AC Milan take on Roma at San Siro tonight needing a win to boost their standing in the top four but also banish some of the negativity surrounding the team at present.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (as seen below) writes that it would have been nice to witness the battle between Giroud-Leao and Lukaku-Dybala, two of the most spectacular and complementary goalscoring duos in Serie A.
However, yet another injury to the Argentine will change the face of Roma’s attack. Andrea Belotti is suggested to play alongside Romelu Lukaku, but he is a natural striker so the mechanisms will inevitably change.
Lukaku gave his best at Inter with a fast partner that he linked up well with, so Lautaro Martinez was perfect in this regard. With Dybala the distances in Roma are not always ideal, because the Argentine prefers to move to the right and leaves his colleague alone a bit.
We saw it in the Italian Cup derby: the Belgian was isolated, he couldn’t keep hold of the ball and there were no runs from the midfield. Does Belotti have the head and legs to sacrifice himself as a second striker? We will see.
Lukaku, if he starts, always scores against Milan (four goals in four games), but in the last two games he started on the bench and did not score, so he will look to end that mini-drought tonight in a stadium he used to call him.
The movements of the Milan attack are more codified. Olivier Giroud is also a No.9 of inestimable tactical importance, and he scores a lot. The sublimation of this tactical attitude was seen in France when he was in the middle, combining with Griezmann and opening up space for him.
Rafael Leao is more anarchic and less of a goalscorer than the two Frenchmen: he tends to start far from the box and he seems to have a knack for assists more than goals. Having him on the flank should be ideal for a strong header of the ball in the box.
Giroud has nine goals and can soon reach double figures for the third season in a row in the league. For Giroud and Lukaku, runs from the midfield are fundamental yet the two departments, although both using three players, are very different.
Milan at present do not have a classic Regista like Ismael Bennacer so Stefano Pioli has alternated Yacine Adli – who is more geometric – and Tijjani Reijnders who plays more vertically. They seem to have found an interesting formula with Ruben Loftus-Cheek further forward and more central.
It is a good but inconsistent department, in which a leader is missing (absent in the whole of Milan). Meanwhile, Roma’s midfielder is less creative and more defensive: Leandro Paredes is the stabiliser in the centre, while Bryan Cristante splits his time between forward runs and build-up.
The Giallorossi midfield helps the attacking phase less. In the 3-1 at San Siro two years ago, back January 2022, Pioli switched from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 to block the path for Mou’s midfielders (Mkhitaryan and Pellegrini) with Krunic and Diaz, leaving Veretout alone.
The Milan coach could repeat himself by advancing Reijnders, but Adli does not protect like Sandro Tonali. Pioli-Mou is often a tactical challenge.
Giroud is the man ,I really do fancy him to score again ,as the set up we will use will suit him ,,,and Loftus cheek will be in a more advanced position..which I think will be a benefit..
I am really Looking forward to the game so much .
Olivier will get decent service tonight ..I would not be surprised to see both Olivier Giroud and rafeol leao on the scoresheet.