Berrettini, shadows on the Roman tennis player’s retirement. He’s convinced: here’s what’s really behind his latest decision.
The fact that he hadn’t landed Milan-Cagliari, Serie A: streaming, odds, predictions
Milan-Cagliari is a match valid for the thirty-sixth day of Serie A and is played on Saturday at 20:45: likely formations, predictions, live TV and streaming.
At home Milan, the gaze is already turned to the future. The Rossoneri have little to ask of a tournament that, for now, sees them second in the standings behind Italian champions Inter and with Champions League qualification already in the bag. The latest results seem to be children of the absence of concrete goals: first the blank-net draw in the direct clash with Juventus, then the 3-3 draw with Genoa at the San Siro, in which the Stefano Pioli-led team let themselves be reeled back in with three minutes left.
Victory has been missing for more than a month: in the last 6 matches, including of course those with Roma in the Europa League, the Diavolo has collected three draws and as many defeats. The most painful knockout is surely the one that accrued in the derby with Inter, which gave the arithmetic of the tricolor to the hated cousins. The feeling is that it was precisely the defeat in the last stracittadina that convinced the club to “drop” Pioli, who from next June in all likelihood will no longer be the Rossoneri coach (there is increasing talk of current Porto coach Sergio Conceiçao). Milan, meanwhile, in this round of the championship will be the arbiter of the salvation race: at the “Meazza” comes Claudio Ranieri’s Cagliari, still too close to the red zone. A week ago the Sardinians did not go beyond a draw in the direct clash with Lecce (1-1) and remained at +3 on third-last Udinese. This is not the time, in short, to pull the oars in the boat, with the experienced Roman coach looking to fix a defense that has conceded at least one goal in the last 8 days.
Milan-Cagliari: the latest lineup news
Pioli still has to do without 2 starters like Maignan and Loftus-Cheek, but compared to the last matches he finds Musah again. In midfield Bennacer and Reijnders, Pulisic instead will play behind the only striker Giroud. By technical choice Theo Hernandez, Leao, Calabria and Tomori will start on the bench.
Good news and bad news for Ranieri as well: disqualified Gaetano and Augello will not be at the San Siro, but two important pawns such as Pavoletti and Viola will be available again. Should the latter recover 100% he could also start from the 1′ in support of Shomurodov.
The Prediction
A.C. Milan, harshly contested by its fans last week, needs to get back to winning ways. And the one with Cagliari has all the air of being a real game, although the three points are almost exclusively needed by the Sardinians, who are still at risk of relegation. We expect at least three goals overall at the San Siro.
The probable formations of Milan-Cagliari
MILAN (4-3-3): Sportiello; Florenzi, Gabbia, Thiaw, Kalulu; Musah, Rejinders, Bennacer; Pulisic, Chukwueze, Giroud.
CAGLIARI (4-2-3-1): Scuffet; Zappa, Mina, Dossena, Azzi; Makoumbou, Sulemana; Nandez, Viola, Luvumbo; Shomurodov.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
in Rome early, like everyone else, had been strange in itself. Matteo Berrettini showed up at the Foro Italico just hours before his debut and trained without pushing too hard. We all knew, then, that the chances of him eventually participating were slim to none.
So much so that the news of his withdrawal surprised no one, really. It is surprising that there is no clarity, however, around what is going on. It is not known whether yet another forfeit is really due to the after-effects of tonsillitis or whether, instead, there is more to it. The suspicion is there and it is legitimate, sacrosanct. Especially since in interviews in the Eternal City he has not seemed to have his spirits soaring. And the fear is precisely that he may once again be in the grip of those negative feelings he has had to deal with in the long months he has spent in the pits.
That, in any case, is not the point, but rather that everyone has a theory about Matteo’s situation. Including former tennis player Luca Bottazzi, who mercilessly spoke about the Italian with Mowmag, in an interview in which he was not very soft on his fellow Roman, a finalist at Wimbledon 2021.
Bottazzi sinks Berrettini: “What is this? “
“I feel sorry for him, because he seemed to have at least overcome the crises of these last two years where he was retiring all the time and that he had at least found a continuity in playing without retiring. He started softly, except to later retract and, like a river in flood, unleash a bit of hypothesis all to be verified.
“What kind of stuff is that we are witnessing? If someone is not well, I find it strange that he would sign up for tournaments and take wildcards. Then if he’s so sick it means it’s a chronic condition then, in the sense that you get over it but then it comes back. However, if he had mentioned tonsillitis it means that there is always a different one: then he is also unlucky, because he makes the collection of sicknesses. I don’t know, do they all happen to him? Get a blessing, go to Lourdes. At some point it seems almost impressive to me.”
Bottazzi says he is convinced, basically, that there are other “interests” at play: “Evidently there is something chronic, which passes him by and then obviously comes back because he solicits the problem by playing: playing tennis is not like going to sunbathe on a deck chair. But of course a professional doesn’t say that because today there are sponsors. If it was tennis 50 years ago they would have said it.” “Because they’re trying to keep the revenue coming in,” the former tennis player sinks, “Today’s tennis players and top athletes have a lot more privileges (and I repeat the word privileges) than those of the past who squared their butts practically for the glory and allowed those of today to get to this point and overachieve. This is because someone has kept the circus going for dozens of years. Suspicion might arise, because there are too many interests involved. I have no elements to make statements, however, the suspicion is this. “
