Having put aside the bittersweet evening in Rennes, which brought with it a second consecutive defeat after the one in Monza but also the qualification for the round of 16 of the Europa League, AC Milan are looking ahead to Atalanta.
Calciomercato.com confirm that Davide Calabria, Pierre Kalulu and Fikayo Tomori completed the entire training session this morning, joining the group of players who were least used or not used at all at Roazhon Park.
This means that the three defenders are in contention to be called up for the squad to face Atalanta in Sunday in what has become a very important game.
Davide Calabria’s absence was shorter as he sustained a muscle problem during the match against Napoli on February 11th and remaining on the sidelines both during the first leg of the Europa League playoff against Rennes and in the away match in Monza.
It will now be up to Pioli to manage his return, considering that his alternative Alessandro Florenzi has just made three consecutive appearances.
The most important news, however, is that Tomori and Kalulu are back. Due to the severity of their injuries they are coming from a longer period of inactivity and will therefore have to be managed with great attention.
The English centre-back’s last appearance with the Milan shirt was against Salernitana on 22 December – when he also scored, before stopping due to a myo-tendon injury to his right hamstring – while the Frenchman has been out since 29 October, when against Napoli he suffered serious injury to the tendon of the left rectus femoris which required surgery.
In view of the decisive phase of the season – in which Milan hope to get second spot and win the Europa League – Pioli hopes to have resolved the injury emergency once and for all and to be able have the entire squad available.
The last round of Serie A saw Malick Thiaw return to the starting line-up, but perhaps his performance in the 4-2 loss at Monza is a perfect indication that the returns of Tomori and Kalulu must be carefully managed.
Carefully starting Thiaw against Monza and cost us the game
Physically ready VS Mentally ready? Big difference as we saw with Thiaw. pioli will have to integrate them in carefully.
But it is great news that our CB’s are coming back. That will give us more confidence at the back. But the mids still have to help out more in the defensive phase.
Surely with Thiaw/Tomori/Gabbia back this team can only improve.
Let’s not just throw them back into the 11 this time, ya?
“Great attention” – starting against Atalanta…or it was only Thiaw/Monza fiasco?
Pioli isn´t one to learn from mistakes.