After Inter’s win against Roma at San Siro last night, AC Milan travel to face Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico knowing that a victory is virtually a necessity in the quest for the Scudetto.
The game features a number of fascinating head-to-head battles, starting with Fikayo Tomori‘s bid to put a torrid display in the midweek Coppa Italia defeat to Inter behind him. He will have the difficult task of keeping Ciro Immobile quiet, a striker who is well known by now and has 25 league goals this season, plus 7 goals in 19 games against the Rossoneri.
Cutting off the supply to Immobile will be key and in this regard Franck Kessie‘s bid to neutralise Sergej Milinkovic-Savic will be crucial. Not only does the Serbia international have 10 assists in Serie A this season but he also knows how to score too having racked up 9 goals, so it will be a tough assignment for the Ivorian who in turn will look to keep up his trend of playing well against the Aquile.
There will be an all-Italian battle down Milan’s right too as Davide Calabria must try and get back to his best form having had some shaky recent performances, with the trick Mattia Zaccagni occupying in left wing role. The pacey forward was linked with a move to the Rossoneri and has 9 goal contributions (4G, 5A) in 24 appearances in the league.
Moving to Milan’s attack which has been out of sorts for the past month or so, Rafael Leao‘s attempts to wreak havoc on the left wing will be met by the impressive right-back Manuel Lazzari. One more goal gets the Portuguese forward into double figures in the league but Lazzari is an experienced Serie A defender who can probably match him for pace.
Finally, Brahim Diaz has gone an awful long time without a goal (25 September against Spezia was his last), but he has had some joy against Maurizio Sarri’s side this season having produced two of his brighter performances against them in league and cup. Lucas Leiva should be tasked with stopping him at the base of the midfield and at 35 years of age he has the experience to at least try and cut off a big source of Milan’s creativity.
Lucas Leiva is brazilian not spanish, Luis Alberto is spanish!! Wish we could sign Milinkovic-Savic for next season, ideal for a 4-3-3 formation change, but probably very unlikely to happen ☹️