AC Milan is set to face its bitter rival in Serie A: Juventus, who are led by coach Massimiliano Allegri. The clash is valid for matchday 23 and it will be a really tough contest for the 3 points.
The Rossoneri have been able to collect 48 points after 22 league games as they sit second in the league table behind their cross city rivals, Inter, who have 53 points after clinching a victory in the dying minutes of their latest match against Venezia. The Nerazzurri still have one game missing, which is against Bologna, it will be set for another date.
This is why Stefano Pioli's team must find their form and bring an "extraordinary Milan" performance to beat Juventus and not lose ground in the race with Inter for a dream shot at the Scudetto.
Third in the table is Napoli who have 46 points after 22 games and are waiting for Milan to drop points in order to try and overtake them. Today, they play a derby against Salernitana. Atalanta, who are fourth saw their second goalless draw in a row in the league as they shared the spoils against Lazio. They have now 43 points after 22 games and a postponed match against Torino.
Juventus come fifth with 41 points and want to continue to climb up in the ladder to reach the top positions in the table. Coach Massimiliano Allegri is surely aiming for 3 points at the San Siro where only 5 thousand fans will be present due to Covid-19 protocols.
It will surely be an exciting game to watch and the AC Milan squad will have to be concentrated and motivated to show a very strong performance that proves their competence and willingness to stay in the Scudetto conversation.
The red and black faithful will take the field with some heavy absences like that of Fikayo Tomori and Simon Kjaer. The two starting centre-backs are very important for Stefano Pioli as they used to provide a lot of high qualities. Franck Kessié and Fodé Ballo-Touré will also be missing from this game as they are still with their respective national teams, Ivory Coast and Senegal in the African Cup competition.
Instead, Alessio Romagnoli will have to play next to Pierre Kalulu in front of Mike Maignan. The central defenders must be ready to close spaces on the offensive star of the Bianconeri: Paulo Dybala who always proves to be a headache to defenders when he is in form.
The key weapons for Pioli, however, will be the following: Theo Hernandez who must bring to the table his usual sprints forward and a strong defensive contribution. Rafael Leao who will be looking for support from the French left-back and take on defenders in one on one situations. Then, Zlatan Ibrahimovic must take advantage of any ball coming his way and make the best use of it, either by creating space for Brahim Diaz, the playmaker, or the wingers. Ante Rebic will also surely be a great solution as he will hope to continue his positive streak and add to his tally against the Bianconeri.
The duel that is much awaited, however, is between Sandro Tonali and Manuel Locatelli. The two young talents who are tipped to be the future of Italy's national team midfield (with Inter's Nicolo Barella) will go head to head; searching for dominance. They will fight for each loose ball in the middle of the field.
The former Brescia star has played 28 games so far as he scored 2 goals and 2 assists. He played an overall of 1811 minutes. As for his counterpart from the Bianconeri, formerly at AC Milan and then Sassuolo, he played 29 games, scoring 3 goals and creating 3 others.
The numbers of games played show how much these two are vital to the plans of their respective coaches. If one is marked well and isn't given enough spaces to pick out long and deep passes, then their team would be in trouble.
Juventus also have some expected absences: Aaron Ramsey, Federico Chiesa and their teammate Leonardo Bonucci, who is out until next month with a muscular issue.
For Massimiliano Allegri, this is the predicted lineup:
4-2-3-1: Szczesny; De Sciglio, De Ligt, Chiellini, Alex Sandro; Bentancur, Locatelli; Cuadrado, Dybala, McKennie; Morata
As for AC Milan, who are the hosts, this is their possible lineup:
