AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has seemingly settled on the starting line-up that he will field at the Stadio Artemio Franchi against Fiorentina tonight.
Milan are delivering the goods at the business end of the season and have gone from strength to strength in recent weeks with five wins in a row, and they will look to continue their great form by collecting three points in Florence.
According to what is being reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Pioli has chosen a back four of Davide Calabria, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori and Alessandro Florenzi in front of Mike Maignan, with Theo Hernandez suspended.
The midfield double pivot should be Ismael Bennacer and Tijjani Reijnders, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek playing further forward in an attacking midfield role.
Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao should then occupy the two flanks, with Olivier Giroud down as the starting centre-forward.
The likes of Matteo Gabbia, Yunus Musah, Noah Okafor, Luka Jovic and Samuel Chukwueze will be able to lend a hand from the bench as well.
Probable Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Florenzi; Bennacer, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Giroud.
Probable Fiorentina XI (4-2-3-1): Terracciano; Kayode, Ranieri, Milenkovic, Biraghi; Arthur, Mandragora; Gonzalez, Beltran, Kouame; Belotti.
I don’t understand why Thiaw instead of Gabbia. Gabbia has shown to be a starter worthy IMO.
I agree with you
Because Pioli. That’s what. He likes what he likes. Hopefully Thiaw is mentally ready, otherwise both him and Tomori are pacy, whereas Gabbia isn’t as fast.
With Calabria and FLorenzi on the wings, we lack speed that Theo brings on recovery. So Pioli is probably opting for faster CB pairing.
Yes. Gabbia