Milan, when Maignan returns: Atalanta or Florence, then Tottenham in the Champions League

London was and always is in the sights: barring unforeseen events – and in this story we need to go slow, given the previous episodes – in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 with Tottenham, Mike Maignan will be in goal for Milan. March 8 is the date that the Scudetto goalkeeper has circled in red and black on the calendar: every working day at Milanello is based on the match against Antonio Conte’s Spurs.

The ideal return, however, would require at least 90 minutes of running-in, especially if 148 days have passed since the last match played by Magic Mike (France-Austria on 22 September, Nations League). And so, considering that there are three games between here and Tottenham, and that tomorrow in Monza it will be Tatarusanu’s turn again, the field of possible return narrows down to two slots: the match on 26 February at San Siro with Atalanta is the hope , the trip to Florence on March 4 is the most realistic hypothesis. Much, if not all, will depend on the next few days. To date, Maignan has gradually increased his workloads and there have been no slowdowns: “A return to the team is planned in the next ten days,” said manager Maldini before Milan-Turin last Friday. Here we are.

Calvary

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Also a season ago Maignan had worked to get back on track just for the Champions League: Milan were playing everything in the group in the last match against Liverpool and Mike had “warmed up” 180 minutes before, between Sassuolo and Genoa in the league . However, the similarities end here, because then the recovery of the former Lilla had been prodigious: Maignan had halved the hypothesized times after the hand surgery that had stopped him for nine games between Serie A and the Champions League, also leaving the staff speechless Milan doctor. Nothing to do with the ordeal of this 2022-23: the first stop in September in the national team – injury to the medial twin of the left calf – was followed by the relapse the following month, when Mike was preparing to take Milan back: injury to the soleus and new braking. The third postponement came during the training camp in Dubai in December: the cause was not a new injury but a delay in muscle response to workloads. Put simply, Maignan’s calf was not responding as expected.

timing

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The count of games missed, meanwhile, has risen to 22 and will be updated by another match tomorrow. Tatarusanu managed to keep the door barred in his last two outings, between Toro and Tottenham, after a chilling January, and the San Siro applauded him for the confidence he showed against Kane and his teammates in the Champions League. The fact remains that with Magic Mike in goal it’s a whole different story: the fans know it and Milan know it. Who regrouped at the right time: dear Mike, if not now when?