Marcello Lippi maintains Manchester United’s victory over Juventus was “a fluke, as they could’ve conceded four goals,” but gives Milan advice ahead of their showdown.
It kicks off at 19.30 GMT on Sunday, click here for a match preview.
Marcello Lippi maintains Manchester United’s victory over Juventus was “a fluke, as they could’ve conceded four goals,” but gives Milan advice ahead of their showdown.
It kicks off at 19.30 GMT on Sunday, click here for a match preview.
You’ll also be able to watch it streamed live in the UK and Ireland on Eleven Sports. Click here for more details.
“Anything can happen in a one-off game,” Lippi told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Milan are improving, but they really need to have Gonzalo Higuain in the box, so they’ll hope he recovers in time.”
The Bianconeri have dropped points only twice this season, drawing to Genoa and beaten by Manchester United with two late goals, but World Cup winner Lippi was not impressed by Jose Mourinho’s approach.
“That win was a fluke. Manchester United defended for 85 minutes, could’ve conceded four goals, Juve hit the woodwork twice, then they won with a free kick and basically an own goal. Juve will be very angry at their first defeat of the season, especially losing it that way.
“Massimiliano Allegri is one of the best Coaches in the world. It’s not easy to win everything he has, not to mention reaching the Champions League Final twice. I can say that as someone who reached four Finals and unfortunately only won one of them.
“Allegri reads the game well and is smart with his substitutions. He makes sure everyone feels important and rotates the squad, because a truly big club needs to have 20 first choice players.
“You can see the way he has developed and enriched Rodrigo Bentancur, teaching him to cover different roles in midfield.
“Everyone loves Rino Gattuso, but he’s more than just a really nice guy. Grit is not enough at that level. His teams are organised, they try to play the ball. He has already done well against Juve and has everything it takes to be a fine Coach.”
How would Lippi advise Milan and Gattuso to close down Cristiano Ronaldo?
“People talk about building a cage for him, doubling or tripling the marking, but he might have three players around him and leave room for a teammate to score instead.
“I worked with Zinedine Zidane, the essence of football, the greatest I ever had. Ronaldo is a goal-scoring machine and at the end of the day, that makes him more effective.
“All Milan can do is play to the best of their abilities, stay solid, concentrated and hope Suso or Higuain can score.”