We would win the Italian derby of the Europa League with corner kicks
The Europa League is important for both teams, but maybe more for one of them.
There will be an Italian home derby between the quarter-finals of the Europa League if there is no Italian team in the Champions League. So there will definitely be an Italian team in the last 4, but even Atalanta have a chance. But now let’s see what can be expected in the Milan first leg.
There are few complaints about the form of the teams, as Milan have won all their games since the beginning of March, while Roma have resurged with Daniele De Rossi. The Wolves have not conceded a goal in their last three league games (although in the case of the dreadful game against Lecce, it’s hard to put anything positive in writing), and the crown has been added to in recent weeks with the defeat of Lazio. The success was much needed for Lukaku’s side, as it gave Roma 2 points at Bologna in the battle for 4th place, plus they can pick up another point in Udine this weekend.
And maybe that’s the factor that made us suggest that EL might not be a real priority for Roma right now. After all, if you look at the field, you can safely say that Milan, Liverpool, Leverkusen and possibly even Benfica are better teams than Roma, so it seems easier to get 3 points off Bologna than to fight 3 more games with 3 wins.
For the Rossoneri, it’s a little more difficult, as they are really neither ahead nor behind, although a good Juve run could push Stefano Pioli’s side off the top ten. But Milan have been very convincing of late, so we’re living with the suspicion that they’re going for the trophy and want to give Olivier Giroud, for example, a good send-off.
This season all the points have gone to Milan, Roma last beat the industrial city 4.5 years ago, since then Milan’s record is 6-3-0 in 9 games.
As for the expected starting line-up, Tomori is suspended, Pobega and Kalulu are injured, while on the other side Azmoun and Ndicka are out. In any case, quality is guaranteed, with Leao and Giroud on one side and Dybala, Lukaku and El Shaarawy on the other.
A top match needs a star referee
It’s been a very tough recent run of fixtures for these teams, with no less than 51 cards in their last 6 league games, a massive low average of 8.5. So it’s understandable that the honour should go to Clément Turpin, who hasn’t refereed a match in the EL for over a year.
Anything is possible for Turpin though, he’s only given out 16 cards in his last 8 club games, so we wouldn’t dare to go for the 5.5 limit on penalty cards on offer.
What could be a good bet from 20bet’s offer is a corner idea. We’re not expecting any really brave attacking football in a away game, plus there haven’t been many corner kicks in recent games. Milan at home and Roma away average relatively few corner kicks, so we’ll take advantage of the 9.5 line.