AC Milan host Napoli in the first leg of our Champions League quarter-final tie this week, and Stefano Pioli is expected to make changes to the side that drew with Empoli at the weekend.
The Rossoneri were disappointing last Friday night as we failed to follow up our stunning win in Naples, and the decision to rotate and rest key individuals didn’t work out as planned for Pioli as those deputising didn’t deliver.
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With so much at stake now in Europe, the Milan boss will undoubtedly go with as close to a full-strength side as possible, and that means the return of pivotal players to the starting XI.
This will be an entirely separate proposition to when we faced Luciano Spalletti’s side just over a week ago, and while we also need to focus on our top-four ambitions in Serie A, we’ll need a top performance in midweek to put ourselves in a strong position to advance heading into the second leg.
Kalulu absent, five changes from Pioli
As per Sky Sport Italia, Pierre Kalulu participated in part of the group session on Monday before continuing individual work, and so while it isn’t ruled out that he could return in time for Wednesday night, the likelihood is that he won’t be risked and will make his comeback against Bologna at the weekend.
In turn, that will see Davide Calabria continue at right-back, while Simon Kjaer is expected to return to the line-up in one of five changes, with Malick Thiaw dropping out.
Mike Maignan will continue between the posts, with Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez completing the backline, as we look to put in another solid shift defensively to put our attacking players in a position to go out and win the game.
Sandro Tonali and Rade Krunic are tipped to form the deeper midfield partnership, with Ismael Bennacer playing a little more advanced, while he’ll have Brahim Diaz and Rafael Leao either side of him providing creativity and an attacking threat in the final third.
Up top, Olivier Giroud will return to the Milan XI, and so it will be the same side and formation that secured that superb 4-0 win in Naples earlier this month as Pioli looks for a repeat performance.
He’ll have to be ready to tweak things if necessary though, as Spalletti will no doubt be prepared to face those issues again and will have solutions in mind. In turn, we’ll need a big performance from the players again, but it’s imperative we win the tactical battle again too.
If our frustrating draw with Empoli showed anything, it was that we still rely too heavily on Diaz, Leao and Giroud to deliver quality in the final third, and that our depth isn’t good enough currently to help us compete at the top level.
In turn, it will make a major difference to have Leao and Giroud back in the Milan XI in particular, and it’s hoped that they can fire us to another big win in what will be both a thrilling and intense showdown at San Siro this week.