Stephan El Shaarawy: A vital cog in the AC Milan machine despite injury woes

Mario Balotelli and Stephan El Shaarawy on international duty. (Getty Images)

But in looking past his injury problems, the case for having him back on the pitch as quickly as possible is quite strong. The issues currently facing the Rossoneri’s attack reads off like a comedy of errors: Balotelli’s volatility, Robinho’s indifferent form, Allegri’s lack of faith in Niang, Pazzini’s long-term injury lay-off, and Matri’s failure to show why he was worth his transfer fee so far this season.

And, another promising youngster, Andrea Petagna, who had a fantastic run in pre-season fixtures this summer, was dispatched on loan to Sampdoria when it was decided that they’d rather spend €11m on Juventus’s unwanted attacker Alessandro Matri rather than to give the Primavera player a shot in the first team.

So far in the league, Milan are currently in 9th place, behind the likes of Hellas Verona and Livorno with just eight points from six games so far and are well off the Champions League spots, let alone league leaders Roma who are on 18 points.

And now, with Balotelli’s three-game ban for verbally abusing a referee following their 2-1 defeat to Napoli, the Rossoneri are looking a little thin up front for their upcoming clash with Juventus this Sunday.

Their Champions League ties have been nothing to gloat about either—with them struggling for nearly the entire game to break down a resolute Celtic and were fortunate to earn all three points thanks to a frantic last ten minutes which saw Emilio Izaguirre forget which side he was playing for and Sulley Muntari add another in the last five minutes of regular time.

And let’s not get started on Tuesday’s match against Ajax—a snore-fest that they managed to eke out a draw following a bizarre penalty call in the dying moments of the game that saw Balotelli cutting an often-frustrated figure up front, devoid of any kind of support or creative verve from the midfield or fellow strikers Robinho or Matri.

Yes, Milan began last season in similar fashion and managed to secure third place and get through to the round of 16 after qualifying from their group with eight points, the fewest of any team that made it to the first knock-out rounds.

They even were able to defeat Barcelona at home 2-0 in a performance that had the most optimistic Rossoneri fans thinking that just maybe, they might be able to actually overcome their seemingly perpetual opponents over two legs and get through to the next round.

Luck can really carry one so far and given their struggles so far in the Champions League, it indeed is quite worrying that they again will be coming up against Barcelona in a few weeks’ time and are struggling in the league against sides that really, should be a training ground exercise for a team that not too long ago was considered one of the continent’s powerhouses.

But in order to redeem themselves and get things back on track, they’ll need all hands on deck to start those wheels moving. And one of those key cogs in the Rossoneri machine is Stephan El Shaarway.