Seven Keys to the AS Roma-AC Milan Match

The most antic­i­pated match-up of the week­end is the AS Roma-AC Milan con­test to decide which club can chal­lenge Inter for the top spot in Serie A.  While the loser still has an out­side shot at the scud­etto, an Inter vic­tory over Genoa would make it a tough task.

Rather than a tra­di­tional post rehash­ing strengths and weak­nesses, here are the quick seven keys to the match:

1. Who will step up for Pato: The loss of the young Brazil­ian is huge for this match.  Not only was he lead­ing the club in goals, but he has been a key to the resur­gence of Ronald­inho.  Milan has Bor­riello, Hunte­laar, and other big names, but when that go-ahead goal is needed will they be able to be the unstop­pable threat Milan may need?
2. The Milan Brazil­ians: Ronald­inho has been dom­i­nat­ing the pitch as of late; even in the loss to Man­ches­ter United it could be argued that he was the best player on the pitch that day (although Wayne Rooney might argue against that).  Thi­ago Silva needs to have a good match to pre­vent scor­ing chances for Roma.  A major weak­ness this year has been the incon­sis­tent play of Milan’s defenders.
3. Roma’s Injury Sit­u­a­tion: Luca Toni will make his antic­i­pated return for this match.  David Pizarro is avail­able to play.  How­ever, Francesco Totti will not be avail­able.  Can Vucinic pro­vide the scor­ing threat that Roma may need if Toni is still rusty?
4. Roma’s sud­den defen­sive slip: In the Europa League last Thurs­day Roma gave up three goals in six min­utes to Panathi­naikos, lead­ing to their elim­i­na­tion from the com­pe­ti­tion.  Last week­end they gave up a two goal lead and had to set­tle for a draw against Napoli.  Were these con­sec­u­tive defen­sive mishaps anom­alies or the sign of a big­ger problem?
5. Leonardo’s game plan: He’s 0–2 ver­sus Inter Milan.  He’s a rookie man­ager that has come under crit­i­cism from man­age­ment.  The eas­i­est way to ease crit­i­cism is to fig­ure out a way to gain three crit­i­cal points.  Fail­ure to do so will only ratchet up that criticism.
6. The crowd: Sta­dio Olimpico is already sold out in antic­i­pa­tion of this match.  Roma has not lost a Serie A match at home this sea­son and is 11–0-2 over­all.  AC Milan’s away record in Serie A is an impres­sive 7–4-2, and how they han­dle the par­ti­san crowd could carry-over to their mid-week match at Man­ches­ter United.
7. Milan fac­ing dou­ble elim­i­na­tion:  One advan­tage for Roma is with their Europa League elim­i­na­tion, this match is for their sea­son.  No points means no chance at a title.  The equa­tion is dif­fer­ent for Milan, how­ever.  Will they be look­ing ahead to their match mid-week against Man­ches­ter United?  A loss in this match and the Cham­pi­ons League means no titles for this high-profile club.  Which title means more?  Will Milan be going all out, or could they want to save a bit for their United match?

Tagged as: AC Milan, Alexandre Pato, AS Roma, Francesco Totti, Genoa, Inter Milan, Leonardo, Luca Toni, Mirko Vucinic, Napoli, Ronaldinho, scudetto, Stadio Olimpico, Thiago Silva