“Gattuso doesn't touch himself”. The news comes directly from the mouths of Leonardo and Maldini and, in fact, takes away the taste of the last resort Milan-Spal (20.30 pm). “He is our coach, there has never been any plan B – continued the Brazilian manager. – The coaches mentioned have never been contacted, we know that this team is like a machine that needs to be fixed and to do so we need the cooperation of all of us".
A nice certificate of confidence for Gattuso, who will now have to answer on the field. You only need to win against Spal, otherwise fourth place, now three points away, could get worryingly complicated. “It has been a disastrous month – acknowledged the coach bluntly. – We absolutely have to go back to scoring and winning, even if I feel the trust of the club I am aware that, in the absence of results, the coach is the first to pay. My future is today, I'm only thinking about the match against Spal". Winning probably wouldn't be enough to restore calm but in the meantime it would already be a big step forward, but to do so Milan need to return to the goal that has been missing since 2 December. Since that success against Parma the castle has collapsed and the Rossoneri, from fourth in the standings, have slipped to sixth place.
A breakthrough is urgently needed and Gattuso, to find it, has decided to return to 4-3-3 with Donnarumma in goal, Calabria, Musacchio, Romagnoli and Rodriguez in defense, Kessié, Bakayoko and Calhanoglu in midfield, Suso, Higuain and Castillejo in attack. Semplici will try to take advantage of the Rossoneri's difficult moment with a 4-4-2 with Gomis between the posts, Costa, Cionek, Vicari and Felipe in the back, Kurtic, Schiattarella, Missiroli and Fares in the midfield to support the offensive duo made up of Petagna and Antenucci. Milan will take the field aware of the results of the other competitors in the Champions area, all involved in the afternoon.
Inter will visit Empoli by Iachini, the Rome to Parma of D'Aversa, the Lazio will host Turin by Mazzarri: intense and not at all obvious matches, from which it is reasonable to expect entertainment and twists. All eyes are focused above all on the nerazzurri, forced, in spite of themselves, to put aside the victory against Napoli and to talk about everything terrible that happened before and after the match. The consequences of the clashes and howls in Koulibaly were heavy: two home games behind closed doors and one without the Curva Nord.
“I'm sorry for the public but if it helps to win this battle we gladly accept it – he explained Spalletti. – Mine is a position of condemnation, without ifs and buts. But now I only want to think about Empoli, going to play right now, after everything that's happened, can be complicated." In short, maximum concentration, otherwise you risk ruining your stop. The Inter coach knows this well and is ready to field a rather offensive 4-2-3-1, in which, however, Nainggolan will not be there: the Belgian, who returned to the squad after a free kick in the last game, should in fact start from the bench. The Nerazzurri formation will therefore see Handanovic in goal, Vrsaljko, Skriniar, De Vrij and Asamoah in defence, Vecino and Borja Valero in midfield, Candreva, Joao Mario and Keita behind the lone striker Icardi. Iachini, back from three consecutive defeats, will try to bounce back with a 3-5-2 made up of Provedel in goal, Veseli, Rasmussen and Silvestre in the back, Antonelli, Traoré, Bennacer, Acquah and Pasqual in the midfield, La Gumina and Caputo in attack.
Very delicate match also for Roma, who will try to give continuity to the success achieved against Sassuolo and to get back to fourth place. However, there will be Parma on his way, which three days ago in Florence proved to be in excellent condition. In short, the test is one of the heavy ones: passing it would mean definitively closing the period of crisis, everything else, however, would reopen controversies and scenarios of all kinds. The great Giallorossi bogeyman is called Gervinho, someone who in the capital had been branded too quickly as "finished" and who now wants to take revenge. “I had the company buy 3 or 4 rifles to stop him – joked Di Francesco. – Seriously, we will have to be very careful in preventive markings. We need to score points, we are behind last year, the standings say this and compared to the match against Sassuolo it will be more difficult, Parma play much less open".
Roma will bet on their usual football, therefore 4-2-3-1 with Olsen in goal, Florenzi, Manolas, Fazio and Kolarov in defense, Cristante and Nzonzi in midfield, Under, Zaniolo and Kluivert behind the lone striker Dzeko, starting again after the injury. Classic 4-3-3 also for D'Aversa who will respond with Sepe in goal, Iacoponi, Bruno Alves, Bastoni and Gagliolo in the back, Rigoni, Barillà and Deiola in the midfield, Gervinho, Inglese and Biabiany in attack.
