AC Milan will take on Hellas Verona tomorrow and after the win against Slavia Praha, Stefano Pioli is expected to make some changes to the starting XI. While Mike Maignan has recovered, Davide Calabria is not in the best shape.
The international break is coming up and the Rossoneri will be keen to secure a win tomorrow, keeping second place ahead of Juventus. Maignan has recovered from the knock he took to his knee on Thursday, which is good news for Pioli.
As per MilanNews, Calabria will also be at the manager’s disposal but Alessandro Florenzi is in pole position to play from start. He has fresh legs after serving two suspensions – one in the league and one in the Europa League – so it does make sense.
Up front, Luka Jovic could get the nod ahead of Oliver Giroud, who played the entire game from start to finish on Thursday. The Serbian has impressed when given the chance but he has now gone three appearances without a goal, so tomorrow is the time to break that drought.
Update: Gazzetta dello Sport are now reporting that Noah Okafor will start as the No.9 and not Jovic.
Probable Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Florenzi/Calabria, Thiaw/Gabbia/Kalulu, Tomori, Hernandez; Bennacer, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Okafor.
The game is scheduled for 15:00 and it will be played at Stadio Bentegodi. You can also read our match preview.
It will be very interesting to see Okafor play the nine. He’s a strong guy so it could be something to consider in the future as well.
Yeah it seems like we’ve decided not to renew Jovic so I’m glad we are leaning into Ok4 to see what we have.
If he really can play LW and ST well and Puli can play RW and LW then we have a great deal of quality rotation and tactical flexibility.
Agreed.
Looking forward to it!
Pulisic needs rest, he could play two matches that can go to extra time with the USA next Thursday and Saturday
Do not fear Jamaica will be no match and USMNT will crush the reggae boys and then send El Tri home in tears again. I want to see Ricardo Pepi play the 10 and make life hard for the opponents like RLC does for us in Milan. Pepi is strong makes good runs and the best finisher on the team.
Does he really? Like a week long vacation or just don’t play a game but still train all the days in a week kinda break? And by not playing a game does that really make that much of a difference?
We keep saying players need a rest, but imao, players like to play. They like being in their routine
I doubt Ok4 is as good as Giroud on crosses. He might play as a false 9 but against a defensive team like Verona you need other tools. Loftus Cheek is the most likely to break the deadlock (or Giroud as a sub)