It's time for exams. Milan and Roma meet again in this anticipation of the 3rd matchday (20.30 pm) with the awareness that they can't go wrong, otherwise they will run into the first media trial of the season. Jokes of modern football and a calendar that, although it's still August, is already giving away heavy points but also the result of a lower-than-expected start to the championship, with the Rossoneri defeated in the only match played in Naples and the giallorossi stopped on the home draw by Atalanta. In short: the risk of having a bad break is everything, that's why Gattuso and Di Francesco just can't make mistakes. “I want to see the team from the first hour at the San Paolo – thundered the Rossoneri coach. – Technically we have everything to finish in the top four, mentally and temperamentally we are not ready yet. A complicated match awaits us and therefore one that needs to be played with balance and concentration, but in recent days I have seen great intensity and a desire for redemption, so I am convinced that we will not repeat the mistakes of Napoli".
Certainty or hope changes little: Gattuso is well aware that winning (or at least not losing) against Roma passes from a solid performance but the speech obviously also applies to Di Francesco. His Roma, who yesterday experienced the European path (Group G with Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen), must erase the misstep made at the Olimpico against Atalanta, a 3-3 that showed quality and a spirit of reaction, but also the usual defensive and mental limits already seen last year. “In this environment one is always under scrutiny, criticisms are often made that don't exist – the Giallorossi coach defended himself. – We are a little disappointed with the result but relieved by what we saw in the second half. Now I expect a great performance so as to read very different things”. In short, a draw for the press conference, but this is probably the challenge that both coaches were least interested in.
On the field, however, it will be a completely different story and a lot will depend on their choices, inevitably conditioned by what they saw a few days ago. Gattuso will confirm the 4-3-3 of Naples with only one big news: Calhanoglu, absent at the San Paolo due to suspension, instead of Borini. Everything else is the same, then Donnarumma in goal, Calabria, Musacchio, Romagnoli and Rodriguez in defence, Kessie, Biglia and Bonaventura in midfield, Suso e Higuain in attack. System change instead for Di Francesco, who will abandon the 4-3-3 by virtue of a decidedly more offensive 4-2-3-1 with Olsen between the posts, Karsdorp, Manolas, Fazio and Kolarov in the back department, Nzonzi and De Rossi in the midfield, Under, Pastore and El Shaarawy in the trocar behind Dzeko. San Siro will respond with a respectable setting (over 60 spectators are expected), as befits a great challenge. Because we're only in August, it's true, but this Milan-Roma already has the air of di a match not to be missed.
