It is the night of truth for Milan and Inter that can no longer be wrong in Champions League. The two Milanese need two victories against Porto and the surprise Sheriff Tiraspol to continue to stay in the game. The Rossoneri, still at zero points, must move the table in Portugal in order not to lose sight of Atletico Madrid and Liverpool. A similar speech for the Nerazzurri stopped at a point that at San Siro they must make a full booty against the Moldovan Cinderella with full points.
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TOWARDS PORTO-AC MILAN
Two decisive challenges for the Champions League and tomorrow’s is already a final. It is the spirit with which AC Milan faces the match against Porto, halved – as has now been a constant – due to absences. To the injuries, the unavailability of Theo Hernandez and Brahim Diaz positive for Covid, are added those of Rebic – sprained ankle – and Kessie disqualified for that unfortunate expulsion that compromised the match against Atletico Madrid. But there is no time to feel sorry for himself, Milan’s goal is to hit the job of saving a complicated Champions League path from zero in the standings after two days. “We come from two defeats that do not reflect the team’s performance. I think the double clash with Porto will be decisive. We have to remain lucid and focused throughout the game. In the first two games we paid for the small details. We lost the first two games. for some inattention in the defensive phase “, Pioli’s analysis. There is only one result that could rekindle the Rossoneri’s European hopes: victory. The team is charged and it is especially so Rafael Leao who will play his personal derby, having grown up in Sporting and having scored his first goal in Porto. “They are difficult to face but for me and my teammates it will be a final. We want to win and score points to move forward, play with the right mind because Porto are a great team.” Difficult to do pre-tactic, not to give clues of training when there are no holders. In attack, Giroud will start from the first minute, with the possibility of a relay with Ibrahimovic. “Zlatan is better but he only played a quarter of an hour against Verona. The time can get up – reveals Pioli – but I don’t think he can have that many more minutes.” The last half hour or maybe something more if there was a need for the push of the champion. Conceicao, Porto coach, assures that he knows how to stop him even if he explains that “no team is what a single player is”. Ibra is a reference as Pepe is in Porto and the duel that will take place already warms up the Portuguese fans. “Zlatan is ready to face any defender”, Pioli cut short. Because in reality the player to fear more than the others is Diaz, according to the Rossoneri coach. “During the break we studied Porto well, we hope it will bear fruit. We face a solid opponent, compact, with fast attacking players, a prepared coach, a prepared team. It will be a match that will present difficulties typical of high-level matches.” Without Brahim Diaz, Krunic will probably play central or alternatively Daniel Maldini, flanked by Saelemaekers and Leao. In the median Bennacer and Tonali. All decided, or almost. With the hope that the cabal winks at the Rossoneri. Milan have never lost in the eight away games played in Portugal in their history. In the year of returning to the Champions League after seven years of absence, it would be a setback to close the first three days without points in the standings. At Milan, however, there is the awareness of being able to do well, of having managed to keep up with Liverpool and having had to deal with questionable referee decisions with Atletico. Now against Porto it is time for redemption.
TOWARDS INTER-SHERIFF
“I hope my boys can enjoy the atmosphere of San Siro and I hope it will be a good match for us. We want to have fun,” said Sheriff coach Yuriy Vernydub on the eve of the Champion game that Inter must win. He does not seem excited but as glacial as the climate of his land. The Sheriff comes from Tiranspol, an unknown name from a place where perhaps no one has ever gone. Instead, it exists and is a city in Moldova, the capital of the autonomous territorial unit of Transnistria. The Sheriff is his team, which rose to the limelight for having won a place in the Champions League without a coat of arms and without any glorious history of international cups and trophies. . A team that came out of nowhere, at the center of an intrigue of history, capable of humiliating Real Madrid in their own home. The Sheriff tonight in front of Inter at the Meazza in a match that tastes like a last resort for the Nerazzurri. To put together the pieces of a spy story that seems to have come out of a novel is Internazionale that translates for Italy a long report by The Balkan Insight which tells how the Sheriff Tiraspol is only a small part of a commercial empire built by two former KGB officers, Victor Gusan, 58 (team president), and Ilya Kazmaly, 59. The Sheriff Tiraspol – explains Internazionale – is only the showcase and a tool of influence of the Sheriff corporate empire which has interests in sectors such as caviar, cars, fuels, medicine, vodka, hotel services, telecommunications, banking, insurance, real estate and media. ‘information. Today the Sheriff – writes the weekly – is the main private contributor to the budget of Transnistria, but its rise is studded with controversial and rather sinister aspects. It all began in 1993, when Gusan and Kazmaly founded the Sheriff. Four years later they took control of Agroprombank and in 1998 created Interdnestrcom, the only telecommunications operator in Transnistria. Sheriff continues to expand even after the global financial crisis of 2008. In March 2012 – the incredible story continues – the company becomes fully owned by Gusan and Kazmaly was appointed managing director. In the early 2000s, Interdnestrcom entered the Ukrainian market under the name of Intertelecom, becoming one of the four main telecommunications operators in the country. Documents show that the owner of the new company, Vyacheslav Chernikevich, also runs the Sheriff’s cryptocurrency mining operations in Transnistria. In 2016, the Ukrainian secret services (Sbu) begin to investigate Intertelecom. The journalists of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Moldova – reports Internazionale – identify in Gu & .537; an and in the German Andrea Reich the owners of the Kartina digital company, founded in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 2008. The company is accused by German media to facilitate the airing of messages from the far-right Alternative for Germany (Afd) party, through its broadcasting of Russian channels. This is only part of a still mysterious story that is intertwined with football passing through Milan. No fairy tales, just business.
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