Hot points. The 36th day, which began yesterday with the victory of Monza over Sassuolo, comes to life with two very heavy clashes both in terms of Europe and salvation: Milan-Sampdoria e Atalanta-Verona, in fact, involve the most delicate areas of the championship, where access to the next cups is at stake, but also the permanence in Serie A. It goes without saying that the eyes are focused first and foremost on the Rossoneri, and then later elimination from the Champions League they can no longer be wrong: the victory, against an already relegated and now disarmed Sampdoria, is almost mandatory, on pain of sanctioning the failure of a season, with all the consequences of the case.
Milan – Sampdoria (today at 20.45, Dazn and Sky)
The post derby, in addition to the bitterness resulting from the result, was marked by Maldini's words, which appeared as a real warning to the property. That "you have to invest” pronounced in front of the microphones, knowing the type, is not the result of a hot outburst, but meditated on for some time, perhaps even since last July, when he renewed the contract after a long (and at times very tense) negotiation. Cardinale did not reply, but the drafts in via Aldo Rossi describe him as irritated and surprised, both for the content of the declarations and for the methods. Fiery weather in short, even if the weapons will be laid down at least until the end of the championship: first there is one Champions League qualification to be achieved, after which it will be time to take stock, on both sides. The situation in the standings is far from rosy, but the probable penalty from Juve still leaves everything open, albeit with a rather annoying asterisk. In fact, fourth place would allow us to plan for the future as early as the beginning of June, while fifth place would leave everything on standby for at least another month, waiting for the procedures of sports justice (as well as UEFA) to run their course , moreover without any certainty in this regard. The problem is that Milan no longer depends on itself, but on the results of the competition, which however ran away after the defeat in La Spezia: beating Sampdoria thus becomes mandatory, also to keep the fans burned by elimination with Inter in peace .
Pioli: "The season didn't end with the derby: going to the Champions League is too important"
"We are behind in the league compared to where we want to be, it goes without saying that we want to win all three remaining races, this one with Sampdoria is the first and we have the opportunity to show what we really are - Pioli's message -. Luckily the season didn't end after the derby, playing straight away is lucky, the disappointment was strong because we hoped to go to the final. There is discouragement, it took us time to recover but we have to react as a great team. return to Champions is the goal, but the budget must be suspended because getting there is really too important for us. At the end of the season I will draw some conclusions, it is clear that we had difficulties against the teams on the right side of the table. We finished little, perhaps due to technical errors or choices, but always giving our best, even if in some situations we didn't live up to our possibilities”.
Milan – Sampdoria today, the formations: Pioli lines up all the top players
The importance of the match and the end of any midweek commitment lead Pioli to deploy the best formation possible, including Leao and Giroud. The 4-2-3-1 will be the "typical" one with Maignan in goal, Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori and Hernandez in defence, Krunic and Tonali in midfield, Saelemaekers, Diaz and Leao behind the lone striker Giroud. No goal instead for Stankovic's Sampdoria, if not to save face after relegation, waiting for the intricate corporate story to come to an end (the financier Alessandro Barnaba, supported by Garrone, is trying to close the purchase of the club, but there is no agreement with the creditor banks) and so we can plan at least Series B. The blucerchiati will take the field with a 3-5-2 with Ravaglia in goal, Gunter, Nuytinck and Amione in the back, Zanoli, Winks, Rincon, Djuricic and Augello in the midfield, Gabbiadini and Quagliarella in attack.
Atalanta – Verona (18pm, DAZN)
The other hot match on Saturday is that of Bergamo, where Atalanta (without the Curva Nord, disqualified after the racist chants at Vlahovic) will try to redeem the defeat in Salerno and stay in the race for Europe. Without Arechi's misstep, standings in hand, the Goddess could have even dreamed of the Champions League, while today the most probable target seems to be l'Europa League, even if the games are not over yet. The Nerazzurri have to beat Verona and hope that Milan and Rome, between now and the end, lose a few points, in order to find themselves in fifth place and wait for the decisions of the sporting justice. In front, however, there will be a Hellas that is anything but submissive, entangled up to his neck in a race for salvation to be deciphered. In short, a tough match, with spectators interested in half of Serie A. Gasperini, forced to give up on Zapata (calf Ko, season over), he will play with a 3-4-2-1 with Sportiello in goal, Toloi, Demiral and Scalvini in defense, Zappacosta, De Roon, Ederson and Maehle in midfield, Koopmeiners and Pasalic in the frontline, Hojlund in attack. The same system also for Zaffaroni, who will respond with Montipò between the posts, Magnani, Hien and Ceccherini in the back, Faraoni, Tameze, Abildgaard and Lazovic in the midfield, Ngonge and Verdi behind the lone striker Djuric.
