AC Milan will take on PSG this evening and the biggest threat to their defence will be none other than Kylian Mbappe. He scored in the reverse fixture and the Rossoneri will need to keep him quiet tonight to get a good result.
Today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport (see image below) analysed the situation, based on the probable XI, and Stefano Pioli has a few adjustments in mind. First of all, Fikayo Tomoru will be the centre-back rather than the left where he usually plays. This was also put into place in the reverse fixture.
The manager has asked Tomori to be aggressive and quick in his movement, which he does better than Malick Thiaw who usually plays to the right. This means he will be staying close to Mbappe at all times. The Englishman is also counting on support from above all Davide Calabria, but also from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders.
As the newspaper highlights, there is no proper solution to the problem as Mbappe simply is a world-class player. The aim will thus be to limit him as much as possible, what happens beyond that cannot be controlled by Milan. Compared to the reverse fixture, though, it’s clear that they don’t want him in as many 1v1s.
Yeah. Let 4 players cover Mbappe. It’s not like PSG has other players capable of scoring, right? Someone forgot to mention PSG isn’t Milan and solely depended on 1-2 players.
Last game was an error in discipline. We were doubling MBappe before he gets to areas occupied by Tomori. So Reinjders and Kalulu provided that cover on the right, and when he shifted inside it was Krunic a d Tomori waiting for him..but on the first goal Kalulygot caught way up the pitch and Reinjders didn’t execute a professional foul leaving 1v1 completely between the world’s best player and our defender. That was as much as one (Tomori) can do against him. It takes discipline to stay back and defend against him.
PSG has the highest possession in the UCL after City, let them have the ball and counter attack. There’s no shame in knowing the strength of you opponent and using it as a weakness
“There’s no shame in knowing the strength of you opponent and using it as a weakness”
Indeed. Milan may be the only club in Europe not to do that. 😀