Montella’s Milan ready to face Higuainless Napoli as Juventus travel to Lazio
As a football aesthete, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that Vincenzo Montella preferred the total football played by Arrigo Sacchi's Milan, even at a time when Napoli, his hometown team, were winning league titles with Diego Maradona.
The young Montella had a Marco van Basten poster on his bedroom wall and, while he never fulfilled his dream of playing for the Rossoneri, now finds himself in charge at San Siro: "One of the first things (Milan vice-president) Adriano Galliani said to me was: 'I didn't sign you as a player, but I am appointing you as a manager.'"
Monday's Corriere della Sera wrote that Montella has always been a bit of a "snob" and should be considered a calligrapher as well as a coach for the pretty patterns he likes his teams to play. Curiously, Montella isn't on his own as a Neapolitan with a passion for Milan.
Gianluigi Donnarumma, the team's goalkeeping wunderkind, is also from the bay area but, by his own admission, was "born Milanista" and left home at 14 to follow his brother, Antonio to Milanello. Donnarumma was eight when Milan last won the Champions League, in 2007. Then, Napoli had been back in Serie A for one year, having been in the second and third divisions for much of his childhood.
Returning Milan to former glories in Italy and in Europe is Montella and Donnarumma's aim and the pair of them took the first step last Sunday. Donnarumma helped Milan open the season with a 3-2 win, stopping a 95th-minute penalty from Torino's Andrea Belotti. At 17, Donnarumma became the youngest player to save a Serie A spot kick and further underlined his credentials as the heir to Gigi Buffon.
"If I'd known he was going to do that I would never have given Gigio his debut," Torino coach and Donnarumma's old boss, Sinisa Mihajlovic joked after the match.
On Saturday, Donnarumma's family will be in the stands at the San Paolo to watch him get in the way of a Napoli side still coming to terms with the departure of Gonzalo Higuain. Leaving was one thing but choosing to go to Juventus, the team who beat them to the Scudetto, was another thing entirely. The striker's "betrayal" was a big disappointment to Maurizio Sarri and his players.
"Seeing him celebrate in their shirt had a certain effect on me," captain Marek Hamsik said at the weekend. "But that's football."
Napoli can't let Higuain's departure affect them any longer. They must move on and rediscover enthusiasm but the club isn't helping. A press blackout was called towards the end of last season after Mediaset broadcast a report claiming Higuain had no intention of extending his contract.
Press conferences are now by invitation only. It's so unnecessary. A new season has started and Higuain is gone; all this should be in the past. Instead all it does is suggest that Napoli aren't ready to let go. Indeed, for all that Napoli claim to have been destabilised by the press -and by Juventus -- they have also, to an extent, brought this about on themselves.
One can understand the pursuit of Inter striker Mauro Icardi even after they bought Arkadiusz Milik: Napoli clearly wished to make a splash big enough to make the team and the fans forget Higuain. However, they also appear not to be totally convinced by Manolo Gabbiadini who, with his side 20 down in Pescara on Sunday, was substituted shortly after half-time.
La Gazzetta gave him a player rating of 4.5 but Gabbiadini is a better player than that. He has scored 29 goals in the last two years and, since moving to Napoli, has had a hand in one every 84 minutes, an excellent rate of return for someone who hasn't played very much.
Napoli could have signed Carlos Bacca, who they'll face on Saturday. Milan were prepared to do business for €30 million and the Colombian was willing to leave for a Champions League club. No longer for sale, his hat trick in Milan's opening day win against Torino gave Napoli a glimpse of what might have been.
The silver lining for Napoli in all this is the way in which they rescued a point against Pescara. Sarri went to his bench and found treasure in the form of substitute Dries Mertens, who scored twice. Milik and Piotr Zielinksi also affected the game in their cameo appearances.
The arrivals of Amadou Diawara, Marko Rog and Zielinski in particular serve to make Napoli younger, increase the technical refinement of the team and broaden the options available to Sarri to rotate and diversify. In that sense, the Higuain money has been put to good use, acquiring not just depth but a future for this Napoli team.
Today
Lazio-Juventus ................................................... Napoli-Milan .....................................................
Tomorrow
Inter Milan-Palermo .......................................... Cagliari-Roma .................................................... Crotone-Genoa ................................................. Fiorentina-ChievoVerona .................................. Sampdoria-Atalanta .......................................... Sassuolo-Pescara ............................................... Torino-Bologna .................................................. Udinese-Empoli .................................................
Serie B
Yesterday
Spezia-Salernitana ....................................... 1-1
Today
Avellino-Brescia ................................................ Bari-Cittadella ................................................... Benevento-SPAL ................................................ Frosinone-Virtus Entella .................................... HellasVerona-Latina .......................................... Pro Vercelli-Ascoli ............................................. Ternana-Pisa ...................................................... Vicenza-Carpi ....................................................
Tomorrow
Novara-Trapani .................................................. Lega Pro A
Tomorrow
Arezzo-Como ..................................................... G.Erminio-Carrarese ......................................... Lupa Roma-Pistoiese ......................................... Renate-Olbia ..................................................... Viterbese-Cremonese ....................................... Livorno-Racing Roma ........................................ Lucchese-Piacenza ............................................ Pontedera-Siena ................................................ Prato-Tuttocuoio ............................................... Pro Piacenza-Alessandria ..................................
Lega Pro B
Today
Lumezzane-Teramo ........................................... Sambenedettese-Padova .................................. Sudtirol-Fano ..................................................... Pordenone-Gubbio ........................................... Santarcangelo-FeralpiSalo ................................. Venezia-Forli ..................................................... Ancona-Mantova .............................................. B. Virtus-Reggiana ............................................. Modena-Parma
Tomorrow
AlbinoLeffe-Maceratese .................................... Lega Pro B
Today
Catania-Juve Stabia ...........................................
Tomorrow
Paganese-Francavilla ......................................... Akragas-Vibonese ............................................. Catanzaro-Cosenza ............................................ Fondi-Reggina ................................................... Melfi-Casertana ................................................ Monopoli-Lecce ................................................ Foggia-F. Andria ................................................ Messina-Siracusa .............................................. Taranto-Matera .................................................