The rumors that Stefano Pioli would aggressively rotate the team for this evening’s match against Cagliari at the Unipol Domus are continuing to be confirmed.
Given that the team is presently playing seven games in 22 days, with games against Lazio, Juventus, Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, and Paris Saint-Germain yet to come before the end of October, Pioli will need to carefully manage the workload of the group.
This evening against Cagliari, Milan will “innovate in attack,” according to this morning’s edition of Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews), which also includes rest time for Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao.
The two will first come off the bench, and it appears that Noah Okafor will make his debut for the Rossoneri in lieu of the Frenchman from the opening minute.
Then, Leao will be replaced by Christian Pulisic on the left side (perhaps his preferred side), and Samuel Chukwueze will move to the right to form a new attacking trident.
AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli seems to have made his selection decisions in view of tomorrow evening’s game against Cagliari.
According to MilanNews, Mike Maignan won’t be called up since the team doesn’t want to hasten his comeback. Instead, Marco Sportiello will stay in goal. Returning to a 4-3-3 formation with Theo Hernandez at left back will allow Alessandro Florenzi, Malick Thiaw, and Fikayo Tomori to round up the backline.
Yacine Adli will likely make his first start of the year in the middle due to Rade Krunic’s injury. He will likely be flanked by Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Due to the rest that Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao will receive, a new attacking combination made up of Christian Pulisic on the left, Samuel Chukwueze on the right, and Noah Okafor up front will have an opportunity to shine.
Probable Milan XI (4-3-3): Sportiello; Florenzi, Thiaw, Tomori, Theo; Loftus-Cheek, Adli, Reijnders; Pulisic, Okafor, Chukwueze.
Bench: Mirante, Nava; Calabria, Pellegrino, Bartesaghi; Pobega, Musah; Giroud, Leao, Romero.
