Antonio Cassano could play for Milan on Saturday

Antonio Cassano could play against Fiorentina on Saturday. Color me shocked, happy, but if I’m being honest, worried.

If you missed yesterday’s update, let me update you, quickly. This fall, Antonio Cassano suffered something similar to a stroke after a late-October match at Roma. He had heart surgery in early-November and has been out ever since. This week, the medical team at Milan cleared him to resume training. He participated in a game against Milan’s youth team, and now Cassano has been named in the Rossoneri’s 19-man squad for Saturday’s match against the Serie B-applicant that is Fiorentina (9  a.m. ET kick off).

It’s hard not to be excited Cassano’s impending return, and his last five months provide some needed perspective on how he was covered prior to his health problems. While the narrative that cast him as being a eccentric problem child pre-incident wasn’t unfair (given how other athletes are portrayed), Cassano’s near-death experience highlights how petty and hyperbolic that coverage can become. That few reports of Cassano’s comeback elude to his previous personality conflicts shows how truly irrelevant those issues were.

And now, I hope the coverage isn’t again taking it’s eye off the ball, though consider everything from this point down the wild ramblings of a scared, scared man …

Because I can’t help but think all of this is going a little too fast. I can’t even type that without reiterating that Milan’s medical staff – and surely, Antonio Cassno himself – know more than I do. However, one of the major stories of the Serie A season has been how injury-riddled Milan as been, with their previously-revered staff coming under scrutiny for their inability to keep players healthy. It’s become a bit of a tagline, amongst people who cover the league: to allude to Milan’s injury woes.

A recent incident might be the most damning. Alexandre Pato has been in-and-out of the lineup all season. Late last week, Milan’s staff said they had no set timetable for the Brazilian attacker’s return, but after a trip to the United States, Pato was back on the radar for Milan’s mid-week visit to Barcelona. Now, after a brief appearance in Champions League, Pato’s said to be out for the season. But is he?

Either Milan or U.S. doctors are wrong, but the fact that Pato was sent to the States at all hints at some uncertainty around Pato’s diagnosis. And while we don’t want to read too much into one player’s problems, it’s difficult not to explore the worst case scenario when thinking about a situation like Cassano’s.

Am I wrong to think that Milan’s injury problems are playing into Cassano’s early return? I certainly hope so. Am I wrong for putting it out there? Probably. Why can’t I just keep it to myself?

Because I’m worried. And I need some way to get the worry out of my system and, come tomorrow, root for Antonio Cassano. Now, I’ve addressed it. Now, hopefully, I can purge it.

I’m under the assumption I’m not the only one that feels this way. Certainly, there are some doubt amongst some people I respect. If you’re holding similar apprehensions, let them out here so that, come Saturday, we can just root for him. Just let it out now.