Tomorrow at the San Siro stadium, AC Milan is set to face Hellas Verona. The Rossoneri club, led by coach Stefano Pioli sits 2nd in the league table with 19 points. The opposition, however, who are a decent side, sits in the 12th position with 8 points. Their coach is the Croatian Igor Tudor who took the coaching job after Ivan Juric. The latter moved to lead Torino from the Bench.
The Rossoneri's start of the season has been good in the Serie A as they have 19 points, 6 victories and only 1 draw against Juventus. But as we all know, in football club rankings in the league do not mean everything. When the two teams take the field, the game is won by particular details in addition in addition to the focus, pace and tactics.
Stefano Pioli, despite a very impressive Serie A campaign now, has so much to worry about as we are heading into the game. His group is plagued with injuries. Mike Maignan, the starter goalkeeper had a surgery on the left wrist and will have to be replaced by Tatarusanu. The club also had to sign free agent Antonio Mirante. Tiémoué Bakayoko is still injured and so are Junior Messias, Alessandro Florenzi, and third goalkeeper Alessandro Plizzari. Brahim Diaz and Theo Hernandez are out of tomorrow's clash because they are Covid-19 positive, unfortunately.
Coach Pioli, however, can rely on the returns of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Olivier Giroud, Davide Calabria and perhaps Rade Krunic who might be on the bench.
Giroud is now fully fit and does not feel any pain in his back and he is tipped to start. The team will be trying to play their usual football which is pressing on the other side when they are in possession high up on the pitch and try to recover the ball quickly. The fullbacks will be supporting the attack as usual. But, Theo Hernandez will not be there, obviously. It's Fodé Ballo-Touré who will have to show his worth as he gets another chance to redeem himself. On the right, Davide Calabria and Kalulu are racing for that position.
Tomorrow's battle which can set the tone for the game, though, should be in the midfield. In particular, Sandro Tonali versus Adrien Tameze. Both will be fighting to establish dominance in midfield. Tonali wants to continue to impress by winning the ball and going forward to help his teammates.
Milan's defence will be very busy tomorrow because Caprari will be looking to create chaos in the penalty box by creating chances to the attackers or attempting one on one situations which he is good at.
It will be a very difficult clash between the two sides. Giovanni Simeone who is likely to start is a good striker and Alessio Romagnoli or Fikayo Tomori will probably have a complicated time with marking him.
The bench for Hellas Verona is interesting too as they have available former Rossonero Nikola Kalinic and dangerous forward Kevin Lasagna.
Stefano Pioli's team, on paper, looks like the better side despite the injuries and absences. But, Igor Tudor's men are never to be underestimated. They are a stubborn team who will go to San Siro to gain at least one point and try to surprise AC Milan with quick counter attacks and set pieces.
Here is the visitors likely lineup:
3-4-2-1: Montipo; Dawidowicz, Gunter, Casale; Faraoni, Tameze, Veloso, Lazovic; Barak, Caprari; Simeone.
As for Il Diavolo, here are the likely choices of Stefano Pioli:
4-2-3-1: Tatarusanu; Kalulu (or Calabria), Tomori, Romagnoli, Ballo-Touré; Tonali, Kessie; Saelemaekers, Maldini, Rebic (or Leao); Giroud.
