The Devil visits the gods. No blasphemy, just a slightly colorful incipit to introduce Real Madrid - Milan, in which the Rossoneri, precisely, will go to the field of the European champions. This is without a doubt the key match of the Champions League Tuesday, if only for the prestige of the two clubs: the present, however, smiles much more on the Spanish, but the charm remains unchanged. Less glamorous, but equally delicate, are the challenges of Juventus and Bologna against Lille and Monaco, with the black and whites and the red and blues called upon to score points to avoid compromising their respective European paths.
Real Madrid – Milan (21pm, Sky and Now)
A parade of stars at the Bernabeu, where the clash between the two most successful clubs in European football, at least at the Champions League/European Cup level. Real Madrid has 15, Milan stops at 7, for a total of 22 trophies: incredible numbers, even if the record remains almost exclusively thanks to the Blancos.
The Devil's last success dates back to 2007, while the Spanish have won five in the past decade, including the one won last June against Borussia Dortmund. In the past, Real Madrid and Milan faced each other on equal terms, indeed there were years in which the Rossoneri were the favourites: today, for obvious reasons, this is no longer the case and the trip to Madrid feels a lot like “mission impossible”.
The Devil has a duty to try, if only to honor its history, but it is clear that the chances of pulling off a coup are rather low, even if the current Madrid is certainly not going through its best moment. Ancelotti slipped to within 9 points of Barcelona and the postponed match in Valencia has little to do with it: the points gap was still high, the result of the sensational 0-4 with which Barça strolled at the Bernabeu. In the Champions League things are going better, but even there a unexpected defeat in Lille which prevents the Blancos from being among the top eight, at least for now. Real cannot even imagine having to resort to the playoffs, which is why they will try to win the remaining five games with all their might. For Milan, on the other hand, the most realistic goal is the play-offs, which can be achieved even by losing tonight: of course, Fonseca would no longer have any margin for error and should take full points against Slovan Bratislava, Red Star, Girona and Dinamo Zagreb, but conquering Madrid is definitely more difficult, even if the Rossoneri will try.
Fonseca: “Real are very strong, but we always want to win”
“You approach a race like this with great motivation, it's a great opportunity – explained Fonseca -. We play against the favorite to win the Champions League, for us it is an opportunity to grow. Without fear and with courage, we can play a good game, I always try to convey to the players the desire to win and this time it will not be different. I always think of the best, even knowing that Real Madrid is a great team. It is the match between the two clubs that have won the most Champions Leagues, we hope to offer a good show to the people who love football. Facing Ancelotti is always special, I am a big fan of his, both as a coach and as a person. He is an example for all of us, he will be a motivation and a great source of pride. Leao? I know what is important for me and for the team. It is normal for you to talk about these situations, but I have to follow my own path”.
Ancelotti: “Special match, but I have little desire to talk about it after the tragedy in Valencia”
"For me it will be a special match for my past – Ancelotti admitted -. I think it will be a very good match, Milan did not start well, but they are a very dangerous team that has great quality, has a lot of potential, but they have not yet managed to bring it all out. We are looking for continuity and I am sure that we will find it soon”. But the main theme of the conference was the tragedy that struck Valencia and the entire region, a very sensitive topic in Spain and for the Real Madrid coach himself. "A week has passed since this tragedy, we are sad... this is the emotion we feel, we are very close to all the countries affected. I hope that this situation can be resolved soon and in this sense I hope you can understand that talking about football is very complicated. We are part of this country and all of this affects us a lot. Out of respect for you I will try to be simple, but I don't feel like talking about football. For me it will be a very special match… but I will try to talk about it as little as possible."
Real Madrid – Milan, probable formations
Real Madrid (4-3-3): Lunin; Lucas Vasquez, Rudiger, Militao, Mendy; Valverde, Tchouameni, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Mbappé, Vinicius
On the bench: Fran Gonzalez, Modric, Guler, Camavinga, Endrick, Vallejo, Ceballos, Fran Garcia, Jacobo, Diaz
Trainer: Ancelotti
Unavailable: Carvajal, Alaba, Courtois
Disqualified: no
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Emerson Royal, Thiaw, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Musah, Pulisic, Leao; Morata
On the bench: Sportiello, Torriani, Calabria, Chukwueze, Pavlovic, Terracciano, Loftus-Cheek, Okafor, Camarda, Abraham
Trainer: Fonseca
Unavailable: Florenzi, Bennacer, Gabbia, Jovic (not in the list), Jimenez (not in the list), Vos (not in the list)
Disqualified: no
Lille – Juventus (21pm, Sky and Now)
The rest of Tuesday will live on Italy-France comparison, starting with Juventus' away match at Lille. On paper, it's an affordable commitment, at least looking at the Ligue 1 standings which sees “Les Dogues” (the dogs, from the symbol of their logo) in fourth place, 8 points behind leaders PSG.
But be careful not to be fooled by cold statistics, because the team of Bruno Genesio, 58 years old with Calabrian origins, has already known beat Mourinho, Ancelotti and Simeone, eliminating the first in the summer preliminaries and defeating the other two in the group stage. And to think that the French Champions League had begun with a bad defeat in Lisbon (2-0 by Sporting), but the victories against Real Madrid (1-0) and Atletico (3-1 at the Civitas Metropolitano) have put the situation back on its feet. For Juve, however, the story is the opposite: the Bianconeri started very strong by defeating Psv and Leipzig, but then suffered a Tough lesson from Stuttgart, much more than the final 0-1 says. Much of the direct qualification starts this evening, given that the calendar is at least uphill: Thiago Motta, in the next four games, will have to deal with Aston Villa (in Birmingham), Manchester City, Club Brugge (in Belgium) and Benfica, so he will have only one "affordable" match compared to three rather complex ones (the one against Guardiola is downright prohibitive). The victory in Udine has brought serenity to the environment, galvanized also by the defeat of Napoli, now however it is necessary to give continuity and go to the break for the national teams with another two victories, one tonight and the other in the derby against Torino on Saturday night.
Thiago Motta: “We respect Lille, but we are here to get a result”
“All matches are important and we as Juventus always want to win – Thiago Motta thought -. The most important thing is to always try to improve, Lille has great confidence, we want to face them in optimal condition and give something more than our best. You always learn and you always improve, we will have to take the field with determination to play a great game. They are confident, but we are also fine. They play very well as a team and are also very solid on defense. I am not surprised by their results, because I know how good their coach is, they will be a very interesting opponent to face. We will be focused and determined to play a great game, there are no favorites during a game. Vlahovic? Dusan is in good shape and he's been working well since the beginning of the season, now he has to continue to do something more to help the team."
Lille – Juventus, probable formations
Lilac (4-2-3-1): Chevalier; Mandi, Diakité, Alexsandro, Gudmundsson; André, Bouaddi; Zhegrova, Angel Gomes, Sahrawi; David
On the bench: Caillard, Mannone, Bakker, Mukau, Fernandez Pardo, Bayo
Trainer: Genesio
Unavailable: Umtiti, Santos, Bentaleb, E. Mbappé, Cabella, Haraldsson, Meunier, Touré, Ismaily, André Gomes (not in the list)
Disqualified: no
Juventus (4-2-3-1): Di Gregorio; Cambiaso, Gatti, Kalulu, Cabal; Thuram, Locatelli; Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Vlahovic
On the bench: Perin, Pinsoglio, Savona, Rouhi, McKennie, Fagioli, Douglas Luiz, Mbangula, Adzic, Weah
Trainer: Thiago Motta
Unavailable: Milik, Bremer, Nico Gonzalez
Disqualified: Danilo
