I'm kidding. But not really. Chelski played the pair of Essien and Carvalho in their reserve match against Aston Villa. They lost 4-3 but Michael played played the whole match. Take what you will from that I guess. Goose Hiddink at the end of the match said: "Both Michael and Ricardo are nearly completely recovered. It is a very important piece of news for us because they will provide us with more options on a tactical level". Anyways more on that later. For the rest of the post though, let's focus our collective efforts on Lazio.
Cathal over at the Lazio Offside wrote a piece about this game through baby-blue eyes, but it's worth checking out the details about them if your genuinely interested. On our end, there really are only a few things that need to be addressed ahead of this one. Legrottaglie is out due to a knock on his knee he got from getting intimate with Buffon last game vs Napoli. I'm not so worried here though, Ariaudo can hold down Nicola's position here in his absence, especially since Lazio's Mauro Zarate will miss this one due to suspension.
Anyone remember the way Manniger stepped up in the PK's against Napoli in the quarters? Yup he's a big reason why we're still in this tourney. Props to Ranieri for giving him the right to man our posts tonight once again. As a result, Buffon gets a rest alongside Del Piero. Here are the call-ups:
3. Chiellini
4. Mellberg
7. Salihamidzic
8. Amauri
9. Iaquinta
11. Nedved
12. Chimenti
13. Manninger
17. Trezeguet
18. Poulsen
19. Marchisio
20. Giovinco
21. Grygera
22. Sissoko
28. Molinaro
30. Tiago
32. Marchionni
41. Ariaudo (Primavera CB)
42. Pinsoglio (Primavera Goalie)
Line-ups are probably gonna be shuffled before, during, and after the match so your guesses are as good as mine. This game should be entertaining as Lazio will push us to play our best. Here's hoping no one gets injured. Let's win this one for De Ceglie!
Streaming: atdhe.net
IERI... OGGI... DOMANI... SEMPRE JUVE!!!