Today’s final training session has also cleared up Massimiliano Allegri’s last doubts ahead of Napoli vs Milan. It will be Niclas Füllkrug and Christopher Nkunku who lead the Rossoneri attack at the Maradona. A first for this unusual pairing, made up of two players who both arrived in Milan this season.
Allegri opts for Füllkrug–Nkunku, he opts for… Milanello
The first key point is that the ex Juventus coach has preferred those who worked at Milanello throughout the entire break and who were not dealing with injuries or recovery issues. In essence, Allegri is prioritising freshness and relying more on physical and mental certainty than purely technical qualities.
There had already been a hint yesterday, when during a short training match at Milanello—open to media and supporters, the two were fielded together in one of the sides. The rest of the team? Maignan, Athekame, Odogu, Pavlović, Estupiñán, Loftus-Cheek, Modrić, Ricci, Rabiot. There was some suspicion that it might be a smokescreen, mixing things up deliberately. That turned out to be the case for the rest of the line-up, but not for the attacking duo.
Giménez, Leão and Pulisic are not ready… or are more useful during the match
The second key point is that the other three attacking options—arguably more favoured to start—are not fully ready: some from a physical standpoint (Giménez, Leão?) and others from a mental one (Pulisic).
There is also a more “Allegri-style” interpretation. The Italian coach is known for carefully planning matches, including the use of substitutions during the game. This could well be the case here. Notably, the three formed an attacking trident yesterday in the team wearing bibs—perhaps a sign of what might happen from the 60th minute onwards.
What is certain is that if we had been told yesterday that the team without bibs would be the starting one in Naples, we would have been quite surprised. The same reaction applies today, albeit now justified by everything outlined above. This was relayed from Milan Press.
