By Petar Todorovski
AS Roma is the next team with an opportunity to stop red hot AC Milan. Romans travel to San Siro in attempt to break the away games curse and to keep the slight title chances. On the other hand, Rossoneri could crash them out of the title race and go nine points ahead of Juventus before their match against Chievo.
Looking this season’s record of the two teams it’s clear that Milan is absolute favorite. Eleven wins in sixteen games is more than impressive for any Serie A side, but if we have in mind in what manner they beat their rivals, they look scary. The team plays marvelous, but in moments they don’t they don’t loose yet. You guess, Zlatan Ibrahimovic solve the problems. Milan score first in almost every game, then their rival has to open and then they do the final execution, getting the job done in less than hour.
Unlike them the Lupi struggle to regain their form from few weeks ago, before defeat Sicily against Palermo. Their only away victory is on their own turf with Lazio and they seem to have some psychological burden on away matches these days, as managed to drop two wins with Chievo and Cluj. Last weekend uninspiring win with Juan’s irregular goal ended the run without victory, but that’s not enough to enter this game with confidence.
For this game Milan will miss long term injuries Inzaghi, Pato, Flamini, Thiago Silva, and Gianluca Zambrotta, while it was lately confirmed that Gattuso will miss, too. Roma will have to play without creative wide attacker Mirko Vucinic and two keepers Julio Sergio and Bogdan Lobont, meaning that former first choice Doni will make his first appearance this season.
Both clubs wait for the match with their own expectations and their own wishes, too. Roma President Rosella Sensi was the first who talked about beating Milan, because “always have to play to catch the team in first position.” She expressed her hope for Christmas present by players: “I hope Roma can give our fans something for Christmas on Saturday when we play Milan by beating them,” she said.
The Tinkerman Ranieri chose to talk about the title chances of his team, stating that eventual win for Roma will make the Scudetto race more interesting. “A win for us would mean that we are there and it would make the league much more interesting,” he said, “It’s an important game, we are 10 points behind, but we have picked ourselves up following a false start. We are going through a positive phase and we will be playing the leaders. I expect a great game.” He finished with the words: “We are more than capable of getting a result.”
However, Rossoneri don’t care about their rival’s wishes and think nothing but winning the Saturday’s game. As Rosella Sensi wished for Christmas gift from Roma, Bonera promised it to Milan fans: “We want to close out 2010 with a win in front of our fans. We know that there is still a long way to go, but it is important to take each match as it comes.”
Despite for this game Rossoneri players already look forward to winning trophies. “We want to win everything, that’s normal. We have three objectives – the league, the Champions League and the Italian cup. We have to concentrate and work hard and we will be rewarded,” stated Ibracadabra. “I have a great relationship with my team-mates, we help each other. I have never breathed in such an atmosphere before,” he continued, claiming the great atmosphere in the team.
Although Milan is favorites, this is derby game and we shouldn’t underestimate Roma. They have ability to make Rossoneri problems and the most important thing for them this time will be to cope with psychological pressure. If they don’t, Milan would win with ease.
