Now it’s official: the match between Bologna and Milan will not be played. The match, as reported by ANSA, scheduled for 6pm on Saturday, will not be played due to bad weather. The mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, having consulted the police commissioner and prefect, chose to opt for this decision, signing in black and white an ordinance ordering the suspension of the match. The decision was taken due to the rain forecast and the activities to restore the situation in the neighborhood hosting the stadium, one of the areas of Bologna that was most affected by the flood.
The match, as the ordinance states and motivates, would have brought 35,000 people to the stadium, creating public order problems, a fact that the city, in this moment of great hardship, cannot afford. This official decision also has repercussions on Serie A and directly on Milan. In fact, due to the postponement of the match, Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders, disqualified after the two expulsions suffered against Fiorentina (the French winger) and Udinese (the Dutch midfielder), are forced to miss the big match scheduled for Tuesday 29th, at San Siro against Napoli.
Two fundamental absences for the coach Paulo Fonseca, who will have to forcefully reshape the Rossoneri team, in view of the match against the Azzurri coached by Antonio Conte. Milan will therefore have a few more days to prepare for the big match against the Neapolitans. During the next training sessions, the Portuguese coach will study the best 11 to face the team first in the standings, at the moment, in Serie A. As regards the left defensive flank, the most obvious choice leads to the name of Filippo Terracciano, already a starter in the match against Udinese. Alternatively, captain Davide Calabria – who has returned to training together with the rest of the group – could move to the opposite area of responsibility, leaving a shirt from the 1st minute to Emerson Royal on the right. Finally, there is Alex Jimenez who can easily be added to the First Team.
In the crucial area of the pitch, however, Reijnders will be an absence with an important specific weight, given his unique characteristics in the entire squad. In his place, both Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Yunus Musah were ready to convince Fonseca to give him a chance from the 1st minute. In this emergency situation, Kevin Zeroli will continue – in all likelihood – to be called up by the Lusitanian coach.
