Cristian Chivu and Massimiliano Allegri have named their starting line-ups for the Derby della Madonnina between Inter and AC Milan.
Inter have made an excellent start to the season and are currently third in the league after Napoli and Roma’s win earlier in the weekend, but can reclaim top spot with a win. A victory would put them five points ahead of the Rossoneri too, though Allegri’s side are targeting an overtake.
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Inter vs. AC Milan: Official starting XIs
As was reported during the build-up, Allegri has gone for the first choice three-man defence of Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic ahead of Mike Maignan in goal. Alexis Saelemaekers and Davide Bartesaghi will be the right and left wing-backs respectively.
The midfield three will be Youssouf Fofana, Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot. Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao will be the front two from minute one for the first time in the league this season. The likes of Christopher Nkunku, Samuele Ricci, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ardon Jashari are on the bench.
Inter will also line up with a 3-5-2, fronted by Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram, with Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni among the familiar faces. However, as we analysed on Friday, the way of playing could not be more different for the two sides.
Official Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Bartesaghi; Pulisic, Leao.
Bench: Terracciano, Pittarella, De Winter, Odogu, Estupinan, Ricci, Loftus-Cheek, Jashari, Nkunku.
Official Inter (3-5-2): Sommer; Akanji, Acerbi, Bastoni; Carlos Augusto, Barella, Calhanoglu, Sucic, Dimarco; Lautaro Martinez, Thuram.
Bench: Martinez J., Calligaris, de Vrij, Bisseck, Luis Henrique, Zielinski, Frattesi, Diouf, Bonny, Esposito, Cocchi, Alexiou.
I’ll give credit to Allegri for picking Bart over Estupinan but I’m dissapointed Fofana is playing. Even in the friendly last week he was a major liability. A game of this pressure is not what he is capable of right now.#
I’d choose any of the other 3 midfielders over him right now, though I know Jashari needs time to get back some form.
Why start someone who is at an all time low in confidence?
Interesting to see Leao-Pulisic, though not ideal to be starting together for the 1st time in this game.
We lucky Dumfries is out because he would have a field day v Alexis and Tomori
I hope we can put the last couple of months of mediocre/poor performances behind us and get a result!
Dumfries would’ve been facing the opposite end of Tomori and Salad
Your right of course. My mistake.
Still glad Bart doesn’t have to handle him.
I saw the last 15mins of Lazio vs Lecce, 1st half. I wanted to weep for Carmada. The lad is just wasting away. I hope they bring him back in January. 15mins game time with us is better than the 90 mins he plays with Lecce. It’s a team of zero creativity.
Fofana looking lost as always
Wtf is wrong with fofana? Is he injured? Can’t chase after loose balls anymore
Pulisic and Fofana needs to be substituted at half time. Jashari and Nkunku should come up
Good thing Allegri wasn’t listening to you.
Lucky not to be behind, thanks Mike!
We need to show a lot more ambition in the second half
Milan is so freaking ugly to watch under Allegri. Any coach that makes our team sit back when playing against big teams, is a low mentality coach. Idc.
What is possession now anyways? 95-5 ? Smh
So?
Two hardest working guys on the team combine for a goal. Forza Milan
Pass the ball Fofana omg 😳😳
And dont shoot….. EVER!!
Nice result, terrible performance
If they called THAT back for a review by VAR then for sure they could have review Acerbi’s pull on Leao’s hair… Which btw is a red card
I can’t believe that wasn’t called. Also the TV announcers on Paramount + completely ignored that play. You could see it very clearly on the re-play, but the announcers wouldn’t touch it!
Nice win. Good 3 points. We should have been more daring in attack though. It made the Derby boring and Inter look toothless.
I hope Allegri will evolve with time, or when his time is up we transition to a coach with more flare. But in any case I prefer boring win to losing to inter with all flare. I can still recall our fancy football under Pioli yet Inter having the upper hand.