AC Milan will begin their 2023-24 season against Bologna on Monday night at the Stadio Renato dall’Ara, and Stefano Pioli already seems to have his choices in mind.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) talks about how Pioli will have the chance to conduct a ‘relay’ because he can bring real game changers off the bench and is not limited to the starting XI as he was last season.
He will start with a 4-3-3 and will send out the line-up that tested in the preseason friendlies: Pierre Kalulu right-back waiting for Davide Calabria, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders on Rade Krunic’s right and left, Christian Pulisic on the right wing, Rafael Leao on the opposite flank and Olivier Giroud up front.
Then, there are several players who will be waiting to come on and show what they can do. One of them is Samuel Chukwueze, and the former Villarreal winger was the most expensive purchase of the summer given it was a €28m operation.
With the signing of the Nigerian the club wanted to restore balance to a team that leaned to the left. Leao and Chukwueze will be the twins of the Rossoneri attack, while Pioli can also think about a 4-2-3-1.
In the meantime, with Chukwueze less integrated in the attacking patterns than his team-mates who were out in America, Pulisic will be the one hoping to get off the mark in Bologna.
Completing this team will be Mike Maignan in goal plus the ‘new’ first choice pairing of Fikayo Tomori and Malick Thiaw in defence.