By Petar Todorvski
Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi is the next station of Milan’s Scudetto marsh. Rossoneri are not impressive lately, they lost the comfortable advantage in Serie A and are one step away from elimination in Champions League, so they will certainly try to use this game to re-boost their shaken moral.
Diavoli are just three points ahead of Napoli, team which will try to melt their rivals’ advantage should Milan drop points in Verona, as Catania should be an easy job for them. That means that Rossoneri have to do their best against the team that has lost only two games on home turf. The record of four wins, six draws and two defeats is quite good for a team that tries just to get clear from relegation zone.
Nevertheless, Milan are still favorites to take all three points, although it’s going to be interesting to see how will they pick themselves after the European midweek home loss against Tottenham. That match showed once again how the Italian football descends in quality, but that’s not important at all for Rossoneri, as they want to win every game so they are certainly frustrated after all. Captain Gennaro Gattuso expressed that in his best.
Coach Massimiliano Allegri noted that despite the defeat his men are in excellent mood and travel to Verona full of optimism. “Morale after Tottenham? Excellent, we have trained well. We will try to win, and we have to think about Chievo now,” Allegri said and continued commenting his next rival: “Chievo? They will bring out their quality like they always do against the big teams. They are young, technically well-equipped, and so it’s a difficult game for us,” he concluded and confirmed that he expects tough game.
Chievo coach Stefano Pioli commented like he didn’t know that his players always make a lot of problems to the big teams and said that a Super Chievo is needed to gain something from this game. “If Milan are in first position it’s because they have the best defence and the best offence and are topping the table with great merit, we are playing against the best team and to stand up to them it will take a super Chievo,” he said before he expressed his spark of optimism ahead of the match: “It’s true on paper that we are beaten, because Milan are definitely stronger, but it’s also true that we start at 0-0 and 11 versus 11. We also play at home and with a great performance we can earn important points.”
Chievo have a few problems with injuries and suspensions, but those players are not the most important. Unlike them, Milan will miss midfield mastermind Andrea Pirlo, as well as Massimo Ambrosini and Daniele Bonera.
Milan are the favorites, but we all can expect them to loose another points this round. Chievo always fight hard in front of their own fans, so Rossoneri will face a tough battle on their way to the next victory.
