A crucial game awaits Milan, as well as Napoli, at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Sunday evening. In the meantime, all players are back at Sergio Conceicao’s disposal after what can be described as a positive international break for the Rossoneri. This and more in this week’s edition of the newsletter.
As the international break has come to an end once again, there were some familiar faces at Milanello for Wednesday’s training session. The 15 players that we discussed last week, including the likes of Mike Maignan, Tijjani Reijnders and Christian Pulisic, were all back in training ahead of Sunday’s big clash against Napoli (which we will touch on more later).
Two of the aforementioned, namely Maignan and Reijnders, came back with boosted confidence after three penalty saves from the Frenchman and a very nice goal from the Dutchman. Most would agree that Reijnders was already in good form before the break, but that certainly wasn’t the case for Maignan so hopefully this can be a catalyst for the season finale.
Elsewhere, Luka Jovic bagged a nice assist for Serbia in their 2-0 win against Austria and Samuel Chukwueze assisted Victor Osimhen in Nigeria’s 2-0 win against Rwanda. One of the big standouts was Mattia Liberali, who scored a lovely brace in Italy U19’s 2-2 draw against Spain, while Francesco Camarda found the back of the net in the next game (2-0 win against France).
We have said it before this season, but for the Champions League, it’s now or never for Milan. Last week’s newsletter took a closer look at the situation in the standings, with the Rossoneri finding themselves in the race all of a sudden, so let’s focus on the opponents instead: Napoli. Indeed, Antonio Conte’s men have been far from brilliant lately.
In the last seven games, Napoli have just one win (!) and while there has been just one defeat as well, it’s clear that the Partenopei have bottled their Scudetto position. They remain in the race for the trophy, of course, but they could have been so much further ahead of Inter with a bit more composure. The goalless draw against the second-to-last side Venezia last time out really attests to that.
Milan, meanwhile, are heading into the game with two consecutive wins and a positive international break. The Rossoneri also haven’t lost away against the Partenopei since 2018 (!); a 3-2 defeat after Gennaro Gattuso’s side bottled a two-goal lead. Optimism justified? Definitely, but we all know that nothing can be taken for granted this season.
Below, we have collected the most important Milan news from the last week, including match results and newspaper reports.
Milan Futuro played despite the break, as it’s Serie C, and it was yet another defeat for Massimo Oddo’s side. A late goal from Arezzo, a great strike we must add, decided the affair. The Rossoneri are now rock bottom with just 24 points, staring down the barrel of Serie D football.
