AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri has named his starting line-up for the game against Bologna at San Siro tonight.
During his pre-match press conference, Allegri made it clear the danger that Bologna pose, with memories of the Coppa Italia final still fresh. He also revealed the problems that Milan have with regards to the attacking department, with three of the four options not at 100%.
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Rafael Leao was initially expected to be back for this one but as explained by Allegri, the muscle he injured is a complicated one. As such, he is not expected back for Udinese either, but rather the Napoli game.
Milan vs. Bologna: Official starting XIs
Mike Maignan, Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic have retained their places as the rearguard. Alexis Saelemaekers and Pervis Estupinan will operate on the flanks as the two wing-backs.
A midfield three of Youssouf Fofana, Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot has been selected, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek expected to operate in a more advanced role. Santiago Gimenez, as the only fully fit forward, leads the line as the striker.
Official Milan XI (3-5-1-1): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Estupinan; Loftus-Cheek; Gimenez.
Bench: Terracciano, Pittarella , De Winter, Odogu, Athekame, Bartesaghi, Ricci, Nkunku, Pulisic, Balentien.
Official Bologna XI (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; Zortea, Lucumì, Heggem, Lykogiannis; Freuler, Ferguson; Orsolini, Fabbian, Cambiaghi; Castro.
Bench: Ravaglia, Happonen, Moro, Bernardeschi, Rowe, Tomasevic, Odgaard, Dallinga, De Silvestri, Dominguez, Gonzalez, Vitik.
RLC in a more advanced role? Worked perfectly fine last season, so why not try it again… LOL
Love affair with cheeks.
I love those articles about how Allegri has to improvise with the lineup because of injuries. The reality, however, is that Allegri will keep fielding the same players over and over again, regardless of anything. I feel sorry for poor Ricci. The sooner he leaves, the better for him, because at AC they simply won’t let him play. It “comforts me” that we spent a record fee to bring in a player like Nkunku, who isn’t even able to play. Yes, his versatility is truly beneficial. Great investment, we need more like that.
Loftus in front of both Pulisic and Nkunku lol. From what i see Alegri only wants big physical players and thats about it. The only creative player here is Modric from a very deep position and somewhat Salemakers on the right.
It would be very unwise to play Pulisic for the 90 after he played in both games for the USA and then traveled long distances. He is already an injury-prone player and can’t be risked. He’ll probably play 30 minutes if they need him.
lmao
that squad..
Lol. Allegri ball💪 😂😂
Wtf. One of the top players the past two years on the bench. I’ve been lurking for a few years, this is bullshit. F allegri
Well congrats to Allegri and management, this is truly banter era 2.0 with that lineup.
One positive, we finally know the system we have chosen 541
We finally know why they tried so hard to get rid of Gimenez. It wasn’t because of his performances. He didn’t fit into the planned 6-4-0 system
Yuck. What is allegri doing. Rabiot straight into the lineup two days here, but yet Ricci and all the others will take months to integrate. All these midfielders. He really wants those 1-0 wins.
Fofana, I just don’t get it. He does nothing every game. How many field goals will he kick today?
I’d rather Ricci over Fofana but I get the other picks. I’d rest Pulisic and save him as an option to change the dynamic of the attack if needed
Forza Park the Bus! Meanwhile, Farioli off to a 5-0-0 start with Porto….
What an embarrassment of a coach Allegri is. One attacking player. He’s getting closer to his dream of playing 5 defenders and 5 midfielders. Anti-football nonsense. Just hoping to win every game 1-0.
This idea that Pulisic is not fit is ridiculous. He played 60 minutes 5 days ago and he looked great.
Ididnt think i would see uglier football than Conceicao… boy was I wrong.
Yup
You guys are impossible, always seeing negative things…. Yuck!🤮
Hope you enjoy theater like atmosphere. Get use to it under these clowns.
Good 10mins so far, playing better.
Modric has been everywhere.
LOL. Tomori Tomoriing.
😂😂😂
🤡 performance we will accumulate more yellows than goals.
Great football Allegri! Amazing stuff. 1 shot on target. Who would’ve thought 9 defenders and central midfielders with 1 attacking player( and our worst attacking player) would result in no goals. Their coaching decisions just keep getting worse.
Pulisic will probably come on and save them again and Allegri will think he did a great job with the lineups.
We are sitting back and inviting pressure against bologna at home, we have to be willing to step up and press. Gimenez is isolated, if it continue like this we cant blame the defense if we concede and we cant blame the striker if we dont score. It’s 2025 now not 1980
The team is playing really well. Fast paced attacking football. Dynamic and composed in possession. . Putting opponents under constant pressure with good organised pressing. Intricate passing and creating numerous chances. Wouldn’t be long before we see a wave of goals. At this rate we can do a domestic double this season , and then a treble next season. This current Ac Milan team will soon be unbeatable, even better than the team of the late eighties going into the nineties.
I know, pure class. LOL
Oh heck yea
This team is so great my eyes are not worthy of seeing such greatness in action, so much so I humbly switched off the tv lol 😂
What game are you watching? I want to watch that one. Or smoke whatever you are smoking. We have 1 shot on target and are parking the bus.
This is just terrible, even player announcements are met with silence when official speaker shouts the name.
Amazing assist by Alexi. That was outstanding. I’m very happy to see him doing well. A milanista, though I guess that makes him an endangered species
Ricci already better than Fofana
My word what a boring game
If only we had a proper no. 9, I’d believe more in this catenaccio revival project.
Yea there’s only so much I could defend Giminez with but that’s not a good performance by any means. Our 9 needs a bit more than what he’s offering
Gabbia with the armband❤️
Another red for Allegri 🙄
Stupid Allegri. We’re winning! Why get sent off for protesting? This might even be a two game ban. The coach needs to be on the touchline, not in the stands. FFS.
I told y’all we getting the jacket off from Max before Christmas haha 🤣
Can’t believe they send the ref over to adjudge a foul from a side angle camera when there was a camera angle head on that they didn’t use.
Can’t blame Max here for the strip.tese tbh
Absolutely incredible…no penalty…
Modric…what a player, what a champion…mvp tonight. We should have won more clearly tonight, a 2-0 or 3-0 would have been a more fair score.
NGL almost fell asleep watching this, Nkunku looks promising tho
They should give Santi extra training on his first touch. It is horrendous. He practically controls the ball almost 2m away from him. The last ‘goal’ he scored for Milan was the result of a poor first touch that placed the ball ahead of his right foot.
If he was in Inzaghi’s place in our game vs. Portsmouth, when Inzaghi killed a ball dead on his first touch and scored with precise placement with his second, that goal would never have happened.
There is a man whose clips I see online who has a tremendous first touch; he might be Japanese. If I were Santi’s agent, I would hire him as coach for Santi ASAP. In fact, just find Dmitri Berbatov.
When I was younger, one of the drills tried in training was to draw a circle with your feet, one step wide. Any ball controlled that fell outside that circle meant 10 press ups. Santi should improve on those skills. If Belantien,scores before he does with chances like that, Santi will be benched.