Milan team news vs Roma: Pioli provides update, Maignan latest

   January 7, 2023
AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli has provided the latest team news ahead of our clash with Roma at San Siro on Sunday night.

The Rossoneri returned from the World Cup break with a win over Salernitana on Wednesday, and so we’ll hopefully follow that up with another positive result this weekend to continue to close the gap and apply pressure on Scudetto rivals Napoli.

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Pioli would have been hoping for some better news on the injury front heading into the encounter with Jose Mourinho’s side, but unfortunately it doesn’t appear as though we will see any of our injured players return in time to feature.

“Tomorrow, we will be the same as in Salerno, I hope to recover some for the Coppa Italia match [vs Torino on Wednesday],” he told the media, as quoted by MilanNews. “Charles [De Ketelaere] is fine, ready from a physical and mental point of view. I rely heavily on him.”

Meanwhile, Pioli was also asked by Mike Maignan’s condition, with the French international still sidelined by a calf injury, having been absent since the end of September with the problem.

It doesn’t appear as though he’s any closer to making a comeback, with Pioli unwilling to put a timeline on his return given the nature of the issue, with his muscle seemingly not progressing as they had hoped or expected.

“We don’t have timelines, we’re going with the assessments that the staff are making,” the Milan boss added on Maignan. “I can’t say today if it will be in 2, 3, 4, 5 weeks. Mike has all our support and is very eager, but he knows that we have to respect certain timing because the muscle doesn’t respond as it should. I can’t say that we will have him back by such a date.”

It’s frustrating to see Maignan still sidelined, particularly given how important he is for us between the posts, and when you add Alessandro Florenzi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Divock Origi, Rade Krunic, Messias Jr, Fode Ballo-Toure, Ante Rebic and Simon Kjaer as all being potentially absent this weekend, it’s a far from ideal situation.

Nevertheless, as we showed in midweek, we still have a strong core and key depth to compete, and so it’s hoped that we can build on that win and see off Roma in what will no doubt be a stiffer test.

Milan now trail Napoli by five points after 16 Serie A games, and while we will certainly need to start seeing players return from injury in the coming weeks amid a hectic fixture schedule, looking at Sunday in isolation, it’s hoped that we’ve got enough to get the victory.

As per Antonio Vitiello’s tweet below, the expectation is that we’ll see Messias and Origi return next week, while Rebic is unlikely to be back in time for the Italian Super Cup clash with Inter on January 18. Further, Krunic could make that game, while Ibrahimovic’s target is our Champions League encounter with Tottenham on February 14.