Milan // Genoa host Sampdoria in the city derby hoping to show their current struggles are temporary as Serie A resumes on Tuesday following a two-week festive break.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s men have slipped to 17th in Italy’s top flight to sit just two points above third-from-bottom Frosinone after a run of disastrous results leading up to Christmas.
Before then, Genoa had enjoyed a strong run which had left them firmly in the top half of the table and Colombian midfielder Tomas Rincon believes a win on Tuesday will show their league position is misleading.
“We’ve had a good rest over the festive break and we’re determined to go out and show we don’t deserve to be where we are in the table right now,” Rincon told Sky Sport.
“The derby is a special game that is totally different from all the others, because there’s only one thing that matters and that is victory.”
Genoa’s last win at home came against Sassuolo at the end of November and since then Gasperini’s men have suffered home defeats to struggling Carpi and Bologna while conceding defeat at title challengers Inter Milan and Roma.
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In the first Serie A game of 2016 and at the clubs’ shared Luigi Ferraris stadium on Tuesday, sparks are expected to fly.
Sampdoria have endured struggles of their own, only ending a run of four defeats with a draw away to Lazio and a 2-0 home win over Palermo in the week before Christmas.
That mediocre run of results led some to question the club’s decision to sack coach Walter Zenga at the start of November and replace him with ex-Fiorentina handler Vincenzo Montella.
Montella said the festive break has given him time to reflect on their strategy for the second half of the season, but admits Samp won’t be taking Genoa lightly.
“We had time during the holidays to recharge our batteries so we’re looking for a positive start to the new year. Mentally, we’re ready,” Montella said.
“To win this game we’ll need determination, but it won’t be enough. We need to be lucid and have full respect for our opponents.
“Genoa are a top side and at the start of the season were one of the more complete squads in the league before they suffered due to a number of injuries.”
While Genoa are hoping AC Milan striker Alessio Cerci will reply positively to their offer of a move to the club during the winter transfer market, Samp on Monday welcomed Argentinian midfielder Ricardo Alvarez on a six-month deal from Inter Milan following a loan spell with Sunderland in England’s Premier League.
The remainder of the midweek fixtures will be held on Wednesday when Inter travel to Empoli looking to protect their one-point lead over Fiorentina, who are away to Palermo.
Napoli, who sit in third also one point off the pace, host Torino while champions Juventus, in fourth at three points behind Inter, host Verona.
Elsewhere, fifth-placed Roma are away at Chievo while AC Milan, in sixth at eight points behind Inter, are at home to Bologna.
Serie A fixtures (in UAE time)
Tuesday
Genoa v Sampdoria, 11.45pm
Wednesday
Udinese v Atalanta, 3.30pm
Palermo v Fiorentina, 6pm
Sassuolo v Frosinone, 6pm
Milan v Bologna, 6pm
Chievo v Roma, 6pm
Juventus v Verona, 6pm
Lazio v Carpi, 6pm
Empoli v Inter Milan, 9pm
Napoli v Torino, 11.45pm
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Getting there
The flights
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The stay
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'Brazen'
Director: Monika Mitchell
Starring: Alyssa Milano, Sam Page, Colleen Wheeler
Rating: 3/5
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at Mount Maunganui
England 353
Stokes 91, Denly 74, Southee 4-88
New Zealand 144-4
Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
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Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.