02-25-2018, 10:28 AM
Interesting draw to meet Arsenal. Our first big knockout game in Europe since Seedorf’s Milan got knocked out by Atletico in 2013/14.
Milan fans should be hyped and should sell out the stadium. The fans miss the knock out stages in Europe. Arsenal is not at their best and neither are we. They have the advantage of having the same coach for a long time and have been adding small pieces to the squad year after year to the coach’s liking. Our case is different, we splashed last summer on 11 different players chosen by Montella, and now we have an amateur coach trying to get results for Montella’s team. Both teams currently sit around the Europa League zone in their domestic leagues and both teams are aiming to make it to the CL (and will want to win the EL).
Aubameyang and Lacazette seem set to miss the tie and that’s an advantage for us, but they have a certain Ozil and Mkhitaryan that could trouble us - Calabria/Abate in particular. I don’t think Andrea Conti will be ready to return to the pitch for these two legs against Arsenal. I think we’ll first see him play around March 15-20. He can give us a HUGE boost if he plays anywhere near like his one good season at Atalanta. I hope he wasn’t a one season wonder and I hope that he can fully recover from this injury.
Milan fans should be hyped and should sell out the stadium. The fans miss the knock out stages in Europe. Arsenal is not at their best and neither are we. They have the advantage of having the same coach for a long time and have been adding small pieces to the squad year after year to the coach’s liking. Our case is different, we splashed last summer on 11 different players chosen by Montella, and now we have an amateur coach trying to get results for Montella’s team. Both teams currently sit around the Europa League zone in their domestic leagues and both teams are aiming to make it to the CL (and will want to win the EL).
Aubameyang and Lacazette seem set to miss the tie and that’s an advantage for us, but they have a certain Ozil and Mkhitaryan that could trouble us - Calabria/Abate in particular. I don’t think Andrea Conti will be ready to return to the pitch for these two legs against Arsenal. I think we’ll first see him play around March 15-20. He can give us a HUGE boost if he plays anywhere near like his one good season at Atalanta. I hope he wasn’t a one season wonder and I hope that he can fully recover from this injury.