line-up like this;Abbiati, Abate, Silvestre, Zapata, Constant, Montolivo, De Jong, Nocerino, Boateng, El Shaarawy, Balotelli.
Milan need the revenue from the Champions League, of that there can be no doubt. The team made €60m for reaching the round of 16 last year, and if you think we are leaving in austerity now imagine what would happen without this revenue for next year. There is also the question of pride, us being the most successful club in the world and all that. It wouldn’t do to have a Champions League competition without Milan, and kicking off on the right foot tomorrow would go a long way towards determining that. I know my season would not be the same without CL, thus these two games should be the most important of our players’ careers, an entire season compressed into 180 minutes.
Nii Smiley Byte
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