Week 37: Sampdoria – Milan
Milan faced Atalanta without a full team. Conti and Romagnoli out injured and Theo and Bennacer on yellow accumulation suspensions. The replacements didn’t all have good games. Gabbia and in particular Biglia didn’t shine and the latter’s performance only served to confirm that he will leave on a Bosman after the season. Laxalt and Calabria did have good moments but all in all a 1-1 tie with an offensive powerhouse riding high in the standings was a good result. Calhanoglu continued his good form to open the scoring and the soon to sign an extension Donnarumma saved a Ruslan Malinovsky penalty. It is worth noting that VAR remains a farce in particular when it comes to hand balls.
The final two matches will settle the 5th, 6th and 7th spots for the 2019-2020 season. The difference between these rankings is how early the teams enter the Europa League. Seventh means earlier and more (qualifying ) games. Fifth means direct entry into the Europa League group stage. With Roma four points ahead finishing fifth is now unlikely. The battle for 6th and 7th will be between Milan and Napoli. Milan host Cagliari on the last match day. Napoli – currently one point behind Milan – lost their week 37 match to Inter and will host Lazio on the last day.
With Theo and Bennacer back the team is in better shape to face Sampdoria. Donnarumma, Calabria, Kjaer, Gabbia and Kessie will form the defensive unit in the 4-2-3-1. The front line is expected to remain unchanged as Saelemaekers, Calhanoglu, Rebic and Ibrahimovic will try to finish the season as strongly as it has gone since the restart.
The hosts – featuring Andrea Bertolacci – have lost their last two games, before it they had won three in a row.
Follow the match as it happens, on the forum.