Hellas Verona - AC Milan Preview: Last hope of survival for both sides

Hellas Verona host AC Milan on Monday afternoon with just a few league games remaining of the season.

This fixture will be the last glimpse of hope for both teams. Either Verona wave goodbye for Serie A or Milan conclude the season with a failure to reach their main target in European qualification.

The two teams will have to put all their effort in a way to reach this season target and should it end in either side's favour as opposed to a draw, it could be curtains for Verona or Milan at the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi on matchday 35.

Big game for both sides

Following the midweek round of matches which saw Hellas Verona lose out to Empoli, a loss could leave them almost inevitably to be a Serie B side for next season. On the other hand AC Milan’s draw against Carpi couldn’t improve the team’s position in the league and Cristian Brocchi’s men haven’t taken advantage of the gift of Udinese beating Fiorentina, which put them six points away from the Europa League positions.

Since their promotion to Serie A, Hellas Verona have managed to win just the once against AC Milan. This time they are facing relegation if they lose and Luigi Del Neri was the chosen man to lift the team off the bottom.

However, he is still facing the fate of relegation after recording 11 losses, seven draws , and only three wins in 21 games he has managed for the Gialloblu.

Verona now boast just 22 points from 34 rounds and with four rounds left they need a miracle to stay up in Serie A. Any result besides winning against Verona will see them officially relegated from Italy's top-flight.

On the other side AC Milan, after their draw against Carpi, are still some distance again from representing Italy in Europe next season. Now Brocchi has a huge task and needs to count on other teams results in order to reach the Europa League, unless he is hanging his hopes on the Coppa Italia trophy which gives automatic qualification to the competition for the winner. However, winning the few matches left for the Rossoneri may maintain Brocchi’s place in the hot seat for next season.

Selection headaches

Del Neri has a number of troubles in selecting his line-up for the match and apparently the majority of his front line will be asent. Luca Toni and Mohammed Fares are both injured and will miss out.

Meanwhile, on the other side, AC Milan are missing Mario Balotelli and Alex due to suspensions. Brocchi is probably going to test Jose Mauri once again in midfield, who did a good job against Carpi midweek.