The game between AC Milan and Juventus on Sunday night looks set to boil down to a few key battles between players, a report claims.
In particular, La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) picks out the duels between Juan Cuadrado and Theo Hernandez, between Cristiano Ronaldo and Simon Kjaer and finally also the one between Rodrigo Bentancur and Hakan Calhanoglu as where the game could be won or lost.
Regarding the first battle, Cuadrado is first in terms of opportunities created in Pirlo’s system and without him and his dribbles Juventus are more predictable. The same goes for the Milan full-back, whose speed and thrust on the left wing are among the most important weapons of Pioli’s team. It will be a war of attrition on Milan’s left side.
Regarding Cristiano, the numbers speak for themselves. Without the 27 goals of the Portuguese star, who knows where Juventus would be, while the Dane – who arrived in January 2020 amid general skepticism – has become a leader and an irremovable staple of Pioli’s Milan. His experience will also be essential to stop Ronaldo.
Calhanoglu and Bentancur meanwhile will have to mark each other and whoever wins will bring a great advantage to their team as both are the main sources of play of the two teams. It is no mystery that if the Turkey international plays well, then Milan also plays well and creates more scoring chances.
