AC Milan have their title destiny in their own hands but they face a tough test against Fiorentina at San Siro this afternoon.
The game has a number of interesting sub-plots and player battles, starting with the one between Rafael Leao and Lucas Martinez Quarta down Milan’s left. The latter was repeatedly linked with Milan while he was at River Plate and is more of a natural centre-back, with a tricky opponent to deal with given how much of Leao’s explosiveness we have seen this season.
Nikola Milenkovic is another player that has been repeatedly linked with Milan over the past couple of years and the Serbian – who now probably qualifies as a Serie A veteran – will have to try and stop Olivier Giroud who has been excellent at San Siro this season and comes into the game having scored the crucial equaliser at Lazio last weekend.
A lot of Fiorentina’s threat passes through what Riccardo Saponara can create on the left wing (3 goals and 3 assists this season in the league) and he is another player with some Rossoneri in his past given he played at the club from 2013 to 2015. Davide Calabria has perhaps not been at his very best in the last few weeks and will be called upon to show his resilience against his compatriot.
For Milan meanwhile Brahim Diaz simply must produce a response having not scored since September in the victory against Spezia. Lucas Torreira will sit at the base of the midfield (yet another player linked with the Rossoneri) and try to neutralise the Spanish playmaker, and he also has five goals this season showing his knack for contributing in the attacking phase.
Finally, Giacomo Bonaventura returns to San Siro again having been at Milan from 2014 to 2020. It looks as though his former team-mate Franck Kessie will be tasked with thwarting his creativity in the double pivot.
