Global Courant 2023-05-16 11:00:37
Milan, in a bad present, will seek to get up and turn the 2-0 defeat of the first leg of the semifinals against their greatest rival to be present again in the decisive event.
The Champions League already knows what it is to give away European nights with matches to remember. And this Tuesday is preparing for the possibility of being the framework of one of them. Milan wants to inscribe its name in the list of great comebacks that have taken place in recent years and have remained in the history of the Champions League. This time, the seasoning of being a classic gives it an extra flavor. Starting at 4:00 p.m., the semifinal round will be played against Inter, who is on a roll and will defend the 2-0 victory achieved in the first leg.
Milan’s present is not the best for the most important game of the season. For this reason, hundreds of fans went to Milanello, the club’s training center, on Sunday to offer a moral injection to the players after the tough 2-0 defeat against Spezia last Saturday by league, which also compromises them in the table of positions and narrows their chances of qualifying for the next Champions League after falling to fifth position.
After the fall, all the players and their coach Stefano Pioli approached the fans who were in the stadium and listened to a ‘speech’ by one of the ultras’ leaders. The possibility of going 3-0 seems a necessity after being the first international meeting against their classic after 20 years.
Milan fans ask their players to go in search of a comeback. Photo: Mark
“We are going to play a game that can make history, we must believe in our chances of beating Inter,” Pioli declared after this meeting with the tifosi (Italian expression that refers to the fans).
And he added: “We haven’t been good enough in the last two games, we can do better.”
After their first-leg defeat at home, Milan are far from reaching the final of the Istanbul-based competition, but they can cling to the fact that comebacks have been commonplace in recent editions of the Champions League. This will be the Lombard capital’s fifth derby of the season: a victory for each one in the league and a 3-0 victory for Lautaro Martínez’s team in the Super Cup, adding the first game of the international series.
Lautaro Martínez, one of Inter’s highest points in each of the classics. Photo: AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
The Rossoneros, who have only won one game in the last five counting all competitions, arrive tired at the end of the season and do not have many options on the substitute bench because the reinforcements did not end up being up to the task (De Ketelaere , Origi or Adli).
Pioli also lost an important element in midfield in the first leg, Ismael Bennacer, who injured his knee, in addition to not being able to count on the legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
In this bleak landscape, the hopes of a comeback are pinned on Rafael Leao, the Portuguese striker absent in the first leg due to discomfort in his right thigh but who already trained with the group on Sunday.
Rafael Leao, the figure in which Milan fans place their hope. Photo: REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo.
Similarly, on the other side is an Inter on the rise that has improved in the last month; climbing to the podium of the local championship, having already qualified for the Italian Cup final (May 24 against Fiorentina) and one step away from the Champions League final, in which he would go in search of adding a fourth ‘Orejona’ to their windows. And the good moment that the team led by Simone Inzaghi is experiencing is demonstrated by adding seven consecutive victories with an average of three goals per game, with Lautaro Martínez at the head of the great managers of this moment.
Inclusively, unlike the football slumps of some Milan players, on the Inter side several of its figures are beginning to revive. This is the case of the Belgian Romelu Lukaku, who woke up by scoring seven goals since the beginning of April, but in principle he would wait for his opportunity from the bench, as in the first leg.
While on the one hand Milan must go in search of the heroic comeback, the other European semifinal appears more uncertain. On Wednesday Real Madrid, defending champions, will appear on Manchester City’s pitch after drawing 1-1 in the first leg.
Joaquin Correa, the other Argentine present in the Italian series. Photo: REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo
Fuente: AFP.
