AC Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca appears to have resolved the doubts that he had relating to the starting line-up that will take on the Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen tonight.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) reports that Fonseca will name a back four of Emerson Royal, Matteo Gabbia, Strahinja Pavlovic and Theo Hernandez in front of Mike Maignan, which means just one change from the Lecce game with Fikayo Tomori dropping out.
The midfield double pivot of Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana remains, as do Christian Pulisic on the right wing and Rafael Leao on the left wing, but Alvaro Morata is not expected to be fit enough to start up front alongside Tammy Abraham.
That means that Abraham’s compatriot Ruben Loftus-Cheek should operate behind him as an attacking midfielder, while the Spaniard will take a spot on the bench alongside other potential game-changers like Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze.
At present, the paper believes that Emerson is winning the battle 60-40% over Davide Calabria at right-back, with the same percentage for Pavlovic over Tomori and then Loftus-Cheek having an 80% chance of starting.
For the latest Leverkusen team news as well as more opposition insight as well as stats, ones to watch and a prediction check out our pre-match preview.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Emerson Royal, Gabbia, Pavlovic Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders, Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Abraham.
Predicted Bayer Leverkusen XI (3-4-2-1): Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie; Frimpong, Andrich, Xhaka, Grimaldo; Terrier, Wirtz; Boniface.
