On Saturday at 230PM Eastern Time Milan will take the field as Serie A Champions in a match more ceremonial than functional. A guard of honor, maybe even new jerseys and a chance for the fans to celebrate at San Siro. Cagliari is assured safety and even they are on vacation a few weeks early so I don't expect much of anything in the way of excitement for this match. It will be nice to have the Don back in town for the celebration, but the biggest point of contention I can see is simply who Allegri starts!
For me it should be simply the players with the most appearances on the season. These are the ones who fought it out, and if healthy, should be starting the celebratory match. There is also a school of thought to play some of the old guard and sub them to a standing ovation, this is tough because of the whole three sub limit, and worse because I don't want to get into the who stays who goes discussion right now, there will be plenty of time for that this summer. For now, let's just enjoy the match and the title.
My vote for the most deserved winning eleven:
Abbiati; Abate, Nesta, Silva, Zambro; Rino, Van Bommel, Seedorf; Prince; Robinho, Zlatan
Pato, Cassano, and Ambro first off the bench. As for Pirlo, I may as well air my grievance now. To be rather matter of fact, I love the guy, but he contributed little to nothing to this title, he had some flashes, but when it comes down to it the group of fourteen here, these are the players who defined the season. Not trying to be harsh or lack sentiment, but this match is to celebrate the season, not a legacy or history, so let those players enjoy it.
Enjoy the match, this one means little to nothing, but next week against Udinese with possible CL football on the line it would only be fair for Allegri and Co to put their best foot forward, even if it means mixing in some youth. Guess we will have to wait see, maybe Udinese wraps it up this weekend, and then next week will be a walk in the park as well and some of you may finally see the elusively under whelming Didac Vila, then he can set his own record straight!