The month of December will be crucial for Stefano Pioli and AC Milan as they look to get their Scudetto defence back on track in the new year.
As reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) this morning, Milan will leave for the United Arab Emirates on 10 December and will be there until 20 December to prepare for the resumption of the Serie A season on 4 January against Salernitana.
Pioli’s target is to catch up with Napoli who are eight points ahead and it will not be easy, so for this reason the Rossoneri staff continued to work even during the break and implemented a plan that will increase loads from today until the departure for Dubai.
While in Asia, training will mainly take place in the morning and there will also be an opportunity to compete against two other top sides in European football with friendlies against Arsenal and Liverpool, scheduled for the 13th and 16th respectively.
Pioli also knows that his side must improve in the defensive phase compared to what we saw in the first part of the season because the rearguard became the strength of the team in the run-up to winning the Scudetto.
Another aspect that must be considered is the returns of several key players such as Mike Maignan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the captain Davide Calabria. The French goalkeeper has already been training for a few days at Milanello, Zlatan will join the team in Dubai and should be back in late January, while is almost at full recovery.
Alexis Saelemaekers has been at Milanello with Maignan in the last few days, while Alessandro Florenzi will have to wait until February to get back out on the field.
