Milan’s problems with squad are catastrophic before the match with Lazio. A bigger part of basic players will not help in a game against the Romans. And if Rossoneri leader Montolivo has been injured for quite some time now, the rest of the losses happened within the last week.
At first, the main defender De Sciglio got injured. He was replaced by Antonelli, who got injured almost immediately too. Without Montolivo, Bonaventura became Milan’s leader in midfield, who also recently got injured. Milan have finally won in a hardest game against Bologna, but it was a Pyrrhic victory. During the course of the game, basic central defender Paletta was sent away, as well as basic midfielder Kucka. On top of all troubles, the second central midfielder Romagnoli got injured in the same match. All these players (except Antonelli) are solid footballers of the first squad. So in total, six basic players will not help Milan in the match.
The situation with defense is especially difficult. These four basic defenders always played for Milan this season: Abate-Romagnoli-Paletta-De Sciglio. These players almost always played in such combination and if one of them droped out, there were serious problems in defense. And now only Abate remains fit among the four. Antonelli could have helped, but he is injured also. Kucka’s disqualification makes the situation completely catastrophic – defensive midfielder, who can theoretically play in defense. Basically, Milan have to create a completely new line of defense in a few days before the game against Lazio. It is understandable, that it will be next to impossible to set the defense to play well and Milan will probably concede more, than one goal from the Romans.
Milan’s performing shape is very bad as well. If not for completely unbelievable and marvelous nine-man victory against Bologna, we could have obviously said, that Milan are in crisis. However, one crazy counterattack on the second-to-last minute will not change the overall situation. Before the win over Bologna, the Milanese lost four games in a row (including cup match against Juventus). In the last eight games of the championship, there were only two wins, two draws and four defeats. Milan played with their optimal squad in the games, so how will they play now, when the team lost all basic defenders and midfielders?
It should also be added, that the game with the Romans will be Milan’s third in a week. The remaining players are clearly tired after the previous hard battles. Lazio played their last game on the 5th of February and had more, than a week to prepare for the encounter against Milan. The Romans had no problems in a game against Pescara. The team has shown that it is in a good shape, having scored 6 times in the away match. Lazio have no squad troubles. All key players are fit to play. The Romans perform well at home this season – eight wins in twelve matches.
All in all, in this situation Milan have very little chance to even get a draw.
Prediction for the match: Lazio to win.
