Paulo Fonseca will hope to hit the ground running as AC Milan head coach but the first few games could well pose some stern challenges for him.
The schedule for the coming days is as follows: on Saturday at 10:30 CEST Fonseca will land in Milano, on Monday at 11:00 CEST he will do his first press conference and the same day at 17:00 CEST it will be time for the first training session.
While waiting for the new campaign to get underway you should check out new online casinos, before the first preseason game against Rapid Wien in Austria gets the ball rolling more literally. Yesterday, the fixture list came out.
Baptism of fire
The first five games of the season could well be pace-setting for the Rossoneri once again, and they discovered today that they will begin with a home match against Torino at San Siro. They too will have a new man in charge, with Paolo Vanoli having left Venezia to join the Granata and replace Ivan Juric.
Games against Il Toro never seem to be easy for Milan and thus there could have been more straightforward starts for Fonseca, though in the second round they head to face newly-promoted Parma who were excellent last season and will be hoping for their momentum to continue.
The first big test though comes right at the end of August with a trip to the capital to face Lazio on the cards. Marco Baroni is now in charge there after the Biancocelesti had Maurizio Sarri and Igor Tudor last season, but the Olimpico is always a hostile venue and it will be a stern challenge.
A home game against another team that have come up from Serie B follows that as Venezia come to San Siro. It is their second recent foray into the top flight and they will hope to stay a bit longer this time, yet losing Vanoli to Torino hasn’t helped their plans.
Then we come to the big one in round five: the derby against Inter. More on that particular game to come, but the rest of the first 10 games are rounded off by fixtures against Lecce (H), Fiorentina (A), Udinese (H), Bologna (A) and Napoli (H). On paper, at least, there is a chance to accrue early points.
Capello’s doubts
Interviewed by La Gazzetta dello Sport, Fabio Capello gave an overview of the upcoming Serie A season and he believes that Fonseca faces a difficult start to life as the new Milan boss.
“Torino? A good test, tough. In the third game there is Lazio, in the fifth the derby with Inter: what a start… Even more so for Fonseca, already grilled by the fans,” he said.
“It’s shocking to see the Rossoneri without Italians in the possible starting eleven. Milan must start again with Maignan, Theo and Leao. The base is there, but they must add a good centre forward to fight with Inter for the Scudetto.”
