First leg of the semi final, I really want to see us get through, try and take the double this season. We need to close this one out in the San Siro, because I can't see us winning away to the cursed Palermo ground, that's a sure loss for us

Is Zlatan's suspension a domestic ban or league ban, can he play in this?

Yes, he can.

Agreed with Han's assessment. We need to wrap this up in the first leg, and yes, this one is a must win (along with the Scudetto) now that we have got this far in the semis, as well as dropping out of the CL early. Palermo can be a slippery customer, but I believe we'll get the best of them.

2-0 or 3-0 please, and emphasis on the "0". The defense and particularly the CBs have to be extra alert!

Any word on Nesta?

I'm 100% sure Allegri will keep Nesta out for this one and get Yepes in.

Also, nobody is mentioning Abbiati? What happened to him?
If Pirlo is ready, I'd rest Seedorf and give Andrea the start as captain, while swapping Gattuso with Flamini as well.

Abbiati injured his knee,I'm not sure how long will he stay out.Amelia should be fine.I'd play like this:

Amelia
Abate--Sokratis/Yepes--Thiago--Zambro
Pirlo--Bommel--Urby
Boateng
Ibra--Robinho/Cassano


I just hope Allegri will stick with one defensive midfielder.I'm pretty sure Urby can defend specially since he played in a fullback position with Ajax.Pirlo/Boateng combo or even Seedorf/Boateng will be good to see as usual.I just hope Allegri isn't thinking about putting Pirlo in a defensive midfield position,specially since we have lots of dms.This maybe a game where Strasser can play too.But,since we're out of the CL,we better put our best formations in the serie A and Coppa italia.So,preferably Van Bommel should play.

Also,Ibra has to play these matches,because of his bans.The only question,is Robinho or Cassano.Pretty hard pick...both would do well,I suppose though.

I'd opt to play Cassano with Ibra and bring on Robinho later on in the game.

With regards to Pirlo being played 'as a DM' I can hardly recall such a situation, but rather in his usual deep lying player maker role. That being said I would prefer to see him in a more advanced position along side the like of VB.

Football-Italia seems to think he should be good enough to make the squad for Wed's game. While I wouldn't put my head on a brick for a FI report, I wouldn't dismiss the idea, as his injury didn't look that serious to begin with.

I am hardly worried about Abiati at this point as I think he will be back before becoming necessary.

+1
Brilliant formation, though, in typical conservative manor, I would rather see Papa/Leggro start instead of Thiago Silva. I would hate if we go down the strech without Nesta & Thiago. Look what became of Inter without their CBs...

Agreed, the only thing I don't agree with is playing Pirlo there. Pirlo has barely played the position this season, he was amazing when he was fit playing in the position Seedorf is currently occupying, and that is where he should be playing, he becomes a liability in the DM position these days, especially now when he's just come back from a long lay off.

I'd go with a Flamini, VB, Pirlo/Seedorf midfield. And I'm hoping really hard for Allegri to go with it, because I have a feeling that he has it in his head where it's an either/or thing with Pirlo and VB, that only one can play who occupies the position in front of the defense and imo that is just BS, we need both in that midfield for this final run in

Aslo, I think I'd give Urby the chance at LB instead of Antonini, who has gone downhill this season

A decimated Milan face Palermo for the Coppa Italia semi-final on Wednesday, missing the likes of Alessandro Nesta, Alexandre Pato and Mark Van Bommel.

The Rossoneri claim they are taking this trophy very seriously indeed, but injuries are causing a headache for Coach Massimiliano Allegri.

Those not called up for tomorrow’s match are Gianluca Zambrotta, Mario Yepes, Van Bommel, Christian Abbiati, Massimo Ambrosini, Daniele Bonera, Pippo Inzaghi, Marek Jankulovski, Nesta and Pato.

The absence of Yepes is a particular blow, as he has been the replacement during Nesta’s injury.

It therefore seems as if Sokratis Papastathopoulos or Nicola Legrottaglie will take centre-back roles.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is available, though, as his three-match ban only applies to Serie A. He sat out the first of those three games in the 3-0 win over Sampdoria.

Milan squad: Amelia, Roma, Piscitelli, Abate, Antonini, Legrottaglie, Oddo, Papastathopoulos, Thiago Silva, Boateng, Emanuelson, Flamini, Gattuso, Merkel, Pirlo, Seedorf, Strasser, Beretta, Cassano, Ibrahimovic, Robinho





We shall see sokratis!awesome.Maybe strasser as van bommel replacement.

I miss Broochi

Hahah. Šimić, Brocchi, Roque Junior, Tomasson,...those and a few other who would pop out in such occasions and usual play a good game.

You forgot Pancaro

We'll be feilding a full strength side, so we won't be seeing Merkel, Boateng will play behind the strikers, Abate will play at RB, while Rino will most likely play instead of Urby. Pirlo I think will slip back into his deep role with Rino and Flamini either side of him.

My only question mark in terms of who Allegri will choose is between Cassano and Robs

We are resting MVB, Yepes and Zambro who are not in the squad so it's not a full strength side already. Further changes are not out of question.

Hope we field a reserve side for this meagre competition. Nice enough to win but not at the expense of losing players to needless injury for the Scudetto run in.

Inter beat Roma 1:0 at Olimpico. Would be great to trash merda in the final and leave them trophyless.

I think those players were held back for a reason other then being rested, they might have some fitness problems and were not ready to play. It's not like Yepes is a crucial figure for us, if that were the case it would have made more sense to rest Thiago.

Other then those 3, we'll see the best team out there, I'm sure of it. Seedorf might be on the bench but we have Pirlo coming back so...

As for fielding the reserves, and not giving our all for it. This season we have a real chance to not only win a major piece of silverware, but to also win the Coppa. I want to see us winning both. Milan have been in the shadows for far too long. I want us to accomplish something of note this season. After the long drought, the Serie A and the Coppa would be great achievments for us.

Also, this attitude is the reason why the domestic cup in Italy has such a bad rep. Teams not giving a sh!t about it. In England teams give there all in their domestic cups, that's why they are considered of more value at the end of the day, because you don't have teams fielding their reserves for it

True. I want us to go for both this year, starting with this very match against Palermo. If we get a good results in this we will have one foot in the final. And since our blue-and-black neighbors are already in the final, it would be sweet if we can have one more match against inter this season.

And beat the cr@p out of them again

Yeah, that too!

You obviously don't follow English football that closely.

When have you ever seen any of the teams playin their reserves in an FA Cup semi final? I know I haven't ever seen it happening unless it was a necessary change

compare coppa with carling cup not FA cup

Both are domestic cups. The FA Cup is obviously more important, the Coppa Italia should be treated the same since it is the only domestic cup in Italy

well their combined age is over 100...

Quick, someone put him in the piranha tank!

Any word on the official line up ?

MILAN: Amelia, Oddo, Thiago Silva, Papastathopoulos, Antonini, Seedorf, Pirlo, Flamini, Boateng, Ibrahimovic, Cassano.

PALERMO: Sirigu, Cassani, Goian, Bovo, Balzaretti, Migliaccio,Acquah, Nocerino, Pinilla, Pastore, Hernandez.

Wow, that's quite an offensive line-up.

Was just thinking the same thing. Risky imo against Palermo

Any streams?I don't care about quality...cause my internet sucks.

http://www.sport-vids.eu/channel8.html
http://watchprem.com/channel5

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1-0 Milan ... Let's lock this win in the first half, so I can go watch Xavi & friends

Grande Sokratis

**** i just started watching it 1-1

I see why Allegri doesn't play sokratis.

nice defending bythe greek

Well, he hasn't played for what, 2 months or even more? What's there to expect?

Awful referee so far invisible offsides agaisnt us, no calls, i got a bad feeling

Two penalties in our favor and none of them were called ... I can see where this fixture is going

The defense looks horrible. The FBs are woeful, Oddo and Antonini should go take a nap Sokratis is playing as expected, when someone doesn't get any match action for months they're bound to look awkward and just plain bad out there.

Why Allegri chose to play Oddo when Abate is available I'll never understand.

Also we're really struggling without VB in that midfield, the team has started to rely on him a lot in the way they play, and Pirlo just does not provide that type of cover, especially a Pirlo who has been out for months. Seedorf looks fried, he was the one who should have been rested not F%$£"& Abate!!! The 20 something Abate gets a rest and 34 year old Seedorf has to play 3 days after he played a full 90 Genius stuff there

I'd bring in Abate and Robinho for Oddo, and Seedorf, move Boateng back in midfield and let Robinho run rings around this terrible Palermo defense.

Great goal from Ibra though, glad to see he hasn't lost his scoring touch completely

I disagree regarding Antonini, he has pretty much been the only one who takes it out of our zone and hasn't made bad decisions with it, beatting Cassani (italian NT & palermo captain) on several occasions.

I've seen him make bad passes, his marking is questionable, I mean what was he doing when he let Pastore run past him so easily during that second shot he put in that went just wide?

Both FBs are a liability, sure Antonini can run forward, but his game has regressed to just that, sprinting forward. He's taken over from Abate in that respect

Anyways, If we have any hope of going through we need to win this at home, today. And scoe 2 more goals at the least, because we won't be doing the business in Scicily, I'm 100% sure of that