At 3:45 am on December 12th, Beijing time, the 17th round of the Serie A 2021-22 season is about to kick off. “Leader” AC Milan will go to the away game to challenge Udinese. Although Milan failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League in midweek, the UEFA Champions League exit is not necessarily a bad thing for Milan. After all, Pioli’s team can concentrate on the league. In this way, facing the low-ranking Udinese, Milan naturally hope to get all 3 points, so as to continue to maintain the throne of the leader.
History of confrontation
In history, the two sides have played against each other 99 times, with Milan winning 43, 35 draws and 21 losses. At Udinese’s home game, the two sides clashed 49 times. Milan had 17 wins, 18 draws and 14 losses and slightly prevailed. In the past 8 matches between the two sides, Milan has the upper hand with 4 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. Last season, Milan shook hands with their opponents 1-1 at home and defeated them with a score of 2-1 on the away game.
Aspect 1: Can Milan, who concentrate on the league, keep the top spot?
After the 16th round of Serie A, AC Milan got 12 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses with 38 points, ranking first in the standings. Behind Milan, Inter Milan is only 1 point behind in second place. In this round, Inter Milan’s opponent is Cagliari, which means that as long as Milan slightly misses, their top spot will not be guaranteed. Since Milan have been out of the Champions League, they can only concentrate on playing Serie A. From this perspective, against Udinese, who has a poor record now, Milan has only one goal, and that is to fight with all strength. So as to continue to maintain a weak lead in the standings.
Aspect 2: How to adjust the wounded Pioli camp
In Milan’s injury list, there are stars like Rebic, Kjaer, Giroud, Calabria, Pellegri and Castillejo. As the saying goes, “It’s hard for a clever woman to cook without rice.” What kind of adjustments will Pio make to the lineup when the camp is full of wounded soldiers? Who will assist Dafeng first in the midfield? Is it Leo, Kronic or Dias? It seemed that only Pioli had the answer in his heart.
Aspect 3: Ibrahimovic’s physical fitness is worrying
Milan’s top star Ibrahimovic played the game against Liverpool in the middle of the week. Unfortunately, Milan still lost to Liverpool in the end and missed the bottom of the group. More importantly, forwards such as Giroud, Rebic and Pellegri are all injured. Therefore, against Udinese, Ibrahimovic needs to continue to serve as a single arrow. Continuous battles can be regarded as a disaster for a 40-year-old player, so Ibrahimovic’s physical condition is naturally a major issue that worries fans. But in any case, how far Milan can go this season depends on the performance of Ibrahimovic.
Injury report
Udinese: Roberto Pereira (injury), Rodrigo Bacon (injury), Samir (stop)
Milan: Rebic (injury), Kjaer (injury), Giroud (injury), Calabria (injury), Pellegri (injury), Castillejo (injury)
Pre-match sound
Deulofeu: Ibrahimovic is a role model for the players. He has proved and told us the importance of a healthy life and how maintaining a healthy and regular schedule can help us achieve our goals. Because Ibrahimovic at his age can still become a vital player on the court, I can only pay tribute to him. I still remember when I was 14 or 15 years old, when I was still at Barcelona, and he was playing for Barcelona at that time, I knew Ibrahimovic at that time. He was and is an extraordinary player, and we will try to beat him and Milan at the weekend.
Predicted starter
Udinese (4-4-2): Silvestri/Neuen-Perez, Rodrigo Becan, Nuitink, Samir/Arslan, Wallace- Sosa, Molina, Roberto Pereira/Deulofeu, Beto
Milan (4-2-3-1): Meignan/Florence, Tomori, Romagnoli, Special Olympics/Tonali, Casey/Salemakles, Dias, La O/IbrahimovicReturn to Sohu to see more
Editor:
Disclaimer: The opinions of this article only represent the author himself. Sohu is an information publishing platform. Sohu only provides information storage space services.
.