The Malta Independent 25 May 2024, Saturday
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Milan Look to bounce back against Udinese today

Malta Independent Saturday, 11 February 2012, 00:00 Last update: about 13 years ago

Milan travel to Udinese today looking to get their season back on track, while Serie A leaders Juventus visit Bologna a day later - if the weather permits.

Milan have not won in their last three games and lost the first leg of its Italian Cup semifinal 2-1 at home to Juventus on Wednesday.

“We’re not going through a good and lucky period at the moment,” Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “But we have to remain calm. We have to hope some of our injured players come back as soon as possible, also to give those who are playing all the time a bit of rest.

“These are the players that we have available to us at the moment, they’re all doing good things, but we need to pay more attention to mistakes. We knew that Juventus would be dangerous on the counterattack, just like Udinese will be, so we have to be more careful.”

The Serie A champions will also be without talismanic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he sits out the first of his three-game ban for striking an opponent.

Udinese have not lost a home game all season, winning 10 of their 11 matches at the Stadio Friuli and another victory would see them draw level with second-placed Milan.

Juventus sit a point above Milan in the standings, having played a game less.

Martin Caceres enjoyed a perfect second debut for Juventus when he scored both goals against Milan. Caceres spent the 2009-10 season on loan at Juve, and returned to the Serie A giant - again on a temporary basis - last month.

“I’m very happy for myself but also for the squad, which got an important victory,” Caceres said. “Juventus plays well and Antonio Conte’s type of football is perfect for me.

“We’ll take it game by game and then if we manage to win something, that’s even better.”

Juventus remains unbeaten and should prove too much for struggling Bologna, which sits just five points above the drop zone but has drawn its past four matches.

However, the match could be disrupted by the weather - with heavy snow predicted to fall continuously in Bologna. Fiorentina’s game at Parma tomorrow afternoon is also in the balance, while Roma’s match at Siena on Monday evening could be brought forward a few hours because of the icy conditions.

Inter probably wish their game at Roma last week was affected by the weather as Claudio Ranieri’s men lost 4-0. That was Inter’s fourth game without a win in all competitions and it will be looking to bounce back against rock-bottom Novara tomorrow.

Inter are likely to be boosted by the return of Dutch playmaker Wesley Sneijder, who missed the Roma game due to injury.

Novara have just 13 points from 22 games and need a miracle to stay up. Lecce is three points from safety and will be more hopeful of escaping the drop. They face Atalanta tomorrow, while the other team in the drop zone, Cesena, played Lazio on Thursday, losing 3-2 after having led 2-0.

Tomorrow’s other game sees Catania host Genoa. Chievo visitsNapoli on Monday and Cagliari entertain Palermo today.

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