AC Milan take on Club Brugge on Tuesday night, and the Rossoneri must leave the match with three points if they are to progress in the Champions League this season.
With two defeats already on the board, Milan find themselves in a somewhat perilous situation, and in the old format, they could probably forget about qualifying for the knockout phase of the competition. However, they can still be hopeful of progression due to the new league format.
It does, however, mean they will have to be near-perfect for the rest of the league phase, and this is why Paulo Fonseca will probably look to the stars for assistance.
As Gazzetta dello Sport (via Milan News) writes, the Portuguese head coach should bring Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez into the starting eleven after both were absent against Udinese – albeit for different reasons.
Samuel Chukwueze has earned a place in the squad, so he should once again play on the right, meaning Christian Pulisic will start in the middle, and Alvaro Morata will lead the line.
In midfield, there shall be no changes, but Fonseca may offer Matteo Gabbia a chance to rest, so Malick Thiaw, Strahinja Pavlovic and Fikayo Tomori will be competing for a spot.
Please tomori should not play from the start this is champions league for crying out let Pavlovic and thiaw start if Gabbia is not available tomori have a long way to go in the champions league. So second half let’s bartasaghi play from central partnering thiaw so we can rest Pavlovic for league
Tricky lineup.
On one hand, I think the players did well enough against Udinese to deserve to start this game. On the other hand, Udinese is a sitting duck and UCL is always different from serie A. I don’t think Brugge is tough, but we shouldn’t understimate them, plus we don’t seem to do well against some sort of systems and lineups.
I think Tomori shouldn’t start, heck I wanted Fonseca to go all in with the sanction and not sub him in.
If Gabbia is available, he should start, pretty simple. Wether we should put Thiaw or Pavlovic besides him is anyone’s guess.
Next tricky subject is Theo, should we sanction him for his horrendous behaviour against La Viola or he should start because Terracciano is unreliable ?
Do Okafor and Chukwueze have what it takes against Brugge or should Leao start ? He didn’t do a sanctionable act during his last game.
Morata, Fofana, Reijnders and Pulisic should start in any case.
I think Fonseca should start the same team that played against Udinese. I don’t see any point in starting Leao who is out of form and underperforming.
Okafor and Chukwueze need game time to build consistency and maintain a good run of form.
Only Theo should be the only change as it appears Gabbia is not 100%. Players like Tomori, Leao and Abraham are not playing good enough to warrant a starting spot.