Posted in: 12/08/2022 – 11:20Last updated: 12/08/2022 – 11:18
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Milan (AFP) – Milan is cutting the bar for the new season of the Italian Football League on Saturday, knowing that any imperfect pedal will reduce its chances of retaining the title, especially in light of the expected open competition and the absence of an explicit candidate.
Milan will host Udinese at the San Siro stadium, coinciding with Sampdoria and its guest Atalana in the first two matches of the season, hoping to achieve a positive start, especially since its recent history in the opening matches is not ideal after winning five and losing the same in the past ten seasons.
Last season, Milan won the Calcio title for the first time since 2011 led by coach Stefano Pioli, keeping the cup in Milan, but in the red section of it, after Inter won it in 2021, ending a nine-year monopoly from Juventus.
Rossoneri realizes that the task will be difficult and he lost the efforts of Ivory Coast Franck Kissier to Barcelona this summer, but he brought in Belgian free striker Divock Origi from Liverpool and spent 35 million euros ($ 36 million) to win the promising and unknown striker at the same time, Belgian Charles de Kettler.
Although Pioli’s squad does not include resonant names, except for Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is at the age of 40 and has passed his glory days, the coach managed to find the combination, especially with the brilliant Portuguese Rafael Leao in the front line and the likes of French Theo Hernandez in defense.
Later on Saturday evening, Inter will come back to Lecce after two seasons in the second division, after a relatively disappointing summer, despite bringing back Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku on loan from Chelsea, after he was the most prominent contributor to winning the title last year.
However, the “Nerasori” lost the race against Roma to include Juventus star Argentine striker Paulo Dybala, and against Juventus to include the best defender last season, Brazilian Gleason Bremer.
Coach Simone Inzaghi’s team lost the title last season, by two points from Milan, after a breathtaking race in the last stages, and was satisfied with winning the cup title by beating Juventus 4-2 in the overtime, with goals from Croatian Ivan Perisic, who moved this summer to Tottenham Hotspur.
Although Dybala lost, Inzaghi, along with Lukaku, will count on Argentine Lautaro Martinis, who starred remarkably last season, and his compatriot Joaquin Correa.
Will Juventus return?
Juventus will conclude the opening stage on Monday evening at home against Sassuolo, hoping for a better start to the season than they achieved in the past when they failed to win their first four matches.
That poor start pushed the Bianconeri to run a risky race for the fourth and final place in the Champions League, which he managed to achieve at the end of the season, especially due to the decline in the results of his direct pursuers, Roma and Lazio.
Despite abandoning Dybala after not reaching an agreement to renew his contract, coach Massimiliano Allegri’s team supported his other Argentinean side, Angel Di Maria from Paris Saint-Germain, and French midfielder Paul Pogba, who starred in his ranks between 2012 and 2016, after a difficult period at Manchester United, But he will be out until September due to a knee injury. It also included the Serbian international winger Filip Kostic from Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany.
He compensated with Bremer the departure of Dutchman Matthijs de Ligt to Bayern Munich and Giorgio Chiellini to the United States.
Rome the dark horse?
Although he finished sixth last season, many are counting on Roma, who beat Salernitana on Sunday, the dark horse in the championship, who won his last title in “Serie A” in 2001.
In addition to winning the first edition of the European “Converse League”, which restored morale after many years of disappointments, Dybala’s arrival raised hopes that he could actually compete for the title, or at least return to the Champions League for the first time since the 2018-2019 season.
The Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho’s team also added the experience of Dutch international Georginio Wijnaldum from Paris Saint-Germain. Wijnaldum won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2019 and is still at the peak of his performance at the age of thirty-one.
Owned by the former prime minister and the architect of the glories of Milan, Silvio Berlusconi, Montaza will enter the limelight for the first time in its history since its founding in 1912, and will play its first match at home against Torino.
Along with Lecce, Cremonese returns to the elite league for the first time since the 1995-1996 season.
© 2022 AFP
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