AC Milan and their rivals are looking to close out 2023 in the best way, with each club relying on their ‘best wild cards’ to end the calendar year.
La Gazzetta dello Sport speaks about Inter, Napoli, Juventus and Milan, the top four forces in the league who will rely on Nicolo Barella, Federico Chiesa, Ismael Bennacer and Jesper Lindstrom as the ‘possible wildcards’.
The adjective ‘last’ sounds sinister at Milan, given the atmosphere surrounding Pioli, between the absent management and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scissor-kicking footballs on the beach in Miami. Sassuolo arrive at San Siro tomorrow night hoping to beat the Rossoneri after winning against Inter and Juventus, and having triumphed 5-2 in the same fixture last year.
The ace is Rafael Leao of course, but like in blackjack the ace can be worth 1 or 11. Too many times, the winger counted for little. Here we draw another card: Bennacer, one of the few lights of Salerno.
He hasn’t returned to being his best yet, but he has already given order, balance and freed Tjjani Reijnders. Balance, above all, that was lost with Tonali’s departure. Throughout the season, Milan have been tortured by counter-attacks, as well as injuries.
Sassuolo are made for countering, as they have demonstrated several times at San Siro (also against Inter), so Bennacer could be the key man to compact the team and direct transitions.
Should’ve thought about balance and order in the summer and buy proper DM instead of bunch of runners a la Constant and Bertolacci.
@Ted, guess the algorithm didn’t reason that out… Lol