MILAN, WOULD YOU UNDEREST ARSENAL! QUALIFICATION IS JUST A STEP AWAY, BUT THE GUNNERS DREAM THE COMPANY. ALLEGRI WARNS HIS PEOPLE: "THEY WILL PLAY IT UNTIL THE END".
"You have to play without thinking about the 4-0 first leg." The message of Adrian Galliani represents the thought of the whole Milanist environment, which after the resounding victory of the San Siro, sees one step the goal of the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The result of the first leg puts the Rossoneri quite safe, but history (especially that of Milan) teaches us that we must never let our guard down. 7 April 2004 and 25 May 2005 are dates engraved in the memory of any AC Milan fan, as if they were nightmares impossible to forget.
The first evokes the night in La Coruña, with Deportivo beating Milan 4 – 0, completely reversing the first leg match (which finished 4 – 1 for Ancelotti's men at the time), but what hurt the most is undoubtedly what happened in Istanbul the following year. At the "Ataturk" stadium the craziest Champions final ever was staged, with the Rossoneri splendid for a time, so much so that they went 3-0 at half-time, but were able to be recovered by Liverpool in just 6 minutes. In short, there are examples of comebacks suffered and they hurt, which is why tonight Milan will have to treasure the mistakes of the past. “It will be a much more difficult match than the first leg. They play to the end, they never give up,” he said Allegri before leaving for London, effectively following the statements of its CEO.
Once the bad memories have been evoked (and hopefully exorcised), we must however admit that Milan would really have to commit suicide in order not to go through this round. The result of the first leg weighs a lot, as acknowledged yesterday by Arsene Wenger: "We will try, but we only have a 5% chance of eliminating the Rossoneri." Furthermore, Milan's current form does not seem to grant any chance to the "Gunners", who are in any case recovering, as demonstrated by last Saturday's victory at Anfield against Liverpool. As usual, Allegri has training problems, especially in midfield, also because some players (above all Muntari) have not been included in the Champions League list. For this reason, the coach seems oriented towards deploying an attacking trident, which can make the most of the men available: "I have three players available up front, plus Aquilani who have been available for a few days who will be on the bench". Robinho, Ibrahimovic and El Shaarawy have the task of scoring a goal that would definitively break Arsenal's dreams of a comeback. Because this time the Milanese people have no intention of suffering.
POSSIBLE FORMATIONS
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs; Song, Rosicky; Walcott, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Van Persie.
Trainer: Arsene Wenger.
On the bench: Fabianski, Djourou, Jenkinson, Coquelin, Miquel, Park, Chamakh.
Unavailable: Diaby, Mertesacker, Wilshere, Santos, Ramsey, Arteta, Benayoun.
Disqualified: no Beware: Rosicky, Djourou, Song.
Milan (4-3-1-2): Have you; Abbot, Mexes, Thiago Silva, Mesbah; Emanuelson, Van Bommel, Nocerino; Robinho; Ibrahimovic, El Shaarawy.
Trainer: Massimiliano Allegri.
On the bench: Amelia, Bonera, Yepes, Zambrotta, Aquilani, Antonini, Ganz.
Unavailable: Nesta, Merkel, Seedorf, Boateng, Pato, Maxi Lopez.
Disqualified: Ambrosini (1) Beware: Van Bommel.
Referee: Damir Skomina. (Slovenia). Assistants: Arhar-Stancin (Slovenia).
Fourth official: Zganec (Slovenia). Goal referees: Jug – Vincic (Slovenia).
