Milan, the dear darlings of Italian soccer, are squaring off against Venezia in what some may call, well, not exactly a riveting competition.
Let's set the scene: In goal, Milan favors Mike Maignan, who's managed nothing more than a decent 7.15 rating, but hey, sometimes 'decent' is enough, right? Venezia, on the other hand, is placing their hopes on Ionuț Radu and his 6.88 rating - what I presume is their version of 'close enough'.
The shining stars for Milan lining up are Theo Hernández with an impressive 7.55 rating and Luka Jović, managing a 7.25 rating - not too shabby. Strahinja Pavlović also gets a nod with a decent 7.37 rating. Venezia is stepping up with Hans Nicolussi Caviglia (7.27), Gianluca Busio(7.23) and Jay Idzes(7.03) in their roster. If they manage to remember how to find the back of the net, we could have an interesting game.
Let's flash back to the golden oldies, our past matchup had Milan trouncing Venezia 4-0 - an absolute drumming. And then there's the regular season record- Milan's 14-9-10 doesn't have me jumping for joy, but compared to Venezia's 4-13-16, it's like comparing a juicy steak to a convenience store hotdog.
But alas, we can't forget recent results. Milan has a bit of a mixed salad - some wins, some losses and a draw for flavor, while Venezia seems to have discovered the art of the draw, spiced up by an odd win and a loss.
And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, the grand prediction. Drumroll, please.
Albert’s Prediction: Milan by 1