Former Milan midfielder and head coach Cristian Brocchi is hopeful the Rossoneri can maintain their charge for a drought-ending Serie A title as they vie for domestic silverware with neighbours Inter.
Milan have not won the Scudetto since 2011, but the Italian giants top the table at the halfway stage of the season – two points clear of Inter despite a 3-0 humbling at the hands of Atalanta.
Following years of pain, Stefano Pioli's Milan and their fans are daring to dream as they rise to the summit of Italian football once again.
Monza head coach Brocchi was part of the successful Milan era between 2001 and 2008, after a brief spell with city rivals Inter, winning two Champions League titles, the Scudetto, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana.
While Brocchi attempts to lead Monza from Serie B to the top flight this season, the 44-year-old's heart still beats for boyhood club Milan as they prepare for Tuesday's blockbuster Coppa Italia quarter-final against Inter.
Brocchi, who oversaw seven matches in charge of Milan before being replaced by Vincenzo Montella in 2016, told Stats Perform News: "Milan are a family for me.
"I arrived there at nine, was in the all the youth ranks. I won everything with Milan and when I quit I managed to be Milan's coach for a short period. I will never feel colder toward Milan.
"I root for them, watch every game and hopefully, as they are doing great, they can go on down this path."
Milan have already beaten Inter in 2020-21 – a three-minute brace from Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the Rossoneri past the Nerazzurri 2-1 in October's Serie A showdown.
The two teams will meet again at San Siro, where a Coppa Italia semi-final berth is on the line amid an intriguing title race, with nine-time reigning champions Juventus, Roma, Atalanta and Napoli also vying for honours.
Brocchi is no stranger to the Derby della Madonnina, having also experienced the build-up from the opposing side during his stint with Inter in 2000-01.
"First of all, I think the most beautiful derby ever played was the one in the Champions League semi-final in 2003 [Milan prevailed on away goals after a 1-1 draw]. It was the ultimate derby for adrenaline and all the feelings you can feel," Brocchi said ahead of Monday's Serie B showdown with Brescia.
"The Milan derby is emotional, everybody wants to win and even if now it will be played without public, it still gives us great feelings."
All eyes will be on Ibrahimovic in Milan, where the 39-year-old continues to defy his age to inspire a title charge this term.
Ibrahimovic, who re-joined Milan from LA Galaxy in January 2020 having featured in the last Rossoneri team to celebrate league success almost a decade ago, has scored 12 goals in just nine Serie A matches this season.
After scoring twice in a 2-0 win over Cagliari on January 18, it meant Ibrahimovic managed to find the back of the net in nine successive starts for the first time in his career in Europe's top five leagues.
Ibrahimovic – who made his 600th career appearance (excluding playoffs) in the loss to Atalanta – is just two goals shy of reaching the 500 mark in club football.
"Strong players have no age as long as they feel fine. Ibra is an example, he is still strong physically," Brocchi continued.
"He is serving with character and class all the young player at Milan, who as I said before for us [Monza] with [Mario] Balotelli and [Kevin-Prince] Boateng. We have young players that can run for them too.
"Milan did the same. They assembled a squad of youngsters full of enthusiasm, legs and speed with a strong leader, Ibra, who is still at the top of his game and can be the icing on the cake of this winning choice."
New England Revolution v CF Montreal: Courtois targets strong mental approach
CF Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois has urged his players to prioritise their mental approach when they travel to New England Revolution on Wednesday.
Montreal snapped a four-match winless streak in MLS at the weekend with a 2-1 win over Charlotte FC, but they have registered back-to-back victories in the league since March.
They sit 12th in the Eastern Conference but still have an outside chance of making the playoffs if they can string together a run of positive results.
Courtois did not get over-excited by the win over Charlotte and is already looking at how to improve to get another three points on the board.
"I am happy, we are talking about things that are positive, but for me, there are always both [no matter the result]," Courtois said.
"It comes down to the mental approach. The message got through [against Charlotte], but if we look at the details, we could have conceded again, and then we would be talking about something else entirely."
Meanwhile, New England are bottom of the table, three points worse off than their opponents.
They suffered a 3-0 loss to Orlando City last time out and are now winless in three matches, but assistant coach Pablo Moreira is confident they can bounce back.
"All three goals were given up on set pieces, which is a tough one to swallow, and then through the run of play. So, [we'll] just build off of the positives and look forward to the game Wednesday," Moreira said, as quoted in the Blazing Musket.
"It's more that mentality after [conceding] and trying to improve that."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New England Revolution – Aljaz Ivacic
Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Orlando was the 12th time this season New England have lost a regular season match by multiple goals, the most such losses this MLS season.
The 12 multi-goal losses are New England's most in a single season in club history, and Aljaz Ivacic will be desperate to keep a clean sheet.
CF Montreal – Josef Martinez
Josef Martinez has scored eight career regular-season goals against New England, tied for his most against any MLS opponent (D.C. United, Orlando).
No player has scored more goals against the Revs over the last 10 MLS seasons.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION WIN
New England and Montreal have each won three of the last six meetings in the fixture. The Revs scored 13 goals in their three wins while failing to score in the three defeats.
The Revolution are winless in three straight regular-season home matches (D2 L1). It has been four years since they went four straight home league games without a win (D4 L1 from March-September 2020).
However, Montreal are winless in 14 straight away matches in all competitions (D4 L10), including losing their last three away from home. Montreal's only longer road winless run in all competitions since joining MLS in 2011 was a 34-match run in 2013-14.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New England Revolution – 52.5%
Draw – 24.3%
CF Montreal – 23.2%
Jorginho: Arsenal players laughing at Haaland form for Man City
Jorginho has said the form of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is making him and his Arsenal team-mates laugh ahead of next weekend's meeting.
Haaland netted two more goals for City in Saturday's 2-1 comeback win over Brentford at the Etihad Stadium to maintain his side's perfect start.
That took the striker to nine goals across City's first four Premier League games this season - the most any player has scored in the competition's history at this stage.
Arsenal are the next side tasked with attempting to keep Haaland quiet in next weekend's showdown between the division's top-two sides.
Despite Haaland's superb form to begin the campaign, Jorginho insists Arsenal are unfazed heading into Sunday's battle in Manchester.
"Erling scoring again... it is starting to make us laugh," he said. "We look because we watch all the games and we love the Premier League.
"We watch [City] as well, which is normal. It doesn't get to our head. We need to focus on us and that is what we are trying to do."
Last season's runners-up Arsenal are two points behind early pacesetters City after winning three and drawing one of their opening four matches.
Mikel Arteta's men managed to grind out a 1-0 win in their North London derby with Tottenham at the weekend thanks to a Gabriel header.
Arsenal were without key midfield pair Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, owing to suspension and injury respectively, but still got the job done.
"You learn more about each other," said Jorginho, who replaced Rice in midfield. "Everyone wants to improve and wants the best for the team.
"When you put the team in first place I think just good things can happen. Keep believing in what you are doing. I think we are on the right way."
Arsenal travel to Atalanta for their opening Champions League game on Thursday, but one eye is undoubtedly on the trip to City three days later.
"If you want to achieve big things you need to have the mentality of trying to win every single game," Jorginho said.
"That is what we need to do and that is what we want to do. That is what we are trying to do. You need to keep in this way.
"Keep believing in what you're doing. We are believing in what we are doing and we keep working hard to improve on what we need to improve."
Minnesota United v FC Cincinnati: Consistency the key for playoffs, says Noonan
FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan is striving for consistency from his players after confirming their place in the MLS playoffs.
Noonan’s side were held to a goalless draw against Leagues Cup champions Columbus Crew but have now gone two home games without a victory or scoring a goal.
While securing their spot in the playoffs was something Orange and Blue could have only dreamed of a few years ago, Noonan’s future ambitions for his team overshadowed any celebrations.
“It's hard to do, and we strive for consistency, and consistency for our group and our expectations is to be a playoff team and then be a top seed and be playing games at home in the playoffs,” Pat Noonan said.
“I think we go into this next game as healthy and with as many options as we have had. The goal for us needs to be to maintain that over this final stretch so that we can have consistency with our selection and with our starting 11.
“But I think if we want to have a strong end to the season and have a strong playoff run, it needs to be with players available in depth and competition in our squad. Certainly, that'll be important.”
Minnesota, meanwhile, did their chances of reaching the playoffs the world of good with an impressive 3-1 victory over in-form St. Louis City in their last MLS fixture.
The Loons overcame Cedric Teuchert’s third minute opener to remain ninth in the Western Conference table, bridging the gap between themselves and FC Dallas one place below them.
Head coach Eric Ramsay lauded his side’s display in breaking down St. Louis’ resolute defence, and detailed how his players plan to attack the final games of the season to remain in the playoff picture.
“We want to be a team that can shift between a number of shapes according to the situations we anticipate coming, according to the players that we’ve got in form and available,” Ramsay said.
“We want to be, ultimately, an aggressive team, we want to be a team that can press, can have more of the ball, can steal the ball higher up [the field].
“When you are playing in a back five, that isn’t as easy as it looks sometimes on paper.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Minnesota United – Bongokuhle Hlongwane
Hlongwane’s goal against St. Louis last time out was his 10th goal of the season for Minnesota.
In doing so, he became the fifth different Loons player to record a double-digit scoring season and the third in the last three years.
FC Cincinnati – Luciano Acosta
Having struggled in front of goal in their recent MLS fixtures, top scorer and captain Acosta will be key for Cincinnati at Allianz Field.
But the Argentine comes up against a side he has struggled against in his MLS career, with Minnesota one of only seven teams he is yet to score past.
MATCH PREDICTION: FC CINCINNATI WIN
Cincinnati won their last match against the Loons in May. But Minnesota were unbeaten in the first four meetings between the sides (W3 D1), outscoring Cincinnati, 10-1, in those games.
However, Cincinnati have now lost consecutive regular season away matches after losing only one of their previous 16 on the road in league play (W12 D3). This is Cincinnati’s first set of back-to-back regular season away losses since the start of the 2022 campaign.
But the Loons have struggled at Allianz Field, losing four of their last five regular-season home matches. Prior to this run, they had lost just four of their previous 27 games on home soil dating back to April 2023.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Minnesota United – 31.9%
Draw – 25.4%
FC Cincinnati – 42.7%
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