AC Milan will begin their 2024-25 Coppa Italia campaign tomorrow night as they welcome Sassuolo to San Siro for the last 16 clash.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report this morning, winning the Coppa Italia is a target for Milan every season given they are usually only ever three rounds away from the final, but they haven’t lifted the cup in over two decades.
Paulo Fonseca will field what he deems to be the best possible line-up but it is clear that he will also have to rotate a bit to keep certain players fresh who have played a lot. The trip to Atalanta on Friday night looms, given the importance that will have at the top end of the table.
The coach will have to evaluate the conditions of Noah Okafor who did not play against Empoli due to the flu, but the Swiss forwards seems to be better and should be called up. The doubt is regarding whether or not he will start.
There will be several changes in the defence where the hypothesis of a full rotation cannot be ruled out. It would mean Davide Calabria from the first minute on the right, Fikayo Tomori and Strahinja Pavlovic in the middle and Filippo Terracciano on the left, to give Theo Hernandez a bit of a break.
Resting the midfielders is more complicated, however, given the lack of depth in that area. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Yunus Musah could be the double pivot to give time off to Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders, even if the latter will most likely have to play in Bergamo to help balance the side.
There will be no Kevin Zeroli either, who did not play with Milan Futuro due to a muscle problem, while Francesco Camarda hopes for a chance from the start. Tammy Abraham is more likely to get the nod at present, while Samuel Chukwueze should start on the right.
I want to see jimenez, bartesaghi and liberali play
me too. but i’m not sure, if Jimenez and Barts are allowed to play cause they played for the Futuro yetserday. Liberali didnt play – hope to see him tomorrow.
It’ll probably be Pavlovic and Thiaw in defense.
Tomori will be needed against speedy Atalanta, with Gabbia as the defensive balancer.
Fonseca seems to prefer Thiaw/Gabbia as CB’s. My guess is Tomori/Pavlo start, since they let in 2 goals against Bratislava last week.
Thiaw/Gabbia works for easy games like Empoli.
Fonseca has played Tomori for every UCL game and the Derby.
The only small team Tomori played against since August was Lecce, alongside Gabbia, and they won 3-0.
So clearly Tomori is the one he’s saving for the big matches, same as what he did with Leao in the past two months.
No Reijnder should play attacking midfield while pulisic should rest then Loftus cheek should partner Fofana in double pivot then tomori will partner Pavlovic because against Atalanta we need Gabbia and thiaw to do the job against their forward while bartasaghi or Jimenez should play right back then we rest Emerson for our tough match because we must beat Atalanta at all cost.
Camarda
Leao-RLC-Chuk
Musah-Fofana
Terraciano-Pavlovic-Thiaw-Calabria