AC Milan face a crunch Serie A encounter with Juventus at San Siro on Sunday night, and here’s how Stefano Pioli’s starting XI could look.
The Rossoneri secured a battling win over Genoa prior to the international break, a result that leaves us top of the Serie A table having won seven of our first eight games.
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With a two-point cushion over nearest rivals Inter, Juventus are not far behind in third place, and so it’s crucial we continue our positive form without allowing the break to disrupt our momentum.
Pioli will be without two influential figures for this one though, as both Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez are ruled out due to suspension.
Further, there was a fresh injury blow in midweek as Marco Sportiello picked up a knock, and so third-choice goalkeeper Antonio Mirante is now expected to start this weekend in between the posts.
While it’s hoped we don’t need Olivier Giroud to deputise at any point again, Mirante will hopefully draw on his experience and quality to keep things tight at the back, with Alessandro Florenzi expected to do the same as he switches flanks and fills in for Hernandez at left-back.
That in turn will see Davide Calabria, Malick Thiaw and Fikayo Tomori complete the backline, and although there was good news during the week on the injury front with the likes of Rade Krunic, Pierre Kalulu, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Noah Okafor resuming part of group training, they aren’t expected to start.
Yunus Musah, Yacine Adli and Tijjani Reijnders are likely to form the midfield trio, and we’ll need them to step up and give us balance and control in that area of the pitch, as we don’t want to see a repeat of our loss against Inter where we were overrun and lacked any presence to impose ourselves.
After rotating at Genoa, Pioli should restore his first-choice attacking trident for this game, with Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao providing support out wide for Giroud.
The bench will be stronger given the players returning from injury, and so if they’re needed, they’ll hopefully come on and influence the game for us to get the desired result.
However, all eyes will be on Mirante in particular to see how he fares in goal, as it’s hoped Milan can build on a solid foundation to keep Juve’s attack quiet, and ultimately put our attacking players in a position to go out and win the game by showing decisiveness and quality in key moments.
Predicted AC Milan XI vs Juventus: Mirante, Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Florenzi; Musah, Adli, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.
