News The Match

Official: Lecce vs. AC Milan starting XIs – Krunic, Pobega and Chukwueze in

By Oliver Fisher -

AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has decided to make three changes from the team that beat Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night for the Saturday matinee against Lecce.

Milan got three much-needed points against PSG in midweek at a sold-out San Siro to reignite their hopes in Europe, providing a big boost to spirits after a difficult period, but now they must get back on track in the league.

Pioli has named the same defensive department as he did against the Ligue 1 side with Mike Maignan in goal and Davide Calabria, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez the back four from right to left.

It is expected to be a 4-2-3-1 formation again, with Tijjani Reijnders keeping his place but Rade Krunic coming in for Yunus Musah – who has started nine games in a row for club and country – and Tommaso Pobega for Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Samuel Chukwueze – in for the injured Christian Pulisic – and Rafael Leao will flank Pobega in the attacking trident, with Olivier Giroud leading the line in his 100th appearance for the Rossoneri.

Official Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Krunic, Reijnders; Chukwueze, Pobega, Leao; Giroud.

Bench: Mirante, Nava, Florenzi, Adli, Loftus-Cheek, Jovic, Okafor, Romero, Musah, Bartesaghi.

Official Lecce XI (4-3-3): Falcone; Gendrey, Baschirotto, Pongracic, Dorgu; Rafia, Ramadani, Kaba; Strefezza, Krstovic, Banda.

Bench: Brancolini, Samooja, Oudin, Sansone, Venuti, Gonzalez, Berisha, Listkowski, Gallo, Smajlovic, Blin, Burnete, Dermaku, Touba, Piccoli.

More Stories / The Match
Sky: Predicted XIs for Milan vs. Genoa – Pioli prepares four changes
Report: Academy goalkeeper aged 19 has been called up for Milan-Genoa
Serie A preview: AC Milan vs. Genoa – Team news, opposition insight, stats and prediction

Tags AC Milan Lecce Milan

92 Comments

      1. It’s Lecce; you don’t need speed, just creativity — something a certain player (Pobega) lacks with his 43% pass accuracy and only Adli and Reijnders have.

  3. Pobega has to be the worst player in our team. It bows my mind how he can get the start over Adli.

    I hope Milan replace Pioli next summer. I’ve had it this coach.

  4. My God slowbega and krunic is playing over adli?
    Why? Because milan lead the table by 12 points?
    Because it’s okay to drop more points?
    Apparently pioli loves to see his own team struggle.
    I bet he’s going to make a panic subs during half time later

    1. Slowbega because Adli is considered a very fast player who will tear them apart right?

      Do you watch games or just pretend that seeing highlights is enough?

  6. Good chance for Pobega to prove all these negative comments wrong, I hope he plays well and scores, about time we supported our players, especially our homegrown talents.
    Forza Pobega
    Forza Milan

  7. Slowbega AND Krunic at the same time? Who oh why 🤦‍♂️I’m going to complain about Slowbega because everytime i do he seems to score lol 😂 I’d prefer a more attacking option tbh (though for some reason Pobs get into great attacking spaces). Oh well. Is what it is. Let’s go boys

  8. In terms of creativity there will be Zero contribuation from Krunic who wont pass forward and Pobega who dont seem to know how to pass at all. Disaster pending.

    1. How is pobega gonna be able to pass when he can’t even receive a slow pass properly.

      Just watch him receive every single pass with a heavy touch that leads to possession lost or an awkward pass to his team

  9. I’m not really into this so called rotation. Too often we see we’re struggling everytime we decided to start with partially rotated squad. And we ended up inserting all the key players later in the game when the situation is not in our favor.

  10. Obviously we needed to rotate, but some of the decisions seem odd.
    I don’t mind if Pobega starts, he has a good shot on him.
    However in midfield how on earth does Reijnders not get a break? Adli should play

    Also in attack how is Giroud not getting a rest? Okafor looked excellent midweek, he MUST start getting minutes, either for Giroud or Leao!!!!

    I would also have given Florenzi the RB role and rested Calabria after such a tough game midweek (also florenzi can chill during international break, while calabria will play for Italy).

    Finally, it is absolutely vital we give minutes to someone/anyone at CB. If Thiaw or Tomori get injured/suspended are we just going to drop a kid in it again like at Napoli?
    We absolutely must get Simic on the pitch at some point or try someone else there

  11. Choosing Pobega over Adli and not giving Grandpa Giroud a rest? No game time for Okafor either. And Reijnders looks exhausted, but no rest for him.

    Even if we somehow win, not resting these key players and giving a chance to promising talents might come back to haunt us. What happens if one of them gets injured?
    Then everyone starts making excuses for Pioli, oh poor guy he doesn’t have his best players, forgetting that his bad man-management lead to that situation. It’s not just about the result today; it’s about the long run.
    Gotta think beyond the immediate and consider the consequences down the line.

    3. Okafor just in for Leao

      Giroud is our best striker and he just scored a goal

      Pobega defense doesn’t looks clumsy as fvck like Adli. Even Krunic have better defense than Adli and that’s a fact.

      Now Reijnder scored a goal, make it 2-0

      Seriously. Stop acting like you know better than Pioli. You just a fkin spectator so shut the fck up and enjoy the match.

      2. Nothing that’s happening in the match disputes what I said.

        -We’re still facing Lecce, a club like us should be smacking them 4-0 with our B-team.

        -We’ve lost our best player (hopefully not for long).

        -I didn’t take a dig at Giroud; I just said he needs rest, and the goal was mostly thanks to Theo.

        -Pobega has been struggling every time he receives the ball, although his tackles have been great. I’ll give that.

        -and I didn’t say anything about Krunic because this is the kind of game he should be starting, this is his level.

        -As for Reijnders, I’m very happy for him (I’m probably his biggest fan here), but he still can’t play another full 90 minutes, especially considering Koeman is going to overwork him during the international break.

  12. If Pioli is still Milan coach come January, through to the end of the winter Mercato, and Adli still remains a player of AC Milan, then I know for sure Adli has no ambitions whatsoever.

    1. It’s crazy.
      I thought he might be rested, given he has never run so hard in his life as v PSG

      How the fu*k did Okafor not start.

      Beyond stupid

  16. Okafor is balling quietly in this game. He’s so dangerous. Can pick a pass out too if his teammates (Reinjders, Chuk) were paying attention. Thankfully Theo knows what’s up. He’s of a different level than the other signings. Not sure why he’s not getting starts

        1. Yea he should have scored that second. It’s almost as if he’s used up all his goal karma for the season in that one goal and now it’s back to normal lol 🤣

    2. “Not sure why he’s not getting starts.”

      Probably because there is this guy called Leao who is ahead of him. Then for striker Pioli probably prefers someone who has aerial and hold-up play abilities.

      1. I mean like ….we just saw Leao limp off injured after running to the ground on Tuesday. Surely he could have started today, no? Also Giroud has been starting way too many games for a 99 year old. Surely Okafor could start this one in his place as well as some others.

    1. Because Leao can’t control a ball to save his life or pass smh 🤦‍♂️
      His only cross this game makes me think his assists from crosses come from luck rather than him trying to find his man

  19. Good first half but from the looks of it we also was a bit lucky towards the end of the half as it looked like a penalty but i might be wrong.
    Theo is also playing with fire as he already recieved a yellow card so hopefully either bartesagi or florenzi comes on so we avoid a potential red card.

  21. Theo needs to cool is damn head, he’s starting to remind me of Cassano with this type of unnecessary BS. Is he going for the yellow card record? Does he want to finish his career with more yellows than Sergio Ramos and Pepe?

    1. Then he takes off pobega who is the only mid who uses his muscle. You need muscle in a game like this.
      Meanwhile theo still on

    1. The second goal was on his own stupidity/ naivety. Looking Theo down, he could easily just kicked the ball out. That’s a lack of experience right there.

        1. All the players we bought really love to dribble (instead of passing) to get away from players. Tijani, RLC, Musah, Okafor, Chuk. Maybe it’s a special request or something from the coach.

  28. Chuk had the ball trying to run forward and Pioli told him to calm down and pass backwards just cos we’re up by only 2 goals?!?! This coach is so fucking clueless. And for those that’ll blame Chukwueze for not scoring, blame Theo who held onto the ball for 90days instead of passing to Chukwueze that was very free. And then, Pioli playing Musah in a RB position. I’m done talking about how TERRIBLE this Coach is. I’m done. Y’all can have this useless coach for the rest of your lives. Smdh

  31. Just like he doesn’t know how to break down defensive teams, Pioli doesn’t know how to lock down and be defensive when leading 2-0 against a team we should have no problem beating. But he beat PSG, Pioli for life!

    1. He doesn’t understand park the bus and then counter ….which with the pace we have in Okafor and Chuk would greatly suit them🤦‍♂️
      And that’s why Juve is ahead of us. They know how to Serie A

      1. Exactly. Juve are the grandmasters of 1-0 wins, last minute wins, and just winning in Serie A. Hence almost double the amount of titles to Inter and us. You said it best, “they know how to Serie A”.

  32. F*cking Theo Hernandez you absolute donkey!!!
    Lying on the ground faking an injury while the opposition scores.
    Hes a hugely talented player but also thoroughly dislikable. How many games has he cost us with his histrionics?

    Sell the fool

  37. I wish they had an award for player with most back passes in a season. Krunic will happily take that award and Pioli will be happy for him. A 6 yr old can manage this team much better than this clueless man you call a coach.

    Adli played 3 straight games, we won. Krunic comes back, Pioli keeps Adli on the bench. Wow wow wow. The guy loves Mediocre players more than anything.

  38. You don’t experiment in a game like this especially when we have no form to go off of. Pioli needs to answer for this. He needs to take control of the personalities like Leao and Theo in this squad. This is a horrid performance. His inability to control the squad and what happens on the pitch is just absolutely terrible.

  42. I was going back and forward if I’m gonna go to the pub today. After this, off to the pub we go.
    Pioli should also go get hammered, might have a drunken revelation about his work

      1. Lecce deserved the win. They played like a team that believes, unlike us, chickens with our heads cut off. Is D’Aversa available??? Anything but Pioli. Pioli is the Krunic of coaches.

Comments are closed

Serie A Standings

Live football scores . Current table, fixtures & results.