AC Milan will face today a "solid" Udinese team, as Stefano Pioli referred to them in his press conference yesterday. The Rossoneri, in the first leg of the league, have drawn 1-1 away from home with the Bianconeri who are coached by Gabriele Cioffi.
In the first game, the red and black faithful were unable to get all three points as Beto managed to score the opener for his side. Stefano Pioli's side only grabbed one point thanks to an acrobatic finish from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 92nd minute.
Who to watch out for:
For the Rossoneri, they must win three points. There is no more room for error if Pioli and his men want to keep chasing the Scudetto dream. Two points seperate Il Diavolo and The Nerazzurri in the league standings. However, the bitter city rivals do have one more game missing with 54 points collected in 25 games. This is why AC Milan must be able to collect as many points as possible in the remaining games in Serie A. To do that, the coach will be relying on important assets like Rafael Leao, Olivier Giroud, and Sandro Tonali as well as Theo Hernandez.
The Portuguese winger must showcase all his abilities and skills tonight against Udinese in order to help the striker, who should be Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman prefers to be fed balls in the penalty area with his back to the defenders he can capitalise on any space given to him and beat goalkeepers.
In the last draw versus Salernitana, the key players mentioned above did not all play to the best of their abilities as they seemed to lack concentration at some points of the game. Now, however, the fans will be hoping that the players have learned the lesson and will be able to make a flawless performance.
A Portuguese derby...
In the match against Udinese, there will be an exciting duel between Leao and Beto. The two Portuguese forwards are certainly key players for their respective clubs and they can unlock the games with their skills and finishing abilities. A 'Portuguese derby' therefore will be definitely interesting to watch.
Left-winger Leao, 22, has scored 10 goals and 6 assists so far this season for his team while 24-year-old Beto, who plays as a centre-forward (currently on loan from Portuguese side Portimonense to Udinese with an obligation to buy with certain conditions) has also been able to score 8 goals in 22 Serie A games.
The visitors, Udinese, will be taking the field with motivation as they would like to collect some points to further improve their place in the league table. The Bianconeri are currently 16th in the standings with 25 points collected. Their coach, Gabriele Cioffi, could be taking the field with the following lineup:
3-5-2: Silvestri; Becao, Pablo Mari, N. Perez; N. Molina, Pereyra, Walace, Makengo, Udogie; Deulofeu, Beto
As for Milan, Stefano Pioli is likely to use his usual 4-2-3-1 formation modfule with Franck Kessié starting instead of Ismael Bennacer who is suspended due to the number of yellow cards accumulated.
