AC Milan take on Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday night with one mission in mind: to make it a five-point gap at the top.
Rewinding exactly one week, Milan were 10 points behind their city rivals Inter, with the title race looking over. After beating them in the derby and then the Nerazzurri’s draw with Atalanta yesterday, the Rossoneri would reduce the gap to five points with a victory this evening.
It will not be easy against a Maurizio Sarri side though, especially one that will be backed by a home crowd of over 50,000 for the first time in a long time, as weeks of protests have been paused for tonight.
Lazio vs. AC Milan: The five key battles
For Milan, a lot rests on the shoulders of Rafael Leao again, who had a hand in the derby winner. Lazio are one of only two sides against which Leão has scored three or more goals and provided three or more assists in Serie A (3+4), alongside Hellas Verona. The Milan forward has been involved in five goals across his last five Serie A appearances against them, too.
He will partner Christian Pulisic up front, a player who is in need of anything he can find to get going. The USA international has been one of Milan’s key performers since arriving but doesn’t have a goal contribution yet in 2026, so this is an opportunity for him to remind everyone how and why he can be decisive in the run-in.
On the flip side, the Portuguese and the American will face Mario Gila and Oliver Provstgaard. For the former it is potentially an audition of sorts given the amount of stories there have been linking the Spaniard with a move to Milan. The Dane meanwhile has made 16 Serie A appearances so far this season but has only made seven starts, so faces a tough assignment tonight.
With Adrien Rabiot absent in the midfield, there will be even more emphasis on Youssouf Fofana to try and be the creator in the trio. He is actually tied for the most assists in the team since the start of last season with 13, and threaded the through-ball that led to the only goal against Inter. The Frenchman is expected to play a more advanced role on the right of the three.
That means he should face Kenneth Taylor, Lazio’s January signing from Ajax who has started all nine games since joining. The 23-year-old Dutchman has a goal to his name already and – after the summer transfer ban stopped them making any ‘new’ signings – seems to be exactly the kind of mezzala that Sarri wanted for that side.
Lazio’s main threat still comes from their left side in the form of the tricky Mattia Zaccagni. He has scored three times in Serie A this season, while he has five goal contributions against Milan in his career. He scored the winning goal earlier this season too as the capital club knocked the Rossoneri out of the Coppa Italia.
His opponent will be Fikayo Tomori, who might just be fighting for his place in the side. Gabbia isn’t far away from returning and with Koni De Winter in such brilliant form, it becomes a question of who to drop. The Englishman hasn’t been disastrous by any means and has enormous tactical importance, but competition for places can only be a good thing.
Finally, we come to the hero from one week ago: Pervis Estupinan. Allegri will apparently go against his usual trend of not sticking with ‘reserve’ players who impress when given a chance, because the Ecuador international is expected to get the nod over Davide Bartesaghi, who admittedly might still not quite be 100%.
Adam Marusic is the man that the former Brighton man will come up against on the left flank, the versatile Montenegrin who has so far contributed one goal and one assist for the Biancocelesti this season. He is someone who likes to get forward, so Estupinan will have to retain focus in both phases, while of course hoping for the chance to score another big goal.
