Milan boss Stefano Pioli will make just one change to the formation that beat Inter in the derby della Madonnina for tonight’s Champions League clash with RB Salzburg.
It kicks off at 20.00 UK time.
The Rossoneri travelled to Austria without the injured Ante Rebic, Rade Krunic, Alessandro Florenzi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, while Yacine Adli has been omitted from the Champions League list.
Pioli will confirm the same formation he deployed in the derby della Madonnina on Saturday with the only exception being at right winger where Alexis Saelemaekers is expected to start over Junior Messias.
Olivier Giroud is favourite over Divock Origi and the same goes for Charles De Ketelaere and Brahim Diaz.
Milan lost just one of the 11 previous meetings with Austrian clubs in European competitions (in 1957-58).
The Serie A champions won just one of the last nine Champions League matches and their last five goals in the competition were netted by five different players (Rebic, Diaz, Rafael Leao, Messias and Fikayo Tomori).
Giroud scored 11 of his last 12 Champions League goals away from home.
RB Salzburg are without Mamady Diambou, Luka Sucic, Sekou Koita, Modibo Diakité, Kamil Piatkowski and Ignace Van der Brempt.
RB Salzburg–Milan, probable line-ups
RB Salzburg (4-3-1-2): Kohn; Dedic, Solet, Wober, Ulmer; Capaldo, Seiwald, Kjaergaard; Kameri; Okafor, Fernando.
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Kalulu, Tomori, Hernandez; Tonali, Bennacer; Saelemaekers, De Ketelaere, Leao; Giroud.
Forza Milan
Good decision. Some of them can rest against Sampdoria, the rest against Dinamo Zagreb.
Milan should start Kalulu as an LB instead of Calabria. Calabria will allow a lot of space for the opponent– he is not UCL level at all.
Correction: RB, not LB
@ Muto How about you show some loyalty to one captain? Plus he’s been excellent for nearly 2 years now.
@Heir He seems to be good enough for Serie A, but not in Europe. The game against Germany tells everything about his quality.
Why not play Diaz as the LW thou. At least try something different than the two guys we’ve been seeing there for over a year and not happy with.
What happened with Adli, why was he omitted?
@Maldinis Heir: you seem obsessed with the “Italians” topic. I mean regardless of nationality, Calabria is indeed not at the appropriate level for the most important matches. Take the latest derby for instance, our second goal is mainly his mistake (too slow to get their set up), and then they repeatedly attack his wing until Pioli had no choice but replace him.
Harsh on Calabria. He is very respected in the team. What you don’t see is that he has a leader mentality and raises the bar through his extreme dedication and hard work. He is the academy product who bleeds red and black. Having a player like that is more important than having a fullback who may be marginally quicker and better at crossing. Calabria has grown a lot in the last few years and will continue to do so.