It is looking increasingly likely that Rafael Leao will be starting for AC Milan in the Champions League against Newcastle on Wednesday night, a report claims.
As has been reported by Milan News, the Rossoneri should be welcoming back their star player from injury just in time for arguably the biggest game of the season so far.
Milan have to win against Newcastle and hope that Paris Saint-Germain beat Borussia Dortmund at the same time if they are to qualify for the round of 16.
With Leao back on the left wing, Christian Pulisic can move back to the right wing where he is certainly more comfortable. Olivier Giroud will lead the line.
Theo Hernandez will need to be used at centre-back again unless Simon Kjaer makes a swift recovery, which means that Alessandro Florenzi will be at left-back. That leaves Davide Calabria and Fikayo Tomori in the defence in front of Mike Maignan.
In the midfield, Stefano Pioli is expected to choose Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Tijjani Reijnders and Yunus Musah at St. James Park.
Milan predicted XI (4-3-3): Maignan; Calabria, Tomori, Hernandez, Florenzi; Loftus-Cheek, Reijnders, Musah; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.
If this is the line up ,then that’s brilliant.
We can definitely beat Newcastle,,at least if we do we will still be in Europe ,,,yes not the same prestige of the champions leauge but at least the revenue collected will be useful ..
So the season can still be a good one ..
We must also finish in the top four in the league then progress into the champions leauge next season .
So leave poli alone …He has brought success to our club .
We played an injury plagued Atalanta and they still whooped Milan.
You think Newcastle, who is a lot stronger than Atalanta, is going to have trouble with that backline?
Especially with Pioli sending all our defenders up into the midfield and leaving our goal completely exposed.
A new coach and a definitive plan on the field (not tinkering) is needed. Pioli thinks he’s Guardiola level but his tactics are poor and leave gaps everywhere which are now being heavily exposed.
Newcastle are also decimated by injuries and have lost their last two games against Everton and Newcastle. They aren’t at their full strength either!
Edit- I mean depleted*, not decimated. Sorry for the typo
If you’re going to by like that maybe don’t bother watching the game or supporting Milan or commenting on a Milan’s fan page???
What success a scudetto we barely won because it was Inzaghi first season and didn’t settle in lol.
An embarrassing lost at the supercoppa Italia and 4 consecutive loses against Inter not to mention an embarrassing 4 zero lost against Lazio. If it wasn’t for point deduction Milan would be playing on Thursday night and not Tuesday and Wednesday. Looks like you let escaped your thoughts. Lol
Where are you making excuses for an Inter coach and downplaying the success of a Milan coach?
Go support inter.
Don’t see how we don’t let 4 goals in with Theo at CB and with Leao walking most of the game to not hurt himself. Theo can probably become very good at CB, he’s a terrific footballer, but he is probably a better LW than a CB.
Theo is a very good player as a fullback ,at CB he really is throwing all his weapons away, plus he will only become a good CB when he starts losing his speed and reads the game much better at around 30 years of age.
I’m not the coach but wouldn’t it make more sense to pair Calabria with Tomori in the centre and Florenzi & Theo in their natural positions on the wings?…. Calabria is great at picking out his man but poor at keeping up with his man and in the centre he would be a better fit.
Maybe. Or just play Simic at CB and not mess with anything else- what I would do. He’s a risk but the massive tinkering everywhere else is worse, more so with the low morale where even the simple things become hard.
I agree that Simic deserved a chance but he is not in the squad list for the CL against Newcastle … Neither is Bennacer.
You get it.
Pioli is only being coward by further compounding this self-inflicted injury crisis- I mean where was Theo when Atalanta were creating big chances in the box and scored 3.
If Bertasarghi & Simic already got chances they would have been closer to 100% now.
What if anyone get injured against Newcastle or Tomori suffers a muscular problem like Thiaw during the game.
This bald man is repeating the same pattern and the very thing he is avoiding will blow up in his face.
I hope this rejndeers does not collapse on the pitch one day out of exhaustion
Reading articles and comments from The Mag, Newcastle’s fan site, they have their worries too, basically for the same reasons – they have had a ton of injuries and don’t have this gianormous Chelsea-sized squad, but, unlike Pioli, have been subbing in their youngsters from the academy to spell their remaining starters.
Their main shot stopper, Nick Pope, suffered a probably season ending shoulder dislocation, and Dubravka, the backup GK, who used to be their starting GK, and used to be decent, let in seven goals in these last two matches.
Newcastle are likely to try to get another GK this winter. Their third GK is Loris Karius, relatively unknown to the very provincial Newcastle fans, but forever known to Champions League as the GK whose howlers in the CL final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in 2018 gifted Real with a 3-1 win. (Master of the Dark Arts and world class cheat Sergio Ramos was actually the main driver of that disreputable win, as he elbowed Karius in the head early in the match, giving him a concussion, and then shortly thereafter, succeeded in ripping Mohammed Salah’s shoulder out of joint, forcing him out of the match).
Newcastle also need reinforcements in centerback and left back, as their starters have long term injuries.
Kieran Trippier, their right back, who is normally excellent, has been flogged by the grueling schedule of being in Champions League and playing every three days, and made several mistakes in this last match against Tottenham. His backup is Paul Dummett who is more of a Championship level player.
“Milan have to win against Newcastle and hope that Paris Saint-Germain beat Borussia Dortmund at the same time if they are to qualify for the round of 16”
Correction: Borussia have to beat PSG
The two biggest hopes for beating Newcastle and at least qualify for EL is a) Leao is back and b) Newcastle have even more injuries then us and all their key players who are fit have looked absolutely fatigued last 2 games against Everton and Tottenham.
Reijnders needs to show something. yes yes he’s technical…but create goals.