AC Milan are back in action after a 10-day break, taking on Pisa at the Arena Garibaldi in the opening game of the Serie A round.
Milan come into the game having won their last fixture, lumping more misery on an out-of-sorts Bologna side. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christopher Nkunku and Adrien Rabiot scored in a 3-0 win, and then the team had the weekend off due to the rescheduled Como game.
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With Inter-Juventus and Roma-Napoli coming this weekend, there is a chance for Milan to make ground on rivals. However, they face a Pisa side that have drawn a lot of games this year, and are in a relegation battle.
Pisa vs. AC Milan: Predicted starting XIs
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) this morning, there are two absentees for Massimiliano Allegri to deal with. Alexis Saelemaekers remains out with an adductor issue but could return to face Como, while Santiago Gimenez is still recovering from ankle surgery.
The paper claim that Fikayo Tomori will return to the three-man defence alongside Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic, with Koni De Winter dropping to the bench. Zachary Athekame and Davide Bartesaghi are tipped to be the wing-backs again.
The same front two that got the job done in Bologna will be used again: Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christopher Nkunku are favoured, with Rafael Leao, Christian Pulisic and Niclas Füllkrug all not yet at 100%. Youssouf Fofana, Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot should be the midfield trio.
Predicted Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Athekame, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Bartesaghi; Nkunku, Loftus-Cheek.
Predicted Pisa XI (3-4-2-1): Scuffet; Bozhinov, Caracciolo, Canestrelli; Toure, Loyola, Aebischer, Angori; Moreo, Tramoni; Durosinmi.
Predicted Pisa bench: Semper, Nicolas, Coppola, Calabresi, Leris, Hojholt, Cuadrado, Akinsanmiro, Piccinini, Meister, Iling-Junior, Stengs, Stojilkovic, Lorran.
ℹ️ The predicted XIs for #PisaMilan, according to @Gazzetta_it.
🤔 Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/66Y8vY4D0H
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) February 13, 2026
The type of physical team Allegri loves, with only two smaller technical players in Modric and Nkunku.
Lets hope its the right medicine for Pisa. A win is a must
yeah. Rafa thrives in open space, which against a Pisa who most likely will sit back, there wont be any. This is why Allegri wants a big hold-up play CF. Obviously the play if we are tied at the 45/60 min is to pull out Fofana for Pulisic, RLC for Fulkrug and perhaps Rafa for Nkunku. Hopefully Nkunku keeps playing well and we can save Puli and Rafa for next game.
yeah. Rafa thrives in open space, which against a Pisa who most likely will sit back, there wont be any. This is why Allegri wants a big hold-up play CF. Obviously the play if we are tied at the 45/60 min is to pull out Fofana for Pulisic, RLC for Fulkrug and perhaps Rafa for Nkunku. Hopefully Nkunku keeps playing well and we can save Puli and Rafa for next game.
I guess I’d just like to know what’s preventing Fulkrug from getting a start in RLC’s position?