ACF FIORENTINA are hosting AC MILAN on Wednesday eve, as they will finally play the missing game from week 17. Milan will seek to be even closer to Inter and re-open title race.

The Viola could be a bit frustrated, having lost four of their last five matches. The games are very tough though, but Fior have lost the momentum they had at the start of the season, and against Milan, they will try to bounce back.

Things are nicer at the red side of Milano. With a victory on Wednesday, the Rossoneri could approach Inter, as being behind them by four points only, with the same number of played game. This match has huge value for Milan.

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The home side shows some encouraging signs of a comeback. Being limping since the New Year knocked on the door, Cesare Prandelli’s men would face one of the best team in Italy at this moment.

Fiorentina are a very talented side, with a good coach and players, but things are not going so well for The Viola who are only tenth in the table of Serie A, when clearly have the talent of being at least fourth.

Fior are still bruised by the UEFA Champions League match against Bayern Munich last week, in which were clearly deprived by the referee who just did again the wrong thing – giving the German side an illegal goal.

The Gigliati faced Livorno Calcio on Sunday. They finally managed a victory after four games without a win of the Florence side. Alberto Gilardino and Juan Vargas scored the goals for Fiorentina.

The row of tough challenges in league continues with Milan now for the home side, who faced both first and second places A.S. Roma and Inter Milan in their last five matches, as losing to both. Milan hope that’ll repeat.

NEWS: Gamberini and Santana are both unavailable due to an injury.
CALLED UP: Avramov, Babacar, Bolatti, Comotto, De Silvestri, Donadel, Felipe, Frey, Gilardino, Gobbi, Jovetic, Keirrison, Kroldrup, Ljajic, Marchionni, Montolivo, Natali, Pasqual, Vargas, and Zanetti.

Serie A victory is the only thing there is for AC Milan to win this season. After knocked down from the Coppa Italia, and look unlikely to overpower Man United away, Scudetto is the only title available for the Rossoneri.

Now, all of sudden, if everything goes right against Fiorentina, the gap from first place is four points only. But, there will be only one point away from Roma, who slowly, but carefully reached the second place.

Milan are now third in the Serie A standing table, with 48 points from 24 matches. That missing game that will be played tomorrow is the key to perhaps domestic success, as a loss would see Milan further from any title.

No one had believed Milan had a single chance to win anything or even finish in the top four. And so it seemed like at first, but Leonardo showed that waiting pays off, as Milan are now one of the strongest teams around.

Milan played Manchester United last Tuesday, there they showed the defense must improve. Against Bari, this Sunday, Leonardo tried Bonera and Abate on the flanks, but over-defensive Daniele didn’t work out there.

The attack has come back, as a romping 2-0 victory versus Bari, saw two wonderful goals, one of Borriello, who just returned from an injury, and one of Pato, and unsurprisingly, Ronaldinho stared in both.

A win over Fiorentina would be a decent momentum boost, but it will be very far from easy, as the Florence side have a lot to fight for, as they want to climb up from 10th place, unlike Milan who want second.

NEWS: Antonini, Mancini, Onyewu, Seedorf and Zambrotta are injured; Adiyiah and Kaladze aren’t called up.
CALLED UP: Abbiati, Dida, Roma, Abate, Bonera, Favalli, Jankulovski, Nesta, Oddo, Thiago Silva, Ambrosini, Beckham, Flamini, Gattuso, Pirlo, Borriello, Huntelaar, Inzaghi, Pato, Ronaldinho.

Te players of Milan celebrate the goal of Pato during the Serie A match between AS Bari and AC Milan at Stadio San Nicola on February 21, 2010 in Bari, Italy. GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / GUIUEPPE BELLINI

By Meytar Zeevi, Rossoneri Blog