Some teams like to say the end of their season is like "4 finals"...we're more like "4 friendlies" as we head back to the San Siro.
Well it's getting near the end here. I have to say i've been impressed with how the team has been performing lately. We've only suffered three losses in the return leg (Lazio, Inter, and Milan) and we've been winning the games we're supposed to be winning. Last weeks 5-2 win over a extremely good Udinese side was a welcome change to what we've been seeing all season, but despite the cheer we still won't have JoJo back this week. So tomorrow we go against an already qualified Inter side just looking to maintain 2nd place as Milan won their first scudetto since 2004 and blah blah blah blah.
I appreciated Johonnas shout out to us and I enjoy our partnership with the Inter board. Shes always a welcome contributor here. We're two teams on different sides of the table but have both suffered from a management revolution. Best of luck to both of us here at the end.
So last season we fell 1-0 here, it'll be remembered for that moment of Gila magnificence as he flicked over a helpless Lucio only to in Gila style hit the post. We succumbed to a late Milito penalty. This season we held Inter back for a good part of the game featuring a rare goal from new daddy Pasqual only to fall to the Inter counterattack led by ex-man Pazzini.
Mihaj is looking to use these last games to experiment with next years squad, plus or minus the departing tweaks. Boruc will take the posts, while LDS will sit next to Gamberini and Natali (Camporese is helping the playoffs for the Primavera) while Pasqual takes the other side. Behrami will cover (future Inter?) Montolivo and D'Agostino, while Cerci plays his good spot next to Vargas and Gila, it'll be interesting to see what a post Santana and Donadel team can do against bigger squads.
Obviously for Inter the main dangers are frequent viola scorers Pazzini (would you just stop now? please?) and Eto'o. The good news is Sneijder is out as is Stakovic, Cordova, and Thiago Motta. Inter has historically been struggling with defense this season and hopefully Cerci can exploit that (how long have we been waiting to say that?)
And before I finish, congratulations to new daddy Manuel Pasqual who's daughter Aurora was born today.
FORZA VIOLA!!!