AC Milan will head into the game against Fiorentina after the international break with some big concerns regarding the attacking department, but it presents an opportunity too.
As Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) write this morning, next Saturday’s match against Fiorentina is crucial for Milan as they look to end a four-game winless run in Serie A and aim to trim the gap to Inter, Juventus or both (they play each other in the next round).
The paper states that Stefano Pioli will likely field Noah Okafor and Luka Jovic. The former will be in place of Rafael Leao who is injured and is not expected to be risked, and the latter will take Olivier Giroud’s spot as he will serve the first of a two-game suspension.
For the moment the performance of the two summer signings has not really been that consistent. The Swiss forward has certainly been better as he scored two goals while playing as a striker, but Jovic does not even have a shot on goal to his name never mind a goal.
They will lead the attack in a game that Milan need to win, also for psychological reasons, and they will not have the two men who literally make up 50% of the goals scored this season. Okafor and Jovic must prove that they are Milan-level players in these matches.
It is still not clear whether Christian Pulisic will be at 100% for the match against Fiorentina. The Champions League match a few days later against Borussia Dortmund will make Pioli think a lot and, on the other hand, he doesn’t have too many alternatives in the attack.
If he looks well enough, it is conceivable that Pulisic will play both in the league and in the Champions League, taking away the possibility of one of Okafor or Jovic playing from the first minute against La Viola.
