AC Milan's last two games in Serie A were losses: First against Fiorentina in the Artemio Franchi venue while the other was against Sassuolo at the San Siro. In between, there was a great victory against Atlético Madrid in the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
Now, the Rossoneri must get back to winning ways. They have 32 points out of 42 possible points. Matchday 15 will be as difficult as the last two games. Genoa, with newly-appointed coach Andriy Shevchenko will do their best at home to get some kind of a useful result.
In fact, Shevchenko is looking for his first win his new club and would be eager to snatch the 3 points against his former club where he wrote history as a player. Il Grifone club are in the 18th position with just 10 points collected so far (1 win, 7 draws and 6 losses).
The Ukranian boss will certainly be missing 5 important players against AC Milan and they are the following: 30-year-old Serbian centre-back Nikola Maksimovic, Italian34-year-old left-back Domenico Criscito, 24-year-old midfielder Francesco Cassata, Franco-Algerian 25-year-old winger Mohamed Fares and Ecuadorian 33-year-old forward Felipe Caicedo.
Genoa will be playing with some interesting profiles who will look to hurt Milan such as: 27-year-old attacker: Caleb Ekuban. He stands 182 centimeters tall and will look to grab his first goal with Genoa against the Rossoneri. A talented profile to not overlook is definitely Andrea Cambiaso, however. He is a 21-year-old Italian left-back who has 1 goal and 2 assists to his name so far in the 14 Serie A matches in which he appeared.
As for Stefano Pioli's team, there is so much more quality, despite the absences of: Davide Calabria, Ante Rebic, Samu Castillejo, Ismael Bennacer, Olivier Giroud and Alessio Romagnoli.
In the match later tonight, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is tipped to start again. He has been playing too many minutes due to the absence of his teammate Giroud. The Swede Veteran will be looking to grab a goal or even assist to help his teammates get back to winning ways. Genoa's defensive line will be busy as they try to contain him.
An important boost to the AC Milan team is definitely the return of Fikayo Tomori who skipped the last three games of the red and black faithful due to a hip discomfort. The defender will bring back more stability, pace and most of all, cocentration.
Theo Hernandez will also be a very important piece tonight, as usual, because his contributions in the attack are always needed. The former Real Madrid player will look to sprint forward and put in a good cross or through ball to the attacking midfielders or the striker in the penalty box.
In this match, we expect Milan to play their usual pressing style, trying to recover the ball high up on the pitch and catch the opposition off guard with quick movements. Genoa may not have the tools to hold the ball much, but they will rely on being compact at the back and try to hit Milan with set-pieces and counter-attacks.
This is the probable lineup of Genoa:
3-5-2: Sirigu; Biraschi, Masiello, Vasquez; Sabelli, Sturaro, Badelj, Rovella, Cambiaso; Bianchi, Ekuban.
As for AC Milan, here are the probable choices for coach Stefano Pioli:
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