AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri has named his first starting line-up of 2026, ahead of the game against Cagliari at the Unipol Domus.
Milan will play five games in the next 18 days and – having established themselves as title contenders so far – it could be a defining run of games. It starts with a trip to Sardinia, to face a Cagliari side that took two draws from the Rossoneri last season.
Cagliari vs. Milan: Official starting XIs
It has been a running theme for Allegri that he has the bare bones available. The coach confirmed during his pre-match press conference that Christopher Nkunku will miss out with an ankle issue. Christian Pulisic and Matteo Gabbia have recovered for the bench, and Strahinja Pavlovic is battling a fever.
The big news is that Pavlovic has not been deemed fit enough to start and therefore has to make do with a spot on the bench, hoping not to be needed during the game. Mike Maignan, Fikayo Tomori, Koni De Winter and Davide Bartesaghi are the rearguard.
Alexis Saelemaekers will be the right wing-back and Pervis Estupinan comes in on the opposite flank with Bartesaghi moving to left centre-back. Youssouf Fofana, Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot make up the midfield three, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao up front.
Official Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, De Winter, Bartesaghi; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Estupinan; Loftus-Cheek, Leao.
Bench: Sportiello, Torriani, Odogu, Gabbia, Pavlovic, Athekame, Ricci, Jashari, Pulisic, Fullkrug, Castiello.
Official Cagliari XI (3-5-2): Caprile; Zappa, Luperto, Rodríguez; Palestra, Adopo, Prati, Mazzitelli, Obert; Esposito, Kılıçsoy.
Bench: Ciocci, Radunović; Di Pardo, Idrissi, Mina, Pintus; Cavuoti, Deiola, Gaetano, Liteta, Rog; Borrelli, Luvumbo, Pavoletti, Trepy.
this line up will either be great or really bad
Exactly, doesn’t inspire much confidence
Estupidnan…first minute, first mistake
Estupinan at CB?
Bartesaghi is the left cb and estupinan left wingback
this is probabbly estupinan’s last chance to impress allegri he has struggled with injuries and inconsistent form, i hope he puts on a good performance
Dear God… anyone else nervous about this defensive lineup?
Very nervous. It’s clear we need an additional experienced CB.
It may also be the reason RLC is starting. Essentially we’ll be in a 5-4-1 without the ball.
I stand corrected, it’s like a 6-3-1 in defense with Fofana dropping into the back line sometimes out of possession. LOL.
I hope this back 3 works because I kind of think Bartesaghi and KDW have a bigger upside than Pavlovic & Gabbia
Pulisic with the late winner again.
Bartesaghi looks terrible at CB. Hasn’t put a foot right.
I like loftus so much more in the midfield role than playing as a striker. No creativity up there. Also, why are we defending against cagliari? Horrible start.
Leao dropping deep to try to turn with the ball while RLC hangs on to the shoulder of the defender looking for the through ball from Leao is the most a$$backward tactic I can think of. Should be the other way around.
Well we were completely outcoached that half. Hopefully one of Allegri’s assistants can let him know his tactics are awful.
Bring in Pulisic to save us…Again.
Allegri approaches every match as if Milan is the weaker side. No way Cagliari should be the ones attacking. So tired of this coach’s cowardice.
I think I’m going to start watching games from the second half onward…
We have a very thin squad. If we are missing two or three players, we look very bad because the reserves are poor quality and numerically.
Our luck in this first half was that Cagliari didn’t show anything special either.
For now, it doesn’t look like a match we can win.
Not loving this front 2. Rare dangerous moment at the end of the half.
I think De Winter and Bartesaghi in the back 3 have been fine.
Cagliari were much better in the first 25 mins
I knew defending won’t be the biggest issue against a Cagliari side that’s not known for its attack but can be hard to breakdown. Especially with this attack of Leao RLC and knowing Max don’t put too much into scoring goals anyway
Leaoooo.. Now can we see fullkrug with leao? Loftus cheek is so physically imposing when he has these weak headers it bugs me so much.
I’m waiting for the end of game player ratings to see the fans say “Saelemaekers ran around and did a lot of running – 8.5”. , “Bartesaghi our wonder kid did great in the second half after horrible passing in the first half – 9.5”. “De Winter looks very shaky – 4.5”.
lol.
Saele and Bart had a terrible game period. And De Winter hasn’t put a foot wrong.