David Beckham will get plenty of headlines when he arrives in Milan on Saturday but his new temporary employers will probably be wishing he could take to the pitch against Udinese a day later rather than watching the game from the stands.
AC Milan have been beset by injury problems to key players this season and are sweating over the return of Kaka ahead of this weekend's match. And with Andrea Pirlo forced off at half-time during Wednesday's 2-2 UEFA Cup draw against VfL Wolfsburg, and Gennaro Gattuso out probably for the rest of the season, now would be a good time to blood the former England captain.
However, Beckham cannot start playing for Milan until the January transfer window opens, and in the meantime, coach Carlo Ancelotti shows no sign of letting up his complaints about injury problems. "This is a difficult time for us because we've been decimated by injuries, which prevents us from taking to the pitch with the team we want to or from playing our best," said Ancelotti.
As well as Pirlo coming off against Wolfsburg, on-loan Switzerland centre-back Philippe Senderos lasted only eight minutes. "Senderos had a classic back spasm, Pirlo felt a muscle problem and, given the current emergency, it was better not to risk him after the break, and on top of that (Clarence) Seedorf (who played the full 90 minutes) hurt his knee.
"We need to stand strong and deal with these problems and the next few days will be very important to prepare for the Udinese challenge. Individually everyone is giving their all, but it's very difficult to play under these conditions because we're forced to play several players out of position."
Sober assessment
However, Kaka, Pirlo, Seedorf and even France midfielder Mathieu Flamini all look likely to be fit at the weekend, leaving only long-term absentees Alessandro Nesta, Gattuso, Marco Borriello and now Senderos missing. But while Ancelotti has bemoaned his sick-list, midfielder Massimo Ambrosini had a more sober assessment of Milan's predicament. "If we want to win things, this team has to overcome this difficult period," he said.
Sunday's visit of Udinese is thus a must win game for Milan, although with a nine point deficit to champions, leaders and bitter city rivals Inter Milan, every match will be until they have drastically shortened the gap.
The plus side for Milan is that Udinese are the team in the worst current form in Serie A, having not won in seven matches since topping the table in early November. However, they did show glimpses of returning to form by sprinting out to a 3-0 lead over Lazio last week, before their defensive frailties came back to haunt them and they were pegged back to 3-3.
In other matches, Inter travel to Siena on Saturday night while second-placed Juventus face a trip to Bergamo to play Atalanta. AS Roma defend an eight-game winning run, including five in Serie A, as they travel to Sicily to face Catania hoping to put more pressure on the teams holding European qualification places.
Third-placed Napoli have a tricky trip to Torino, while fifth-placed Fiorentina travel to Genoa to face Sampdoria. That match will pit Serie A joint-top goalscorer Alberto Gilardino against Sampdoria captain and mercurial genius Antonio Cassano, a challenge Gilardino is looking forward to.
"Antonio Cassano is an exceptional talent, a player who in any moment can produce something incredible. In my opinion he should be in the Italy squad," said the former Parma and AC Milan forward.
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David Beckham will get plenty of headlines when he arrives in Milan on Saturday but his new temporary employers will probably be wishing he could take to the pitch against Udinese a day later rather than watching the game from the stands.
AC Milan have been beset by injury problems to key players this season and are sweating over the return of Kaka ahead of this weekend's match. And with Andrea Pirlo forced off at half-time during Wednesday's 2-2 UEFA Cup draw against VfL Wolfsburg, and Gennaro Gattuso out probably for the rest of the season, now would be a good time to blood the former England captain.
However, Beckham cannot start playing for Milan until the January transfer window opens, and in the meantime, coach Carlo Ancelotti shows no sign of letting up his complaints about injury problems. "This is a difficult time for us because we've been decimated by injuries, which prevents us from taking to the pitch with the team we want to or from playing our best," said Ancelotti.
As well as Pirlo coming off against Wolfsburg, on-loan Switzerland centre-back Philippe Senderos lasted only eight minutes. "Senderos had a classic back spasm, Pirlo felt a muscle problem and, given the current emergency, it was better not to risk him after the break, and on top of that (Clarence) Seedorf (who played the full 90 minutes) hurt his knee.
"We need to stand strong and deal with these problems and the next few days will be very important to prepare for the Udinese challenge. Individually everyone is giving their all, but it's very difficult to play under these conditions because we're forced to play several players out of position."
Sober assessment
However, Kaka, Pirlo, Seedorf and even France midfielder Mathieu Flamini all look likely to be fit at the weekend, leaving only long-term absentees Alessandro Nesta, Gattuso, Marco Borriello and now Senderos missing. But while Ancelotti has bemoaned his sick-list, midfielder Massimo Ambrosini had a more sober assessment of Milan's predicament. "If we want to win things, this team has to overcome this difficult period," he said.
Sunday's visit of Udinese is thus a must win game for Milan, although with a nine point deficit to champions, leaders and bitter city rivals Inter Milan, every match will be until they have drastically shortened the gap.
The plus side for Milan is that Udinese are the team in the worst current form in Serie A, having not won in seven matches since topping the table in early November. However, they did show glimpses of returning to form by sprinting out to a 3-0 lead over Lazio last week, before their defensive frailties came back to haunt them and they were pegged back to 3-3.
In other matches, Inter travel to Siena on Saturday night while second-placed Juventus face a trip to Bergamo to play Atalanta. AS Roma defend an eight-game winning run, including five in Serie A, as they travel to Sicily to face Catania hoping to put more pressure on the teams holding European qualification places.
Third-placed Napoli have a tricky trip to Torino, while fifth-placed Fiorentina travel to Genoa to face Sampdoria. That match will pit Serie A joint-top goalscorer Alberto Gilardino against Sampdoria captain and mercurial genius Antonio Cassano, a challenge Gilardino is looking forward to.
"Antonio Cassano is an exceptional talent, a player who in any moment can produce something incredible. In my opinion he should be in the Italy squad," said the former Parma and AC Milan forward.
