AC Milan must pull off a minor miracle if they are to reach the final of the Champions League, with the second leg of the semi-final against Inter taking place at San Siro tonight.
Milan were beaten 2-0 in the first leg by Inter on Wednesday night, having been rocked by a rapid start from Simone Inzaghi’s men who scored twice inside 11 minutes through Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
For the belief to manifest, certain key battles will have to be won. We start on the left side, where Federico Dimarco has assisted five goals from open play in the Champions League this season, the most of any player. He had the freedom of the city to operate in the first leg, so Davide Calabria simply must keep tabs on him better and also pick his moments to pin him back.
Lautaro Martínez has scored seven goals against Milan already and he was very effective in the first leg at holding the ball up and distributing. Fikayo Tomori needs a response after a shaky last couple of games knowing that one goal conceded could kill the tie fully, but he has risen to the big occasion against Spurs and Napoli.
In the first leg there can be no doubt that Olivier Giroud struggled against Francesco Acerbi. Both are now well into the 30s yet it was the latter who looked sharper on Wednesday night, winning virtually every aerial duel and stopping the Frenchman bringing the other forwards into play, though he has scored important goals against Inter and will hope to do so again.
Sticking with Milan’s attack – which will need to be at its best to stand even a chance – we must mention Rafael Leao against Matteo Darmian. The latter did well in the first leg but this is a different proposition against arguably the best player in Serie A. Doubling up on Leao could become important, creating space elsewhere, but Darmian must display calm from minute one.
Last time we picked out Nicolo Barella versus Sandro Tonali as the key battle in midfield, but this time it feels more apt to highlight Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Armenian got the better of proceedings last week, making an unopposed run for the second goal and generally looking dangerous with his positioning, so Tonali must lead the midfield and try establish more control.
If Calabria plays like last time we’re doomed because majority of their attacks came from that side