"We can still do it -- Arsenal are strange and open -- they are capable of beating you 4-0 and then conceding just as many at home," Fabio Borini to Sky Sport Italia
The timing of Arsenal’s Europa League win in San Siro was a shock to most commentators. The resurgent Rossoneri had mental strength a stead fast defence and a new-found rhythm. Arsenal on the contrary were beleaguered and emotionally spent and yet they still pulled of a well-deserved victory. Fabio Borini, a man who has never beaten Arsenal in eight attempts in his career, summed the situation up perfectly. The Gunners are and were capable of dispatching of any team but with a change in the wind they could look equally vulnerable, it is to for this reason the Milanese are certainly not writing themselves off yet.
Genoa are no fools these days. Despite not having the most potent of forward lines they are increasingly becoming more dangerous thanks to Diego Laxalt and on the odd occasion Goran Pandev shows up. What is more, is that their defence is extremely rigid and with Mattia Perin in goal it is easy to see why they have one of the best defences outside the main challengers. This weekend Milan had to visit the Stadio Luigi Ferraris and as the final minutes drew ticked away it appeared the game was ending level. It was perhaps a surprise, that with Milan needing a goal, they turned to Andre Silva. The misfiring Portuguese had not scored in Serie A but despite this he managed to tower of above all challengers in thought and deed, to head home the winner with the final touch of the game.
Andre Silva has struggled to find his feet in Serie A this term and even with their turn of fortunes under Genaro Gattuso, he has played second fiddle to the youngster Patrick Cutrone. Arsenal should perhaps be somewhat wary however if he does feature in the Europa League however as he has netted six times in this competition and his recent Serie A goal may have just given him the confidence he needs. It will be naive of the North London club to sit back and try and absorb Milan at the Emirates as they are certainly going try and break them down when in London. As keeper Gigi Donnarumma said this week, they are not afraid as they have nothing to lose.
The task is still a huge one although history tells us that these teams have shared fundamentally different results over two legs. Arsenal lost to Milan 4-0 at San Siro back in 2012 before pulling off a 3-0 win at the Emirates. Whilst this means nothing now, it should serve as a warning to the fragility of a 2-0 lead. Gattuso acknowledges the enormity of the task saying that his team have a 30% chance of progression but he did admit that tactically they got it wrong in the first leg, the inexperience of this players in European competition also did not help and he will look to rectify this in the second but how he goes about this will be interesting to say the least.
Despite the talk from Borini and Donnarumma about having to go out and attack their opponents, the Milan coach will be aware that Arsenal can cause them on the counter attack, this was proven in the first leg as Danny Welbeck caused havoc with Milan’s back line when they pushed too high. The Rossoneri will have to approach this at their pace and this was something that they failed to do in the first leg. Arsenal in the opening tie, due to circumstance, simply had to show a reaction and came out of the blocks at a furious tempo. The Milanese failed to manage the game and instead of slowing the pace down and playing their own game, they mirrored their opponents and in turn never felt in control.
If Milan are to exhibit the strengths that they have under Gattuso then they must have the confidence to dictate the pace of the game which may be easier for them as Arsenal will undoubtabley not feel comfortable if they choose to sit and defend a two-goal lead. This will inevitably lead to chances and the first goal could be critical in this tie. Gattuso may describe himself as a rookie but he did not play with the players he did for so long without knowing how to control the pace of a game. Arsenal may have surprised Milan once but if the Rossoneri allow them to do it again, then perhaps they need to think long and hard about how they approach European competition.
