AC Milan will try to recover its two goals behind Inter in the semi-final return of the Champions League, Tuesday, with the hope of finding Rafael Leao, absent in the first leg (2-0), but especially a soaring enthusiasm.
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The tifosi rossoneri felt that it was time to be heard to boost the morale of a team at the gates of the final of the Champions League but also very far from being assured of being able to play the next C1 after its crushing defeat Saturday in La Spezia (2-0) in the league. On Sunday, hundreds of them were in front of Milanello, the club's training center, with flags and banners.
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The day before, at the end of the match lost in Liguria, all the players and their coach Stefano Pioli had gone to see the fans, staying several minutes at the bottom of the stand to listen to the "speech" of one of the leaders of the Milan ultras. "We will play a game that can make history, we must believe in our chances of beating Inter," said Stefano Pioli after this meeting, aware that his team had to "do better" than in the "last two games". In four days, Milan has indeed seen the final of Istanbul move away, after the deserved defeat in the first leg against Inter, but also its chances of finishing the Serie A season in the top four: the 2022 Italian champions are 5th with four points behind Lazio (4th), three days from the end.
Leao 'is getting better
»Suffice to say that Olivier Giroud and his family want to be forgiven before this fifth Milan derby of the season, after the two in the league (one victory each) and the Italian Super Cup (3-0 victory). The Rossoneri have won only one of their last five games, in all competitions, and have mostly appeared short of legs, caught up at the end of the season by a limited choice to make the starters breathe, especially because of disappointing recruits (De Ketelaere, Origi, Adli). Pioli also lost an important element in the first leg with Ismaël Bennacer (knee).
Here with Stefano Pioli, will Rafael Leao show the way to the final at AC Milan? ISABELLA BONOTTO / AFP
In this dark landscape, hope holds in one name: Rafael Leao. Absent in the first leg because of discomfort in the right thigh, the Portuguese, decisive in the quarters against Napoli (1-0, 1-1), "is better", assured Monday the coach, confident on a start, before the last training.
Lukaku with confidence
Opposite, the nerazzurri fans did not need to ring the general mobilization as morale has been high for a month: Inter has recovered in the league by returning to the podium, qualified for the final of the Coppa Italia (May 24 against Fiorentina) and can dream of a fourth victory in the Champions League. Unlike rivals Milan, the nerazzurro club have never looked so fit, staying on a seven-game winning streak by scoring an average of three goals.
The awakening of Romelu Lukaku, finally rid of his physical problems that disrupted his start of the season, is obviously not for nothing: the Belgian, returned demoralized from his failed World Cup, has regained confidence (seven goals since the beginning of April), even if he should be a substitute as in the first leg on Tuesday.
The probable future defender of Paris SG Milan Skriniar, operated on the back at the end of April, remains the only absentee of an Inter who will try to manage its advantage of the first leg, as it had done in 1/8 against Porto (1-0, 0-0) then in the quarters against Benfica (2-0, 3-3). "We haven't done anything yet, it would be a big mistake to believe it, it's going to be a derby against Milanwho want to do something extraordinary," defender Francesco Acerbi said. With a supreme reward to go for: a first C1 final since 2010, when it conquered the last Champions League in Italian football, under the direction of Jose Mourinho.