On a mission for Mancini. Alphadjo Cisse wants to leave a good impression on the pitch in the Rossoneri shirt before taking it off and putting on the blue one again during the international break. However, this time there will be a significant step up: the forward will not be playing for the Under-21s, but will be joining the senior national team.
The official announcement will most likely arrive today, or tomorrow at the latest. Cisse had already caught Mancini's attention when the coach returned to take charge of the national team. However, with the Under-21s having to play a European Championship qualifier, it was decided that the Milan player should remain with Baldini's team. Indeed, he was decisive against Armenia and also played a leading role against Poland.
Now that the Under-21s have secured their qualification, they will have to play two friendlies (against France on the 13th and Belgium on the 16th), and Mancini is ready to give Cisse his senior national team debut. It should be borne in mind, however, that the youngster could once again be a key figure for the Under-21s this summer, when they will be competing to win the European title.
So far this season, Cisse has scored seven goals, three of them in the Europa League, all in the victory over Salzburg (Milan's only win in the competition so far, incidentally), as relayed via Tuttosport today.
At Bournemouth, in Amorim's team's most recent European outing, he sank under the English rain along with the rest of the team, at a time when a repeat of his previous performance was expected from him in the centre-forward role. In the previous match in Austria, he had even managed to establish himself ahead of a specialist in that position such as Camarda.
He was barely seen in the derby, except during the closing minutes when the result had already been decided. However, in the midweek match against Bologna, in which he started, he had been one of the few positive notes.
Coach Amorim's rotation system suggests that, after starting on the bench against Inter, he will be in the starting line-up tonight. In the continental competition, however, the young player from Veneto has always featured among Amorim's first choices: he has started all three matches played by Milan so far, before being in line to make it four tonight against Ferencvaros.
And who knows whether this fourth consecutive start might also pave the way for his fourth European goal. Celebrating his call-up to the senior Italian national team with a goal would be a wonderful present to give himself.
