The cidellas, umlauts and fadas have scared the bejaysus out of me already!!
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The cidellas, umlauts and fadas have scared the bejaysus out of me already!!
I think you are underselling Çalhanoğlu there. He has a very good career in the Bundesliga under his belt, 100+ league games for Hamburg and Leverkusen. I'm shocked to see how long he has been in Milan, over 100 games for them in Serie A already. He has an absolute hammer for a right foot, and is well known for his long distance free kicks.
Hes also got 48 caps for Turkey and hes only 26.
I'm also shocked that Donarumma is only 21, hes been around for ages, but that makes sense when I think baout it, he was only 16 when he made his debut.
Simon Kjaer is another name I'd single out. Hes probably past his best at this point or approaching it. 95 caps for Denmark, long career with medium/big clubs in Italy, Spain, France Germany and Turkey.
I think it’s wrong to portray Milan as a team on a downward curve. As mentioned previously that’s not a reflection of their recent significant and sustained improvement, they have been the form team in Italy for several months.
They are not the European powerhouse of the noughties but likewise neither are the likes Manchester Utd but there are very very few bigger clubs in the world (you might be able to just about use one hand to count them) and Milan are very much amongst the favourites to win the entire competition and will see it as an alternative route back to the Champions League given an improving and increasingly competitive Serie A.
It will be the miracle of all footballing miracles if Rovers even lay a glove on them and unfortunately given the circumstances de jure it is truely an awful draw in every way.
We'll see how good donna summer is in the penos tho. I trust Super Al to do his thing, eventually.
I'm gonna say 16/15 to Rovers on penos. I feel love.
Rovers home draw against AC Milan has a certain resemblance to LASK LInz' home draw vs Man United. Happened right at the start of lockdown. Their supposedly big money-spinning home draw plays out in an empty stadium, and they lose 5-0. Sadly, can't see anything different to that for Shamrock Rovers. I only hope Milan don't take them seriously at all, and somehow Rovers themselves play with freedom and shackles off, almost like a League 2 team in the FA CUP against a Premier League team. Sadly, that's quite unlikely, but it will still be a fascinating match to watch.
If Rovers do happen to win on Thursday, it'll become the footballng equivalent of the GPO - with thousands claiming they were at the match years later :D
If Rovers do win on Thursday i will have to buy a new hat as i will have eaten the current one :)
Happy but with indigestion....and a hangover
If Rovers win I will happily and without complaint, wear a Rover jersey to the next game between our 2 clubs when crowds are allowed back. Assuming I could find one to borrow of course.
U might buy me a hat :)
Interesting how this pans out, if Rovers win and there is a chance, slim still, but its one off, how will this rate in terms of LOI results in Europe.
Plenty of criteria to list, from biggest clubs, to more advanced rounds in Europe, plenty of examples too from Bohs 3-2 win over Rangers, to Cork drawing 1-1 to Bayern, Shels 3-2 v Hajduk, Shels 0-0 v Deportivo, Pats 0-0 away to Celtic, Rovers first to qualify for group stages, Dundalk first club to win an away euro tie (1963), Dundalk also first to win and draw in group stages, there has to be more and more.
For a 'scalp' this is up there for a right go but how will it compare?
It'd be bigger (in terms of comparative size of the opponent) than anything Rovers have achieved. Not sure how you'd weight that against the importance of the game: Milan are a much bigger team than Partizan but beating them wouldn't qualify us for anything.
Bigger then anything else
Talk of Rovers league form and position meaning they can enjoy the game against Milan is interesting. A team with nothing to lose can be real banana skin and a free hit with only one match. I just hope that the game isnt lost on a complete LoI like howler.....gone a bit soft on Rovers of recent I think so a howler might be a bit funny:p
Realistic assessment would be anything other than a 4 or 5 goal defeat is unlikely.
Milan finished the Italian league in form and are full of level 1 players. A trouncing for rovers with us on top of the league will play nicely with the anti loi set.
Here is hoping we play at our best levels and keep it decent
If Rovers were to win, in my books it wouldn’t be as impressive as Athlone's 0-0 draw with AC Milan given that the gulf between those two sides at the time was much bigger than a good rovers side by LOI standards playing against a Milan side that have been very poor by their standards for years now and haven’t been in the champions league in 7 seasons
If a shark and a tiger mate, would it be known as a Thark or a Shiger?