Milan, attack warning: without Leao or Giroud it’s hard

The rest of the squad, up front, has not arrived. Ibrahimovic, for example, is loaded. It’s a show to hear him say that “until three weeks ago the sensations weren’t positive, then something happened and I did more in three weeks than in the last eight months”. It comforts, invites optimism, Pioli himself on the eve of Florence described him as a potential starter, but we are still talking about a 41-year-old player who has been out for nine months. The current playing time is about half an hour and, in addition to the minutes, there is a need to regain familiarity with the intensity of the match. With the speed of execution, which makes the difference for an attacker. In short, we all agree that Zlatan is always Milan’s Mister Wolf, but reasonableness is needed. If Ibra is trying to leave a mark in what could (should) be his last season as a player, there are two team-mates who – shall we say – convey different sensations to the outside.

Constance

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Let’s say that in the case of Rebic and Origi – almost 15 million gross salaries per season – they seem to be quite far from the competitive ferocity that Ibra puts in his approach to work. Because, net of the various physical inconveniences they ran into during the season, such a precarious condition in the month of March leads us to think that both struggled to give consistency in their weekly work. The list of physical flaws, of course, is long. Rebic was struggling with a herniated disc and an adductor injury that caused him to miss ten games, Origi arrived in the summer already battered from Liverpool and then stopped three more times: first with tendon inflammation and then for a flexor problem. Total Games Missed: Eight. In short, in both cases a fair number of games have been spent in the infirmary, but Milan have played 34 so far: it was reasonable to expect another contribution when they were called into question. Also because it is not a question of simply chiaroscuro performances, but on the verge of embarrassment like yesterday in Florence. In London on Wednesday there will be both Leao and Giroud, and Pioli will return to the (more or less) safe used, waiting for whoever is behind to finally strike a blow sooner or later.