AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli appears to have settled on the team that he will send out for the first leg of their last 16 tie against Slavia Praha.
According to this morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), the Milan boss is expected to name a back four of Alessandro Florenzi, Simon Kjaer, Matteo Gabbia and Theo Hernandez in front of the goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Yacine Adli is tipped to keep his spot in the double pivot but Ismael Bennacer will be replaced by Tijjani Reijnders, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek playing in a more advanced role. Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao will operate on the right and left flanks respectively with Olivier Giroud leading the line.
Pioli will be able to call upon Pierre Kalulu, Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw and Davide Calabria as defensive options if needed, with Bennacer and Yunus Musah potential midfield replacements, then Samuel Chukwueze, Noah Okafor and Luka Jovic the forwards.
The only unavailable player will be Tommaso Pobega as he continues to recover from surgery, plus Mattia Caldara who is not in the squad list anyway.
Probable Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Florenzi, Kjaer, Gabbia, Theo; Reijnders, Adli; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Giroud.
Probable Slavia XI (3-4-2-1): Staněk; Vlček, Ogbu, Zima; Tomic, Oscar, Masopust, Diouf; Provod, Jurečka; Chytil.
The 5-0-5 versus, basically, a 6-man midfield could be disastrous. I really hope Pioli planned this properly.