AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus Tickets
Having already “lose” several matches in the past few weeks due to bad weather, Lega Serie A commissioner decided to make a change for some matches for this upcoming week in order to avoid another forced postponing.
The rescheduled games are, As Roma v Inter Milan, Cesena v Catania and Ac Milan v Napoli, who will now be played in the afternoon instead of their previous evening schedule, hoping that the cold weather won’t be troubling yet at an early hour.
AC Milan midfielder Alexander Merkel will be out of action for at least two months with a knee injury, the club have confirmed.
Merkel was hurt in training last week and tests done on the 19-year-old revealed ligament damage on his right knee.
A statement from AC Milan read:
“If there are no complications, Merkel will be available to play in eight weeks.”
Merkel’s injury a setback for Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri. The Germany Under-20 player was brought back from Genoa earlier this month due to the Rossoneri’s injury problems.
Not many surprises arrives on week 20 in Serie A beside Inter Milan’s seven winning streak end in the hands of Lecce after Guillermo Giacomazzi netted the only goal that clinched the victory.
The Nerazzurri did actually put the ball in the net twice in the second half but all of those goals were correctly disallowed by the referee because of offside.
Juventus managed to keep their place in the half way of the Serie A season after picking up a solid 2-0 victory over Atalanta with goals from Stephan Lichtsteiner and Emanuele Giaccherini.
This result puts the Turin giant one point above Ac Milan in the standing and maintain their excellent form in the halfway of the new season as the are still unbeaten so far, despite not leading by much points with the teams below them.
Big blow for struggling AC Milan as Alexandre Pato will be out for up to four weeks with a left thigh muscle injury.
Pato picked up the injury in Wednesday night’s Coppa Italia win over Novara, in which he scored the extra-time winner to earn a 2-1 win.
A statement on Milan’s official website read:
“Damage to the biceps femoris muscle of the left thing has been diagnosed. It’s not serious damaged, but, unless there are complications, it will require 3-4 weeks rest.”
Another changes happened in the Serie A table as Juventus moved up in the standing despite only picking up a point against Cagliari since their arch rival, Ac Milan, surprisingly beaten by Inter Milan at the Derby.
Meanwhile, Udinese held their ground after disappointingly beaten by Genoa, forcing them to stick at third place and must start worrying the resurgence of Inter and also Lazio, who are also winning this weekend.
With all eyes focused on this weekend’s massive Milan derby, there is also a very interesting battle going on behind the scenes between the two sides.
Common thought was that Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez was heading to AC Milan, and Tevez’s agent has even went as far as to say that personnel terms between Tevez and Milan have been agreed too.
The problem is that Milan and Manchester City are at loggerheads over the Tevez transfer and reports are coming out that Milan have angered City officials over their behaviour during negotiations.
The top three teams in Serie A, Ac Milan, Juventus and Udinese continue their excellent form in the new year as those three picked up victory against their opponents, keeping things tight at the top of Serie A table.
Just below the top three, the standings didn’t change a lot as well but Lazio’s fourth spot place in under huge pressure as Inter Milan, Napoli and Roma gaining points after picking another victories this weekend.
Atalanta‘s weekend match-up against Ac Milan is also being noted by the press as a duel between two current Serie A top forwards, German Denis against Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as both are the top two scorers in the league at the moment.
Trying to relieve the personal pressure on him, Denis simply stated that he wont try to embark in a personal battle with Ibrahimovic and will only play to help his team gets all three points.
AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri has made it clear that the Rossoneri do not fear Juventus as Serie A is set to resume next weekend after a brief winter break.
Milan and Juve currently sit joint first in the league table with 34 points from 16 games, and Allegri has insisted that the Turin side’s unbeaten run doesn’t intimidate Milan.
“Juventus do not scare us,” Allegri was quoted as saying by Tuttosport. “They are a great team and we respect them. However, at the moment, Milan have all the resources available that are needed to win the Scudetto once more.”
