Match Preview: Inter v Milan

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TOMORROW night sees the 175th Derby della Madonnina in Serie A history,and it promises to be one of the most hotly contested ones yet. Let’s look ahead the teams, the lineups, what each side needs to do to win and the effect any outcome could have.

Firstly, the teams, and there’s some good news for Milan fans as Inter will be missing one or two key figures – particularly in defence… (all predicted lineups are from the Gazzetta Dello Sport)

Inter’s squad: Julio Cesar, Luca Castellazzi, Paolo Orlandoni; Ivan Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Lucio, Marco Materazzi, Cristian Chivu, Davide Santon; Dejan Stankovic, Wesley Sneijder, Esteban Cambiasso, Joel Obi, Coutinho, Amantino Mancini, Obiora Nwankwo; Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev, Jonathan Biabiany.

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Probable lineup  4-2-3-1: Cesar; Cordoba, Lucio, Materazzi, Chivu; Zanetti, Stankovic; Pandev, Sneijder, Eto’o; Milito.

And now for Milan’s squad: Abbiati, Amelia; Antonini, Bonera, Jankulovski, Nesta, Papastathopoulos, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta, Yepes, Abate; Ambrosini, Boateng, Flamini, Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf; Ibrahimovic, Robinho, Ronaldinho

Probable lineup 4-3-2-1: Abbiati; Abate, Nesta, Silva, Antonini; Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Ronaldinho, Seedorf; Ibrahimovic

Assuming the teams lineup something like that, it’s certainly going to be an exciting clash.

The Key figures for Inter will be man of the moment Samuel Eto’o, last season’s top scorer Diego Milito, possible ballon d’or Wesley Sneijder and Lucio at the back

For Milan, Seedorf will have a big part to play after his form in recent weeks, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be hoping he might haunt his former club, whilst Gennaro Gattuso and Mathieu Flamini will have a lot of work to do keeping Inter quiet on the counter.

Now let’s examine the team’s form going in to this – and it’s safe to say that it’s the red half of Milan who are in better form:

Inter’s last game ended in a 1-1 draw with Lecce, and the match before that was the same result against Brescia, and even that was only as a result of a dubious penalty which would have had Inter fans screaming ‘injustice!’ had it gone against them.

Milan’s last 2 games have been 3-1 and 3-2 wins against Palermo and Bari respectively. The noticable thing from Milan was though, that despite scoring 3 goals, the finishing has been particularly poor, (especially Robinho…) and the Rossoneri will have to be much more clinical as Inter won’t be as kind to them as Bari and Palermo were.

And so that brings us on to what needs to be done to win this game…

From Inter’s point of view, it’s probably easier to close down Milan than vie versa – what Inter need to do is shut down Clarence Seedorf and/or Ronaldinho/Robinho/Pirlo dependant on who plays, and thus minimise the Rossoneri’s creative threat, forcing them to go long to Ibrahimovic and leave the swede isolated..

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What Milan need to do is create enough space for the creative talent to operate, effectively deal with Inter’s counter attacking threat, and be clinical – because Milan are certain to get at least some chances no matter what Inter do, thanks to the creative talent on offer, but it’s vital that they take those chances to secure the win.

Lastly – what happens after the game?

Inter are currently behind Milan by 3 points, so to even get ahead of the Rossoneri, let alone go top they need to win by more than 2 goals – a win for the Nerazzuri would bring Milan back down to earth with a win here. It would also be a significant moment for Rafa Benitez, could this be the game that finally cements his place as manager with the Inter fans?

If Milan win, it could be a huge signal of intent – Adriano Galliani believes that a win would virtually seal the Scudetto, but I think it’s a little early to be making calls like that. 3 points would also but them a whopping 6 ahead of their inner-city rivals, and would definitely show Milan mean business this season – it would also be a bit of a comeback, given that Inter did the double over the Rossoneri last season.

A draw would just leave both sies as they were, since Roma and Juventus drew, however it would present Lazio with an oppertunity to climb back to the top in their game against Napoli.

While this game won’t settle the title race, and it’s too early in the season to draw any big conclusions, however, it may well be a good indicator of how the season will go, and it might expose one or two weaknesses from either sides. It should be an exciting clash, and it’s been on every Milan fan’s mind since the moment the Bari game ended – so sit back, relax, and enjoy the show tomorrow night!

By Hefin Davies, Rossoneri Blog

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Bledar

The midfield works very well with Amrosini, Boateng and Flamini.

arya

————————-Abbiati———————

Abate————-Nesta———-T.Silva—–Antonini

————–Flamini—-Pirlo—–Boateng———–

———————–Ronaldinho——————–

—————Robinho——————————-

—————————–Ibrahimovic————-

Coldy

I fuckin like this write up.Good one.

Vano

Finally they are going to play 4-3-2-1

MARTIAL ARTS

———-amelia———
——nesta–t.silva—–
abate—————-antonini
merkel——flamini
——–boateng———
robinho———–ronaldinho
———–ibra———

Why does Pato have to be injured for the DERBY! but still FORZA AC MILAN!!!!!

abd

I think that gattuso shold not play
Abbiati; Abate, Nesta, Silva, Antonini; Boateng, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Ronaldinho, Robinho; Ibrahimovic
and let flamini and seedorf for the Precaution

Mavrick

I am a big Milan Fan. However, i can’t help but to remeber the first derby last season. It was the second game and Inter had just drawn, while we had won our previous game. That game we lost 4 – 0. I would suggest that we start Flamini and Boateng in the midfield with either Pirlo or Ambrosini. Gattuso can be used as a sub. Both Boateng and Flamini offer more in attack. I would also start Robinho, next to Iba with R80 behind in the 4-3-1-2 formation.

gatoto

Gattuso!! please tackling milito 🙂

Australiano1980

Seedorf never was a ‘decide’ player.

jomama

ahead of a big game like this one u have to look at the other team and make tactical and technical adjustments. I think this would be what i would do if i were Allegri. Goalie: First of all i want to state that Abbiati has never impressed me so i may be a bit bias against him but nonetheless you have to see that he’s not a very confident and good goalie and Amelia is much better. Against a quick team like Inter we need a goalie like Amelia who has quick reactions and can react better to quick… Read more »

poloman

My line-up is: Abbiati;Abate,Nesta,Silva,Antonini/Zambrotta;Boateng,Ambrosini,Flamini;Seedorf;Robinho,Ibrahimovic
I think this is the best line-up,the mildfield is very good,fast.
Pirlo and Gattuso were a good player and now are too,but they are so slow and circumstantial.
We will win tonight!

Ash

Can we all agree that Pirlo in the middle is a massive liability?. Pirlo cant defend and I would rather have a workhorse midfield trio of Ambro, Flamini and Gattuso (Boateng sub). Pirlo would be more effective as a trequarista. And FFS! enough with the Ronnie bias, the guy has been shit and lazy the entire season and plays more for himself than the team. I have gotten tired of him trying to attempt his many flashy tricks and failing miserably while in the process costing us a goal on the counter. Zambrotta too should be on the bench, whereas… Read more »

TWF

i believe Milan could beat Inter this time. Need to focus, focus and focus to secure 3 points. Play a bit brutal to win this match, please. I really hate Inter. Forza Milan!

sherbini

amelia
abate nesta t.silva antonini

gattuso flamini
pirlo
boateng robinho

ibrahimovic

Milanista

When does this game start in military time (24 hour time)

Because the game starts at 7:45 GMT

And I don’t know what is that in my time. -_-

mes

diretta – sportstream24.com/italy_football/watch_online_2

tremendousice

Forza Milan we won 1-0
Inter drop to 5th and Milan is top with 1st