AS Roma-AC Milan: Serie A Preview

Two teams in dire need of points are set to lock horns at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday evening. Roma are aiming to land a Champions League spot, whereas Milan is trying hard not to fall further behind Juventus and Inter in the title race.

Both teams will want to turn over a new leaf and start the new year on a positive note. Considering that Roma are looking for confidence while Milan is searching for consistency—the case of who will come out on top is far from predictable.

AS ROMA

After a disastrous start to the season Roma has finally gotten back on track. The Giallorossi did however slip up in their week 17 clash against Catania. After a miserable performance right before the Christmas break with a 3-2 defeat where Francesco Totti picked up yet another injury.

Before the defeat however, the Giallorossi went through a fine period with nine wins out of ten in all competition and were displaying the celebrated style of play that almost won them the Scudetto last May.

Despite the less encouraging end to the first half of the season, the club is residing in 11th place after fighting back from a lowly 17th place standing earlier this season.

Spalletti’s men did however clinch a win against Lanciano in a friendly last Wednesday as playmaker Alberto Aquilani made his comeback after spending a number of weeks on the sidelines.

Roma will be without talismanic captain Francesco Totti who’s fighting his own battle against the clock to make his comeback in time for the double fixtures against Arsenal in the Champions League first knock-out stage. Apart from Totti also Max Tonetto and Stefano Okaka are ruled out of play.

Totti may have inspired the team back to form after returning from his previous injury and with the captain now missing for another couple of weeks the team needs to find an identity without their obvious source of inspiration.

They’ve managed fine without Totti before and can certainly do it again. But with the team lacking confidence it’s certainly easier said than done.

Roma (probable): Doni; Cassetti, Mexes, Juan, Riise; Taddei, De Rossi, Brighi, Perrotta, Menez; Vucinic

AC MILAN

The Beckham circus refuses to die down—especially since the Englishman is most likely to make his Serie A debut on Sunday in this high profile game. Although Becks isn’t expected to play for more than 45 minutes the midfielder is sure to gather the spotlight wherever Milan travels in the upcoming weeks.

Milan defeated Hamburg on penalties during their training camp friendly in Dubai last Tuesday. David Beckham passed a late fitness test to play the first half of the game in what turned out to be somewhat of an unspectacular debut for the England international.

The Rossoneri went into the Christmas break in style with their 5-1 demolition of Udinese at the San Siro where one Pato had a marvelous evening.

The club is currently parked in third place in the rankings with nine points separating them from the top. Milan’s main target ahead of the season was the Scudetto and while beating Inter a few weeks back the team has slumped against several of the Serie A minnows and lost crucial points along the way.

Ancelotti’s men should look for their cousins across town for tips as to how they have managed to win the Scudetto for the past couple of season—by crushing the smaller sides. Last season Inter were defeated only three times—none of which by a small team—and held the draws to a minimum.

Ancelotti has more worries with injuries in comparison to his Roma counterpart as Daniele Bonera, Marco Borriello, Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso and Phillipe Senderos are all set to miss out on the action.

Milan has had difficulties on their travels this term and the club’s injury troubles as of lately have seen the team lose some valuable points in their Scudetto hunt. If the Rossoneri are serious on getting their hands on that glorious piece of silverware they need to first and foremost find consistency.

Milan (probable): Abbiati; Zambrotta, Kaladze, Maldini, Jankulovski; Seedorf, Pirlo, Flamini, Kaka; Ronaldinho, Pato