official starting xis milan feyenoord
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Official: AC Milan vs. Feyenoord starting XIs – three changes from Verona win

AC Milan welcome Feyenoord to San Siro tonight hoping for a comeback mission to make it through to the last 16 of the Champions League.

Milan conceded just three minutes into the the first leg due to a Mike Maignan howler on an Igor Paixao shot, and that certainly set the tone for the rest of the night. Feyenoord were full of intensity and aggression, which the Rossoneri – by their own players’ admissions – were unable to match.

Nevertheless, the beauty of European knockout football is that there is another 90 minutes to come and therefore the tie is only halfway done. A much better performance will be needed at San Siro tonight in front of an expectant home crowd.

Official starting XIs

There are a number of absences for Sergio Conceicao as Alessandro Florenzi, Emerson Royal and Ruben Loftus-Cheek remain injured, while Luka Jovic, Alex Jimenez, Warren Bondo and Riccardo Sottil are not in the UEFA squad list.

Conceicao has opted to name the four forwards Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao, Joao Felix and Santiago Gimenez in the side from minute one just as he did in the first leg, although none of them really had much joy on the night.

The midfield double pivot is Yunus Musah and Tijjani Reijnders which gives Youssouf Fofana some rest. The defensive line is Kyle Walker, Malick Thiaw, Strahinja Pavlovic and Theo Hernandez in front of Mike Maignan.

Official Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Walker, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Pulisic, Reijnders, Musah, Leao; Joao Felix, Gimenez.

Bench: Sportiello, Torriani, Chukwueze, Tomori, Fofana, Bartesaghi, Terracciano, Gabbia, Camarda, Abraham.

Official Feyenoord XI (4-3-3): Wellenreuther; Read, Beelen, Hancko, Smal; Milambo, Moder, Bueno; Hadj Moussa, Redmond, Paixao.

Bench: Andreev, Ka, Stengs, Ivanusec, Carranza, Mitchell, ‘T Zand, Osman, Van den Elshout, Giersthove, Sliti.

Tags AC Milan Milan Feyenoord

95 Comments

  1. Not a fan of this. Puli is the best performing player in this team. Sitting him out is a handicap.

    Play Musah in the middle. Sit Felix out. Start puli and Reijnders bring Santi. Bring Felix in the second half if you need to force it.

    3. This formation is way too imbalanced. We’re going to struggle very much without a proper midfield, against a Dutch side that are not impressed by a pressing team. Very scared for the result.

      1. Who says she’s unbalanced? We played the best matches with Morat at ACM, with Pulisic, Lea and Abraham as CF. You attack not to defend yourself, very clearly.

    4. Seems he’s starting if the article is true 🤷‍♂️
      My take is that the Fab 4 is more of a last ditch formation than one you’re going to use to start a game because it’s so unbalanced. If all else fails then sure use fab 4 but if not then use a setup that bolster the midfield

      1. 👊🏼❤️at times I find it difficult in this platform, to really know Ac milan fans. Secondly,do we see or Know more of this players than the coach ,selection. Forza milan

    1. It’s not about Puli. It’s about Feyenoord defending with a high block with 3 midfielders. With all 4 attackers and 2 box to box midfielders, Milan will basically have no players between the defence and attack. This means the defense is going to struggle immensely to get the ball in the area of the pitch where our attackers and midfielders can actually be useful (just like the first game). I hope I’m proven wrong, but being Dutch and watching the eredivisie I know how Dutch teams press, I imagine this is going to be a overrun in midfield.

      2. we are betting that they will come out and defend. Fofana struggle the last few games, bold move from the coach to put Musah there. Fofana is our most defensive mid.
        Hope our front 4 + Tiji can overwhelm them

  5. Other than adding Álex Jimenez which is impossible this is the strongest attacking formation we have at our disposal. Either we hammer them with goals or it could be our defeat.

  6. Guys chill. It’s musah mad reijnders in the double pivot. Pulisic and leao on the wings, Felix as am, gimenez as striker. Why are u making things up

    1. Can people and media stop calling it fantastic 4 or fab 4?
      It’s so dumb seriously.
      They have done nothing to be called that.
      It’s not like they were seedorf kaka sheva inzaghi.

    1. Musah has been really good under Conceicao when he’s had the opportunity to play CM – his natural position. He’s obviously not a winger.

  10. Gulp!

    I’d rather see Fofana, Musah and Tiji in midfield.
    At least for 1st half.
    Leave either Leao or Felix on bench and have fresh legs to bring on.

    Regardless of formation, the last leg was a disgrace, no desire or effort.
    Whatever happens tonight they better show some fight!!

    2. yup. Coach has balls. He went all in from the start. It is asking a lot from Tiji and Musah when it comes to defend counter attacks. Hopefully Musah can do well in his natural CM position.

  11. Atleast he’s throwing the kitchen sink from the beginning without creativity in the middle (headless chicken from the start). lol.
    Let’s see how this goes. Fingers crossed

  12. God forbid he should not start Felix for a match. a 4-3-3 with Reihnders , Fofana and Musah on the right to deal with that Paxioa fella. Giminez , Leao and Pulisic up top would be the way to go.

    2. I agree with playing all three. But because our genius executives decided we don’t need midfielders, we’re left with Terracciano as our only cover on the bench. If he can be called that.

  13. Pulisic is starting the team is good to good and am predicting 3-1 my only fear here is musah because he doesn’t know how to be cautious when on a yellow card already m
    With the home support we should have this

  15. Not a fan of this lineup at all. We’re repeating the mistakes of the first game. This is a weak midfield. We will suffer lots of counters and will have a hard time linking up with the offense. It’s a very offensive formation and sure, we need to score, but we can’t concede. I’m worried, and disappointed with Conceição; he should have learned lessons from the Rotterdam disaster, but apparently, he didn’t.

    Of course, maybe we’ll be saved by individual brilliance up front, but tactically speaking, this is not good. I’m concerned.

  17. Perfect example of how badly this team is constructed. Can’t play Tijji-Fofana-Musah cause our only midfield cover from the bench is Terracciano.

    1. This would be the most logical moving forward. (at least in Serie A) . Felix to come in as a change of dynamic or when Leao/Puli get injured. It’s call depth for a reason. right?

  24. I like this version of Leao. That dude that said he wasn’t that fast, anytime Leao gets the chance he wants to roast him haha 🤣🤣…as it should be

    1. That defender should’ve kept his mouth shut – all he’s done is fire Leao up. It wasn’t just him either – Feyenoord in general were a little too cocky for my liking, seeing as they only won 1-0 thanks to a Mike howler…

  29. Much improved attitude and performance.
    However we are incredibly wasteful!

    Eventually our players will tire and Feyenord will have chances. Cant afford to be so wasteful.
    Leao and Felix are both talented but so incredibly wasteful.
    Is Pulisic playing? What’s going on with him? Seems very quiet recently

  33. You can’t leave reijnders there is no other creative player in our squad you take him off and then we can’t create something from behind both mussah and fofana play risk from behind

    2. Thanks Theo! 🥴
      Feyenoord needs us to be a man down in order to be even. Why are we even in this position.
      We need to score. The longer the game goes on the more tired we’ll be. And we definitely can’t afford tired legs, we don’t even have proper subs

  44. I think Theo needs to pack his bag and go !
    He has done more harm than good this season. The non availability of Theo”s alternate is now very evident. Probably the coach could have changed him but who would have replaced him. ?

  51. I can’t understand subbing off Jimenez. He and Pulisic are goal scorers. Pulisic wasn’t playing well fine. But felix and Leao are not goal scorers

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