AC Milan return to Serie A action this afternoon as they take on Venezia, and Sergio Conceicao has named an unchanged side.
Milan are heading into the game with some confidence after beating their city rivals Inter 3-0 in the Coppa Italia semi-final second leg on Wednesday night, booking their place in the final with a 4-1 aggregate win.
Official starting XIs
On the injury front, Ruben Loftus-Cheek returned to Conceicao’s disposal for the game against Inter and made a substitute appearance. Kyle Walker, meanwhile, was left out due to the elbow recovery but he will be available, so Emerson Royal is the only absentee.
Conceicao has opted to stick with the three-man defence, opting to go with Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic ahead of Mike Maignan. Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders are the midfield double pivot.
Alex Jimenez and Theo Hernandez once again occupy the wing-back positions, with the front three consisting of Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao to the right and left of Luka Jovic respectively.
UPDATE: Milan made a late change to the team during the warm-ups, with Jovic dropping to the bench and Tammy Abraham starting.
Official Milan XI (3-4-3): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Jimenez, Fofana, Reijnders, Theo Hernandez; Pulisic, Abraham, Leao.
Bench: Sportiello, Torriani, Gimenez, Loftus-Cheek, Chukwueze, Florenzi, Thiaw, Walker, Bondo, Terracciano, Joao Felix, Musah, Jovic, Sottil.
Official Venezia XI (3-5-2): Radu; Cande, Idzes, Schingtienne; Zerbin, Busio, Nicolussi Caviglia, Conde, Haps; Yeboah, Fila.
Bench: Joronen, Grandi, Stankovic, Zampano, Gytkjaer, Oristanio, Marcandalli, Bjarkason, Duncan, Sverko, Ladisa, Perez, Carboni, Doumbia, Maric.
Given our standing in the league, with 0 chance of qualifying for europe, it would seem the right game to rotate some players.
Both to give needed rest to starters and to see how some fringe/youth players fit in the 343, useful trials ahead of summer.
Leao/Pulisic for example have looked way off recently, Sottil/Chucky should be able to do a job in this kind of game.
I have a feeling we will see a lack luster performance from our starters today
Is there really 0 chance?
2 or 3 rotations would be good
Yes, we are 8 points behind with 5 games left
We shouldn’t do more chopping and changing that’s what costed us a lot of the games. Remember all those different cb and midfield pairings? We need to build chemistry
I agree building chemistry is important. But given some players as mentioned above are well below form and need rest, chemistry won’t happen by flogging exhausted players.
Anyway there is likely to be a “revolution” in summer so any chemistry built will surely be dismantled.
Bear in mind Moncada and co will sell our most valuable players and then spend all summer haggling over a few euro, end up with the leftovers and the new manager will have a week to build a team.
Our management should already have a clear plan of who is coming and going in summer, but we know that is not the case
Over a week until the next match with Genoa, 5th of May
I have a hard time believing that Chuk, Sottil and Bondo are not very capable players to start in this kind of game so Leao, Pulisic and Reijnders can get some much needed rest! They’ve looked tired the past few games but this coach wouldn’t see that.
0-1……let’s go boys
Look at their recent matches. Especially against big teams. They look tough to beat. Not worth resting players and doing a pioli. Hopefully we can get some goals early and then rest players.
The results are irrelevant at this point. Most important is to plan for next season.
Youth team and fringe players should be getting chances
Yeboah is torturing Pavlovic.
Leao having a terrible time too
And he scores!
It’s been coming
coming and going, football is a fast business 😀
Theo always playing for the whistle pisses me off.
The fact our players keep facing backwards towards our own goal instead of pushing forward shows that we still lack ideas in this Conceicao’s tactics. I hate how we’re playing honestly.
I said it here few times, Gimenez is Piatek 2.0 but I’m afraid hes worse than this…
Maybe we will be lucky if we get 10-15 millions when we sell him…
Maldini was fired for what ? De Ketelaere ? Ok…..
Fofana is having a really good game
Felix sub again?
WTF!
Can’t be worse than Leao today. Though Sottil or Chcucky seem like they deserve a chance more
why keep playing a loan player we are clearly not keeping?
why not play the guys we likely want to sell in the summer?
Very good point. It would have been a suitable game for Chcucky to hit them on the break and put himself in the shop window.
Seems Sergio has frozen out the guys he doesn’t like