After the disappointing end of the season in the league, AC Milan have one last chance to close 2017 with a positive impression today in the derby against Inter.
It is still unclear whether for this Milan is negative or positive the fact that this year there is no Christmas break. The fact remains that the Rossoneri must immediately return on the field on Wednesday, a few days after the umpteenth defeat in the league. This time for the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, challenging Inter in a depressed derby that will allow access to the semi-finals. An opportunity to bounce back? Gennaro Gattuso in the post Milan-Atalanta press conference replied: “It’s a sentence by default. We must prepare the match and try to win. It’s an important game, we can go in the semi-finals. We have to recover the energies and then we’ll see“. In the meantime, here’s what the probable formation the coach could deploy on Wednesday evening at San Siro.
Gennaro Gattuso will hardly make considerable changes but certainly some things will be different than usual. Gianluigi Donnarumma has suffered an injury in today’s training and will miss the derby. Marco Storari will take his place while Gigio will undergo further medical examinations to analyze the gravity of his injury. Alessio Romagnoli will be back in front of him and will probably be joined by Leonardo Bonucci. Davide Calabria will return on the right, especially after the bad performance offered by Ignazio Abate. On the left, however, faith again on Ricardo Rodriguez, despite his not so optimal physical form. That flank will be crucial given that Inter generally attacks continually on that side with Antonio Candreva.
In midfield Riccardo Montolivo will rest, giving a chance to Lucas Biglia from the first minute. Franck Kessie will start alongside him accompanied by youngster Manuel Locatelli. Unlike recent games Giacomo Bonaventura will play up front this time as left winger. Suso returns on the right wing after the red card suspension in the league. While many were expecting Patrick Cutrone to lead the attack, surprisingly Gattuso is relying again on Nikola Kalinic despite his very disappointing performances. The derby appears to a last call for the Croatian striker.
AC MILAN (4-3-3): Storari; Calabria, Bonucci, Romagnoli, Rodriguez; Kessiè, Biglia, Locatelli, Bonaventura; Suso, Kalinic.
INTER (4-2-3-1): Padelli; Cancelo, Skriniar, Ranocchia, Nagatomo; Vecino, Gagliardini; Candreva, Joao Mario, Perisic; Icardi.
