AC Milan will take on PSG in front of a sold-out San Siro this evening and after two draws and one loss, they need to grab their first win in the Champions League. Doing so, however, would almost be considered a miracle.
The Rossoneri lost the reverse fixture 3-0 and never really stood a chance against Kylian Mbappe’s side after the first goal. Tonight, to basically keep the hope of qualifying for the next round alive, Milan need to claim all three points.
As highlighted by Gazzetta dello Sport (see photo below), what we are talking about lies within the confines of a miracle, because the difference in quality was so evident in the reverse fixture. Pioli, however, is confident that a Milan ‘of the first half against Napoli’ can beat PSG, and he might be right.
In addition to what we saw against Napoli, though, the Rossoneri will also need competitive fury and, above all, the maximum individual performances, starting with Rafael Leao. In Paris, the Portuguese winger clearly wasn’t at his best and tonight, he needs to show Mbappe who is the boss at San Siro.
The recoveries of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic are very important, but Theo Hernandez could be even more valuable with his style of play. Just as Fikayo Tomori needs to be his best in the 1v1s, while Mike Maignan’s distribution will be key. In short, every player in the starting XI needs to be on another level.
Then, of course, it’s clear that this also will be an important night tactically for Stefano Pioli. He still has the full backing of the club and his players, but now he needs to show that his tactics really can work well against a team like PSG.
