Napoli-Milan or ‘let’s not embarrass ourselves boys’

By: Joe | January 10th, 2008

Napoli travel to the San Siro for the second time this season to take on the stuffed, self-absorbed and, quite possibly, the best ‘cup competition’ team this side of…. well, Milan
don’t play second fiddle to anyone.

All the talk has centered around 18-year old phenom Alexandre Pato making his long awaited Serie A debut. I guess paying €22 million for a player and then waiting five long months before you can play him would bring about some anticipation, eh? The kid is the real deal. Anyone who saw him play in the U-20 World Cup last summer knows this kid has poise and skill. However, Silvio Berlusconi and the Italian press may have just set the bar a teeny-weeny bit high for a boy who still has acne and braces. Pato’s old coach at Internacional has tried to tell people to lay off the kid and not expect the second coming of Pele, but expect the hype
machine to roll on, especially if he scores on Sunday. God, no. Please, God no.

Meanwhile, Milan are going to tromp out their 18 European Cups (2 Cup Winner Cups, 5 European Supercups, 7 Champions League trophies and 4 World Club title trophies) on the pitch prior to the match. Now, no offense. I’m proud an Italian team has had this much success, but is this really necessary? Hopefully, it’ll light a spark under the Azzurri to shove one right up Berlusconi’s giggi. In any case something has to give as we have a Napoli side
that can’t win on the road and Milan who are dreadful at home. 0-0 draw anyone?

Although Milan sit 12th in the table and haven’t yet won a home match yet this season, this squad is hungry and desperate. They know all to well that they cannot afford to drop points or
risk losing out on Champions League football next year (unless they win it again…which I wouldn’t past them). Expect Milan to come out blazing on Sunday. Despite the loss of Pippo Inzaghi (kidney stones…ouch!) and Rino Gattuso (suspension), whenever you can trot out the likes of Andrea Pirlo and Kaka in your midfield you stand more than a fighters chance of winning.

Napoli will have to make due without their midfield general, Manuele Blasi, and leading goal scorer, Marcelo Zalayeta, who are both suspended. The squad have been training since January 2 and everyone is healthy, if not completely satisfied. The transfer market has
seen Napoli bring in no new players and I don’t expect they will. Cristian Bucchi got sent out on loan to Bologna (he was at Siena) and frankly, he was rubbish last year in Serie B. I’m just glad someone else is paying his wages, though I think we’ll soon enough regret signing Bucchi to a four year deal. I was really hoping Marino would look to improve our winger situation during this offseason, but I just don’t see that happening. I’m not sure how you look at the
steaming pile of midfield giveaway that is Grava/Garics/Savini/Rullo and be satisfied.

I really don’t care that Milan have scored the fewest home goals of any side in Serie A this season (3), coming in behind even lowly Cagliari. In order to have any hope of getting a
draw, the backline of Cupi, Cannavaro and Domizzi are going to have to play the game of their lives and Iezzo is going to need to channel the spirit of Dino Zoff. Having Massimo Oddo launch crosses into the Curva and getting a Milan player sent off early wouldn’t hurt either. Look for Napoli to kick anyone wearing red and black when they get within 30 yards of goal. I think it’ll be a dour game with at least seven yellow cards.

Reja is showing his true genius by being torn on whether or not to start Calaio or Sosa up top with Ezequiel Lavezzi. Look for Edy to shun Calaio once again. I’m not sure it’ll make all that much difference, but I see a motivated Calaio being far more dangerous in front of packed and
raucous San Siro than Sosa could ever hope to be. Lavezzi will need to shoulder the load and shake off his recent string of sub-par performances. A couple weeks off may help El Pocho more than any single Napoli player. Lavezzi was clearly running on fumes the last few matches and again a packed San Siro crowd may just give him the spark he had in the first dozen matches of the season.

	Napoli	Milan
Recent form	(W-L-W-D-D) 6G, 7GA	Milan (W-D-W-D-L) 8G, 3GA
Record	Road (1-3-4) 13G, 15GA	Home (0-5-2) 3G, 5GA
Suspension/Injured	Blasi, Zalayeta	Gattuso, Inzaghi, Jankulovski
Diffidati	Gargano, Contini, Cannavaro	Pirlo
Probable lineups	Iezzo; Cupi, Cannavaro, Domizzi; Garics, Gargano, Hamsik, Bogliacino, Savini; Lavezzi, Sosa	Dida; Oddo, Nesta, Kaladze, Serginho; Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf; Kaka; Pato, Gilardino