Stefano Pioli will put his trust in Matteo Gabbia once again as he hopes for a better defensive effort from his side this time around against Chelsea.
Calciomercato.com write how Gabbia did a good job in keeping Dusan Vlahovic quiet in Saturday’s win against Juventus and he will called upon to repeat himself against another centre-forward of international standing in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The 23-year-old was actually close to leaving in the summer window after a 2021-22 campaign with just 10 appearances (7 starts), with Sampdoria coming forward to ask about a loan, but the fact Milan extended his contract until 2026 shows faith from the leadership.
The injury problems in defence plus the acclimatisation that new signing Malick Thiaw needs has given a new opportunity for Gabbia to showcase his development, with the Italy U21 international called upon to repeat his confident display against Juve in a game against arguably a much better opponent.
He will be partnered with Fikayo Tomori so Pierre Kalulu remains on the right side of the defence relegating Sergino Dest to the bench. It should be a fluid 4-3-3 ready to transform into 4-2-3-1 according to the game situations, with Bennacer, Tonali and Krunic in midfield plus Brahim Diaz, Giroud and Leao in attack.
Probable Milan XI (4-3-3): Tatarusanu; Kalulu, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo; Tonali, Bennacer, Krunic; Brahim Diaz, Giroud, Leao.
It’s not gonna be the same. Juve were horrible as a team. They couldn’t create any kind of a chance for their strikers.
Chelsea on the other hand played really well in the first leg, even though we played a poor match.
Gabbia is a good player but I’m not sure if he can mark Aubameyang kind of strikers yet.
He can’t be worse than Dest though.
Imo he’s quite good at defending and set pieces. A bit like thiago silva, and could be better than romagnoli in lazio rn.