Sky journalist Manuele Baiocchini believes that having Tammy Abraham could be a good omen for AC Milan with the derby approaching, while he also backed Rafael Leao to find form again.
Milan have not started the season in the best way with two draws and a defeat from their first three games, and a daunting September awaits with a home game against Venezia followed by matches against Liverpool and Inter at San Siro.
The Rossoneri have not celebrated a derby win against the Nerazzurri since the first half of the 2022-23 season. Heading into the Derby della Madonnina October 1984, Milan had not won a match against their neighbours in five years.
Up stepped the English striker Mark Hateley, who rose above Fulvio Collovati and powered a bullet header past Walter Zenga that became immortalised in a tifo before a match against Inter a few years ago.
Baiocchini spoke on Sky from outside Casa Milan and he touched upon the English influence that Milan now have and also why fantasy football players should back Leao, with Radio Rossonera relaying his comments.
“Milan English style or English way. Because Loftus-Cheek and Tomori are two key players for Milan, and they are the two most used by Paulo Fonseca , on whom he relies most. 270 minutes for both, even if they haven’t shone at the start,” he said.
“It could be a good omen for the derby, given that the last English striker to score in a derby was Hateley 40 years ago. Milan hadn’t won in nine derbies, now they haven’t won in six and they can hope that Abraham, an English striker, is an amulet.
“The former Roma striker gave good sensations, great will and commitment, running and an assist for Leao in the last match. He was strongly wanted by Fonseca and could start against Venezia.”
On Leao, Baiocchini added: “Despite his value having dropped [on Fantacalcio] he continues to score. Even against Lazio, as soon as he came on he scored a goal of anger, of nervousness after the initial exclusion. He has always scored in double figures and always seems on the edge of making the leap in quality.”
I really liked Mark Hately in Glasgow Rangers and of course also Ally McCoist but only started following Milan a couple of years later than he had left the club so I was quite surprised to realize that he had played there, well it was before the time of internet and a lot more difficult to attain information 😀 Same goes for Ray Wilkins and Eric Gerets a few years before 🙂