AC Milan face Inter in the second leg of our Coppa Italia semi-final clash on Wednesday, and here’s how Sergio Conceicao’s starting line-up could look for the encounter.
The tie is finely poised after a 1-1 draw in the first meeting, and with our struggles in Serie A continuing as we look in danger of potentially missing out on European qualification altogether, the importance of the Coppa Italia is growing in a bid to salvage something from the campaign.
READ MORE: Duo provide key fitness boost as Milan prepare for Inter clash
Given the ongoing frustration and disappointment around the club, it’s not an easy environment for all concerned as we’ve fallen well short of expectations this year, but Conceicao will no doubt be desperate to deliver another piece of silverware to add to the Super Cup we won earlier in the season.
With what’s at stake, Milan will of course field as strong a starting XI as possible, while we were boosted during the week with both Kyle Walker and Ruben Loftus-Cheek resuming group training.
That adds to the recoveries of Mike Maignan and Santiago Gimenez at the weekend, and so we’re at least getting a healthier group back at Conceicao’s disposal.
As per MilanNews, the expectation is that the Portuguese tactician could make just one change to the side that suffered defeat to Atalanta this past weekend, with Tammy Abraham coming in to replace Luka Jovic up front.
That in turn would see Maignan continue between the posts, while we’ll stick with a back-three consisting of Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic.
Despite the return of Walker to group training this week, it doesn’t sound likely that he’ll be fit enough to come straight back into the starting line-up, and so Alex Jimenez is set to continue in the right wing-back role, with Theo Hernandez operating on the opposite flank.
The midfield duo of Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders will stay in place, while it will be on Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao to provide more creativity and quality in the attacking third this time round, and offer support for Abraham who will hopefully give us a more effective focal point and goalscoring threat as he leads the line.
Milan must produce a response after our underwhelming display on Sunday night, and the pressure will be on as going all the way in this competition is imperative given where we’re currently at in the league.
This team has shown it’s ability to turn up on the big occasion already this season, and Conceicao will be hoping that we can pair that determination and work ethic with quality to get the job done, as we need individuals to step up and deliver, but collectively, we have to be so much better in both phases too.
