GdS: Predicted XIs for Milan vs. Roma – Gimenez and Joao Felix on the bench | OneFootball

AC Milan take on AS Roma at San Siro for the second time this season, but this time with a place in the Coppa Italia semi-finals at stake.

As a reminder, Milan have already played Roma at home this season and it ended up being the final game of the short-lived Paulo Fonseca era. It was a 1-1 draw at the end of December, after which the Portuguese was sacked and replaced by Sergio Conceicao.

Milan come into the game off the back of a hectic last few days, beginning with the derby draw against Inter and continuing with what might have been the most chaotic deadline day in several years.

The predicted XIs

Milan have four players unavailable for the game: Emerson Royal, Alessandro Florenzi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Warren Bondo. The latter arrived on deadline day but has a slight physical issue which will prevent his debut being tonight.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Sergio Conceicao will name the same back four from the derby of Kyle Walker, Fikayo Tomori, Strahinja Pavlovic and Theo Hernandez ahead of Mike Maignan.

Youssouf Fofana is back from suspension and will anchor the midfield, flanked by Yunus Musah and Tijjani Reijnders as the two box-to-box players.

Then, the front three will be Christian Pulisic, Tammy Abraham – who is on loan from Roma – and Rafael Leao. Both Pulisic and Leao are understood to be not at 100%, with Jimenez ready to start over either of them if needed.

It means the coach will resist the temptation to start either of Santiago Gimenez or Joao Felix, but both are able to come off the bench for their debut.

Predicted Milan XI (4-3-3): Maignan; Walker, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Musah, Fofana, Reijnders; Pulisic, Abraham, Leao.

Predicted Roma XI (3-4-2-1): Svilar; Celik, Hummels, Ndicka; Saelemaekers, Kone, Paredes, Angelino; Dybala, Pellegrini, Dovbyk.