AC Milan are preparing for their fifth derby of 2023 and they must overturn a rather worrying recent trend against Inter, which has seen their city rivals win all four so far this year.
Calciomercato.com write that Milan are on a hunt for redemption after the defeats that came in the Supercoppa Italiana, Serie A and both legs of the Champions League semi-finals.
The attention to detail is maximum, even the smallest things can make the difference and for this reason Stefano Pioli works at Milanello to leave nothing to chance.
Fikayo Tomori’s suspension after his red card against Roma was already something for Pioli to battle, but the injury suffered by Pierre Kalulu – who would have replaced the Englishman – is even worse news.
All clues therefore point to Simon Kjaer starting from the first minute alongside Malick Thiaw. It will be an unprecedented pairing, if we consider that the two played together only on two other occasions last season: against Cremonese in November 2022 (0-0) and against Tottenham in February 2023 (1-0).
In both cases though, the Rossoneri lined up with a three-man defence, so Kjaer and Thiaw have not played together as a pairing and they face the very difficult task of keeping Lautaro Martinez and his companions quiet.
The rest of the team should not change. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders will be either side of Rade Krunic, with Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic to support Olivier Giroud in the front three.
Kjaer could surprise us. In a good way I hope.
Nah, that semi final last Year was crazy. Hè turned a lot slower than I expected and Lautaro toyed with him. I expect the worst honestly. His lack of pace against Thuram worries me
kjær has never been as dependant on speed as much as his positional skills and reading of the game. Obviously he might have a bad game but he surely is our best option as it would be lunacy to field a primavera or a player who hasnt played a single minute for the club yet in such an important match. Kjær also adds a lot in regard of counter attacks as he is generally great at making precise long passes.