AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri is already thinking about managing minutes with two games in quick succession coming up.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport report, Allegri is pondering how best to line Milan up at the start of a rare week with three games in eight days. On Saturday night it is Udinese away, on Tuesday Lecce come to San Siro in the Coppa Italia, and on Sunday Napoli are in town.
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Two versions of Milan
We start with a fitness update ahead of tomorrow’s game: Strahinja Pavlovic worked with the team, Mike Maignan trained alone on the field and Rafael Leao remained in the gym. Conclusion: Pavlovic will be available for Udine, with Allegri deciding whether to use him or Koni De Winter.
As for Maignan, a recovery is almost impossible, while Leao’s situation will be discussed at the latest at the end of next week for Milan-Napoli. So, neither of them will make the trip to the Stadio Friuli, and having them against Lecce seems unlikely too.
The current starters will play in Udine, but Allegri must decide whether to leave Christian Pulisic out for a while longer or whether to put him in at the expense of Youssouf Fofana (with Ruben Loftus-Cheek moving back into midfield) or Santiago Gimenez.
Big changes are in store for the Coppa Italia. Milan will most likely start Zachary Athekame, Christopher Nkunku, Samuele Ricci and Davide Bartesaghi. The same principles will apply, but new faces will get a chance.
I’d like to see Athekame finally, at least 10 minutes. Nkunku needs a few more weeks to get into proper fitness, don’t think he’ll start any games before October.
Nah, Let’s put him from the start. Rabiot started right away and Nkunku played at the club world cup. Throw him into the fire… sub him later.