AFTER picked up one points from the Giuseppe Meazza stadium already this season, against the Serie A Champions, Inter, new promoted Bari will face AC Milan in the fifth round of the Italian division league on Sunday night at San Siro.
Leonardo is under some major pressure at the moment, with two defeats in his first year as a coach at AC Milan, staring at league only from the 11th place, while both board and fans, do not seem very happy with the result the team is obtaining.
Leo and Milan started this season when they target the Scudetto, but the 0-4 defeat against Inter showed them that they have many troubles to reform in a very little time, while both Juventus and Inter, are trampling their opponents.
The Italian 40-years-old insists he isn’t worried by the performance nor the club’s position, but he cannot deny the fact his side have scored only three goals this season so far, despite brought the called like ‘scoring machine’ Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who finds the net maybe just in trainings.
Things have been changed since this night against Inter on the second round, as Ronaldinho is now coming back to the bench after number of disappointed performance, however, his displays against Siena and Udinese, showed he still got it, and Corinthians are reportedly looking to sign him in January.
Leonardo claims that Milan lacked the final spark against Udinese on Saturday night, when Antonio Di Natale gave the perfect example to a great finishing and gave the three points to his side. Massimo Oddo is not a good option for Milan, as Ignazio Abate could be Leo’s man on the right-side, with his speed and courage.
The record against Bari is good, but the last meeting was on March 2001. However, Milan scored 12 goals in the last four meetings against the Galletti. In another view, the San Siro stats versus the new promoted winning 23 of their 28 encounters.
Milan need the three points badly, but Daniele Bonera, Davide Di Gennaro, Christian Abbiati, Marco Borriello and Thiago Silva are all still sidelined, with Mathieu Flamini suspended are not going to be there to help. Alexandre Pato is also said to be benched against Bari.
The faith is back to Ronaldinho, after denied retirement speculations. We could have seen this when he attacked at Udinese, and Leonardo will maybe give him some minutes, maybe even full 90th. Whereas, the Brazilian coach need to consider also Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who will be searching for a debut goal.
Cross the street’s neighbors, Inter Milan, know how hard it is to beat Bari at San Siro, well they cannot tell what the feeling is when you do it, since all they obtain is a draw in the opening draw, when the Champions looked like a middle table team and Bari played a very impressive football.
Bari are one place behind AC Milan with 6 points, holding up three draws, one win and a defeat. Bari are now, in fact, in a better position than when they held Inter at San Siro, as Paulo Vitor Barreto is back from a thigh injury to lead the way and Massimo Donati has joined the squad.
Milan have been playing slow and smart football, pass by pass, and Bari, just like Udinese and Livorno, will try to use mostly counter attacks and long balls towards their strikers.
Injuries visit Bari too, as Alessandro Parisi, Matteo Paro, Riccardo Allegretti, Lorenzo Sforzini, Iago and Mariano Donda are sidelined.
Milan need to look out of Edgar Alvarez, and whoever is going to be on the flanks need to give him little space to walk. He has the pace to make troubles at Milan defense, but the Rossoneri will have to stop him.
Also against Udinese most people believed the Red & Black side will win, but in life, you have surprises, so Milan need to expect the worst. As for Bari, they need to avoid giving the hosts too much respect.
FORM GUIDE
Milan
September 23 v Udinese (A) – LOST 1-0 (Serie A)
September 20 v Bologna (H) – WON 1-0 (Serie A)
September 15 v Olympique Marseille (A) – WON 2-1 (Champions League)
September 12 v Livorno (A) – DREW 0-0 (Serie A)
August 29 v Inter (H) – LOST 4-0 (Serie A)
Bari
September 23 v Cagliari (H) – LOST 1-0 (Serie A)
September 20 v Atalanta (H) – WON 4-1 (Serie A
September 13 v Palermo (A) – DREW 1-1 (Serie A)
August 29 v Bologna (H) – DREW 0-0 (Serie A)
August 23 v Inter (A) – DREW 1-1 (Serie A)
PREDICTION
Bari are an unsteady team, and now with all the takeover bids, the player will be distracted by other things as well. Milan need to pull through the draw and play like they know, in order to get the three points they are need.
Milan 3 – Bari 1
By Meytar Zeevi, Rossoneri Blog
Read More:
- It’s a shame but we need to stick – Flamini & legend Baresi
- Udinese Clacio 1 – 0 AC Milan, a lying result?
Milan know it’s not going to be easy, but I do can see Milan take the three points
Inter Milan are running too far and they may slow down. Bari has a great home record winning 6 out of 9s. They are a potential giant killer. A value bet on Bari in Fix Odds.