AC Milan face off against Feyenoord in the first leg of their Champions League play-off round tie tonight, and Sergio Conceicao will opt for an attacking side.
A lot of the build-up to the game has been dominated by the question marks regarding whether Conceicao will use ‘The Fantastic Four’ from minute one, namely Rafael Leao, Joao Felix, Christian Pulisic and Santiago Gimenez. Well, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, we have our answer.
Predicted starting XIs
There are eight absences for Milan: Alessandro Florenzi, Emerson Royal and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are injured, Yunus Musah is suspended while Alex Jimenez, Warren Bondo, Riccardo Sottil and Luka Jovic are not in the UCL squad list.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport believes Conceicao will go for an attacking trident of Pulisic-Felix-Leao behind Gimenez, who makes his return to face Feyenoord after only leaving them nine days ago.
Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana will be the double pivot given the lack of alternatives, with a defensive line of Kyle Walker, Fikayo Tomori, Strahinja Pavlovic and Theo Hernandez ahead of Mike Maignan in goal.
The only doubts concern the centre-back department where Tomori has a 70-30 chance of starting over Matteo Gabbia, and in midfield where Filippo Terracciano has a 40% chance of playing over Joao Felix in a 4-3-3 rather than a 4-2-3-1.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Walker, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Pulisic, Joao Felix, Leao; Gimenez.
Predicted Feyenoord XI (4-3-3): Wellenreuther; Read, Beelen, Hancko, Smal; Moder, Milambo, Timber; Hadj Moussa, Ueda, Paixão.
After Zagreb disastrous play, here Milan must go all in. Try to score as much as possible and win it.
Acmilan will win Feyenoord but I will like to see thiaw and Pavlovic in defence
As expected we will probably have to sacrifice our best player this season Reijnders and “shut him down” to the DM position cause they brought players that doesnt fit in otherwise, leao cant play LM so you have to play with wingers, felix can’t be on bench so you have to make him room on AM cause wing positions are taken by leao and pulisic
he actually played his best games in this position not AM
Just what I thought. Reijnders has played better when not in AM. But our defence has been worse of when him and Fofana are in the 2. But that was a back in september-november under Fonseca. Who knows what will happen now?
Tiji has actually done incredibly well not playing AM. What this formation means is more sacrifice from Leao and Puli and More discipline from Theo and Walker.
UCL isnt my worry to be honest. UCL you know players will give a little extra. But asking Leao to contribute defensively and Theo to be disciplined every game is where things fall apart.
Tomori out. How many mistakes under three difference coaches does he need to make before he’s benched?
As long as the 3 keep the midfield tight when we are out of position, we should be okay.
A look at our bench however, shows you why we will struggle in this competition this season (No midfield reinforcements). Is Liberali injured??
*out of possession
We did get a midfielder, Bondo, but he’s injured. Liberali is not listed for Europe
Bondo is ineligible
and Liberali is on the B list so he is eligible
This is our best line up, only maybe put Thiaw or Gabia instead of Tomori.
Why this media said 4231. Milan will play as 4411, and become for 424 when attacking.
4231 always not work maximal. So Conceicao, will not use 4231 formation anymore.
Tomori and Pavlovic’s mobility will usually give them the nod ahead of Gabbia and Thiaw. It’s the same reason we have Walker on the right and Theo on the left, these are the qualities he holds dear. The sooner you people understand that this is the type of football Sergio is looking for, the quicker you will be able to sleep easier at nights, get with the program already. If the need arises to field 3 CBs, I see Gabbia slotting in the middle of those 2 due to his superior aerial prowess and his awareness over Thiaw.
Finally someone with some knowledge of football:) forza milan …Birmingham 🇬🇧 uk
They are really beating this “fantastic four” thing to death already.
Maybe later in the game gabbia can come in and tomori can move to play as defensive midfield
Get a sizable lead early, then rest payers. Don’t start half-@$$ing it from the first half.