AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has named his starting XI to face Real Madrid in the first game of the Soccer Champions Tour.
It was always going to be a somewhat pieced together line-up for Milan with Rafael Leao, Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez, Pierre Kalulu, Olivier Giroud and Charles De Ketelaere all not available having just returned to training following an extended break.
Stefano Pioli has named Marco Sportiello in goal as one of three new signings to start, with a back four of Davide Calabria, Jan-Carlo Simic, Fikayo Tomori and Alessandro Florenzi.
The midfield trio is Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Rade Krunic and Tommaso Pobega, while the front three consists of Junior Messias, Lorenzo Colombo and Christian Pulisic.
Among the most notable selections are Simic at centre-back over the departing Matteo Gabbia and Colombo up front, two Primavera graduates who have been given the chance to impress.
Official Milan XI (4-3-3): Sportiello; Calabria, Simic, Tomori, Florenzi; Loftus-Cheek, Krunic, Pobega; Messias, Colombo, Pulisic.
Bench: Maignan, Mirante, Adli, Giroud, Leao, Reijnders, Romero, Theo Hernandez, Kjaer, Thiaw, Saelemaekers, Traoré, De Ketelaere, Bartesaghi.
Official Real Madrid XI (4-3-1-2): Lunin; Lucas Vasquez, Militao, Nacho, Mendy; Valverde, Camavinga, Kroos; Bellingham, Brahim Diaz; Joselu.
Bench: Courtois, Pineiro, Fran, Carvajal, Alaba, Vinicius Jr., Modric, Rodrygo, Odriozola, Tchouameni, Fran Garcia, Rudiger, Arda Guler, N Paz.
And we will meet don carlo again although not in UCL
I hope Shaka Hislop is OK. Collapsed live on the ESPN feed. 🙏
You’d think this would be on the YES network 🤦♂️
So far pulisic and loftus cheek have looked great. Columbo too. Messias has been very poor.