AC Milan Faces Defensive Crisis Ahead of Juventus Clash

AC Milan will take on Juventus at the Allianz Stadium this evening with a defensive emergency to battle, and head coach Stefano Pioli seems to have settled on his selection choices.

There is once again a defensive crisis for Pioli to try and navigate, one that begins with the injured centre-back duo of Simon Kjaer and Pierre Kalulu who are not expected to make the trip.

Things were made worse by what happened towards the end of the Inter game, with Fikayo Tomori picking up his fifth yellow card and thus a one-match ban before Theo Hernandez and Davide Calabria got straight red cards.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Pioli is expected to field a back four of Yunus Musah, Malick Thiaw, Matteo Gabbia and Alessandro Florenzi in front of Mike Maignan, with Musah at right-back and Florenzi on the other side.

Tijjani Reijnders should be partnered with Yacine Adli in the midfield double pivot, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will take up an advanced role.

Christian Pulisic is down as the right winger, Rafael Leao – who will captain the side – will be on the left and Olivier Giroud will lead the line.

Luka Jovic is out injured, which leaves Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze as the players available to come off the bench in attack.

Probable Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Musah, Thiaw, Gabbia, Florenzi; Adli, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Giroud.

Probable Juventus XI (3-5-2): Szczezny; Danilo, Bremer, Gatti; McKennie, Alcaraz, Locatelli, Alcaraz, Cambiaso; Chiesa, Vlahovic.