Available to Pioli will be the following defenders: Davide Calabria and Alessandro Florenzi as right-backs, Simon Kjaer, Matteo Gabbia, and Malick Thiaw as center-backs, Theo Hernandez as left full-back plus the versatile Filippo Terracciano.
The good news concerns the German center-back: coming back from plantar fasciitis suffered just before Milan-Lecce, the Rossoneri's number 28, after a couple of days of personalised training sessions, participated in today's entire team training and will therefore be available for Thursday's match at San Siro, valid for the first leg fixture of the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals against AS Roma.
Despite the few men available, Pioli can still afford the luxury of choosing in the defensive department. Two out of four are guaranteed a starting spot for the match against Roma this Thursday: Theo Hernandez as left full-back and Matteo Gabbia as left center-back.
Then, at the moment, Davide Calabria is favoured over the former Alessandro Florenzi, while Simon Kjaer, who played a short period against Lecce, should be preferred to Malick Thiaw also for the classic experience factor, as per the Italay-based website Milan News earlier today.