AC Milan will host Parma this evening at San Siro, and Massimiliano Allegri will finally be able to call upon his first choice front two again.
As reported by Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews), Allegri has selected Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic as the attacking duo to face Parma. It means that the two will start together in attack for only the fourth time this season.
The coach has been repeating the same concept for a few press conferences now: his Milan side will be able to raise their performance levels and achieve results if they can count on more stability and consistency from Leao and Pulisic. The first test of that logic is today.
Seldom seen pairing
The three previous times that Leao and Pulisic started were Milan-Bari in the Coppa Italia season opener in August, the derby against Inter on November 23rd, and Milan-Genoa on January 18th.
In addition to these matches with both starting together, there were also a few sporadic stints during the match with the two on the pitch together. It is nowhere near the amount of minutes that Allegri hoped to use them together for, though.
Allegri hopes that, towards the end of the season, the minutes played by the numbers 10 and 11 will increase in number and improve in quality. With the two in better athletic and physical condition, the coach firmly believes that Milan can play better football and score more goals.
With the movement and intelligence that each player possesses – as well as the fact each have scored eight league goals despite time spent out injured – has the potential to take Milan’s attack to a level they have not hit yet.
Why did I have the impression that Leao puli started or played in more games than those 3? And I also had the impression that when they both played together they were not great at all but only great when only either one was on field. Both need to find their form and groove again because our attack has been poor