Monthly Archive: November 2020

The brutal fixture list features a third consecutive midweek game when Milan host Lille in Europa League’s third match day. The northern France team provide a slightly different proposition than Celtic and Sparta Prague or so it is thought. Lille tied Celtic and only after scoring twice in the second half. As they have in many recent seasons Lille currently sit near the top of Ligue 1 only one point behind leaders PSG but the French Flanders’ latest big summer signing has struggled to find form. Jonathan David, the Canadian forward, was signed for around €28 million from Gent but has had a disappointing start to the 2020-2021 season while conversely veteran Burak Yilmaz has been a surprising and solid arrival from Besiktas.

Rotation and squad management remain important to Pioli and every coach in this pandemic defined season and this midweek will need some of it. One forced change is caused by Calabria’s likely absence. The right back has a minor muscle issue and Dalot looks to get a start in his more natural spot but that simultaneously means that Theo won’t get any rest and will start at left back. Romagnoli and Kjaer are the only viable options in the center of defense while Gabbia works to get in shape following a long absence. As with last week Tonali will relieve one of Kessie or Bennacer. Diaz, Castillejo and Krunic may start in relief of Calhanoglu, Saelemaekers and Leao. Starting both Castillejo and Krunic is questionable but may be unavoidable during the busy periods. Rebic is back and may take some part but won’t start. Leao could start up in his unpreferred center forward role but Ibra will play whenever he declares himself ready.

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Starting Lineup: 4-2-3-1

99

Donnarumma

2

Calabria

24

Kjær

13

Romagnoli

19

Hernandez

4

Bennacer

79

Kessié

56

Saelemaekers

10

Çalhanoğlu

17

Leão

11

Ibrahimović

Substitutes

The unbeaten streak rolls on. Piero Giacomelli and Roma almost put a stop to it however. The referee provided a historically poor performance and got himself the equivalent of a referee suspension and is being excluded from match assignments for at least 2 weeks. Milan found and had late chances to win the eventual 3-3 tie vs Roma. The game of course included Tatarusanu as a back up to the COVID-19 striken Donnarumma. The Romanian veteran came under fire for Roma’s first goal and calls for demotion to third goalie status. Tatarusanu had a relatively easy game vs Sparata Prague in the midwek 3-0 win and it looks like he will not need to play again soon because Donnarumma is available again after somehow testing negative within one week of the initial diagnosis. Hauge is also back from isolation less than a week after testing positive. In further news Gabbia is back from the same but won’t play a part this weekend. The chance for Kjaer to get some rest will soon arrive. The Danish defender has played a lot in recent weeks and could get a game off very soon.

With Rebic’s return the team is suddenly almost fully healthy. Kessie, Calhanoglu and Theo got the midweek Europa league game off – although the former was a late sub – but all are expected to start this week 6 match. The rest of the line up is likely to revert to the expected one although almost all of the so called rotation players did well. Tonali, Diaz and Dalot all came out of the Sparta Prague match with credit and some fans are already hoping Maldini can negotiate a buyout for the latter two loanees. Leao is picking up form and may keep Rebic out of the starting line up but the Croatian is trusted and may replace the Portuguese within the match or in an upcoming match. Ibra got 45 minutes off in midweek but will start as long as he declares himself ready. Castillejo is excluded from this matchday squad for what the team calls muscle fatigue.

Udinese have one win out of five to start the season. They feature a rising star in Rodrigo De Paul and players who have played well against Milan in the past, Kevin Lasagna for example.

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