AC Milan will take on Fiorentina tomorrow evening and updates on the starting eleven have now arrived. Seeing as some of the Rossoneri players were called up for international duty during the break, there are a few things to consider for Stefano Pioli.
The Rossoneri will be looking to clinch all three points and cement their position in the standings, also preserving the current distance to Inter (and not increasing it). It will not be an easy clash at Artemio Franchi, though, as Pioli himself admitted during the press conference.
According to today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport (see photo below), at least three changes are expected to the starting XI compared to the game against Verona. Theo Hernandez is suspended, meaning Alessandro Florenzi will start, and Pierre Kalulu has picked up another injury.
In the heart of the defence, Fikayo Tomori is the certainty while it will be a battle between Matteo Gabbia and Malick Thiaw for the last spot, though the German is ahead. Ismael Bennacer has recovered from his minor discomfort and should start alongside Tijjani Reijnders.
Olivier Giroud is expected to replace Noah Okafor up front, while the attacking trio could remain the same. Christian Pulisic played a lot during the break, as Pioli also highlighted, so there is currently a battle between him and Samuel Chukwueze. But as things stand, the American is ahead still.
Probable Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Florenzi; Bennacer, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Giroud.
Gabbia should start.
Maignan
Calabria-Tomori-Gabbia-Florenzi
Bennacer-Reijnders
Pulisic-RLC-Leao
Giroud
Chukwu, Terraciano, and Jovic get in around 60th minutes. And Zeroli too.
Gabbia’s gone now.
His performances over the past months made no difference. He’s a youth product so will always be discriminated against.
Gabbia and Theo should start then Jimenez play left back
🤣🤣🤣
You should try reading the articles and not just go straight to the comments section.
I love Thiaw but Tomori is going to have to cover a lot of ground filling in the spaces Florenzi is supposed to be so surely Gabbia is the safer option of late?
Gabbia all the way, has been faultless since returning, unlike Thiaw who seems to constantly make errors, but he’s foreign so must be better than Gabbia !!
Florenzi as LB means no link up or offensive contribution on the Left. Not sure how Pioli will make up for the lack of Theo’s runs.
Grandpa Flo is definitely not making those. So then Reijnders makes the runs and leaves gaps in transition?
Right wind battle is a joke. Pulisic has been our best offensive player full stop. And Chuk, well… Don’t mind Chuk starting, but it really just a matter of rest for Pulisic. Now if Leao and Pulisic were fighting for a position, that would be a battle.