GdS: The three mistakes Milan cannot make in crucial game against Atletico Madrid

AC Milan will play a home Champions League fixture for the first time in seven years as the famous anthem will belt out around San Siro.

Their opponents back in 2014 were Atletico Madrid, and the LaLiga champions arrive in Italy ready to face the Rossoneri again having won four of their opening seven league games, sitting three points behind their city rivals Real Madrid as they set the pace early on.

It will be a fundamental match for the fate of group B as Milan lost in Liverpool on their debut, while Atletico drew at home with Porto. A crossroads has arrive for Stefano Pioli, and La Gazzetta dello Sport have picked out three mistakes the team cannot make.

Awe: The hope is that the emotion of playing in such a big occasion was already felt to the maximum at a hostile Anfield. A young side playing in front of their home crowd against the LaLiga winners seems to be the right opportunity to understand how much distance there is still between this Milan and the European football elite.

Frenzy: At the same time, it will be important that the Rossoneri do not get caught up in the haste to attack because Los Rojiblancos know how to read the game and how to hit teams on the break. Intensity and high pace are weapons that Pioli’s Milan must use, but with balance.

Cliche: Milan cannot presume that this Atletico side are as they always have been under Diego Simeone. Yes they play with grit, determination and sacrifice but they have moved on from simply having defensive solidity and compactness. Atleti have grown in their build-up and have transitioned from the cast iron 4-4-2 into a 3-5-2 base with a 3-4-3 (or 3-4-2-1) and a 4-2-3-1.

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