So what did yesterday’s friendly against Bayern Munich for the very "prestigious" Audi Cup, a friendly pre-season tournament, tell us? Not all that much frankly, a bit rusty to be honest, but a few points are worth mentioning…
-With the Bundesliga season only two weeks away, Bayern are in far better shape than Milan as evidenced by their early pressure and noticeably better levels of fitness.
-Zlatan is simply a scoring machine. Pre-season or in season it doesn’t seem to matter, but play the Champions League theme song and the man still wilts like Superman wearing a necklace full of kryptonite.
-Milan scored first, but they conceded! Something we had almost forgotten, with last season’s new found balance. Personally I blame Bonera, I mean who doesn’t, but Emanuelson didn’t exactly work both sides of the ball. Then again Taiwo was not exactly having an easy go of it against Arjen Robben. Taiwo is not known for his stellar defense, but with fitness and the wise words of Tassotti that should change, if not, then we could have a small problem. Last thing we need is for him to become the African John Arne Riise, a beast going forward but an enigma in defense.
-Cassano looks about as fit and lively as I have ever seen him, and maybe all this talk of his place not being guaranteed has awoken his competitive juices. Good for all parties involved.
-Paloschi was Johnny on the spot being in some great places, but not being able to finish, maybe he is more like Pippo than any of us even imagined. Pippo nails them when it counts and hopefully his heir will do the same. His PK miss won’t do anything for his confidence.
-Antonini was used on his more natural right side, for all but what seemed like seconds, something we may see more of to help spell Abate, but Oddo on the left is still a scary problem so Ants went back to the left side.
-Not sure why Allegri chose Valoti over the Little Pharaoh, El Sharaawy (Edit: Injured, that is the reason, thanks to those who pointed it out), but he wasn’t terrible, but not great either. Clearly the CAM spot is one to watch over this pre-season as it looks like a job that is opened and allowing Prince back into the LM spot a role that may prove far more beneficial in the long run.
-No big deal on the loss, and today Milan play a third place game that will hopefully give a handful of youngsters a bit more of a look for Allegri.