The five key battles that could win or lose the game for Milan against Verona | OneFootball

AC Milan simply must return to winning ways in the league against Hellas Verona tonight, the final game before the Christmas break.

The atmosphere coming into the game at the Stadio MarcAntonio Bentegodi could be better. Milan had their 125th-anniversary celebrations tainted somewhat on Sunday night at San Siro as Genoa got a 0-0 draw.

The fall-out afterwards included protests from fans outside the party the next night, plus suggestions that Fonseca needs a positive result to keep his job with names like Max Allegri and Xavi swirling.

The five key battles

Milan will have eight absentees tonight: Alessandro Florenzi, Ismael Bennacer, Luke Jovic, Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Noah Okafor and Alvaro Morata. As a result, Fonseca will have to get creative with the team.

Rafael Leão‘s three Serie A goals this season have all come away from home and he has scored three goals against Hellas Verona in Serie A. Only against Cagliari, Lecce (five against both) and Fiorentina (four) has netted more in the competition, while a goal here would already equal his goal tally from last season away from home.

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His opponent given his more central role should be the right-sided centre-back Paweł Dawidowicz. The 29-year-old Poland international knows the league well having joined in the same summer (2019) as Leao, but there are few tougher assignments than having to defend Leao in isolation, so Verona may look to give him some help.

Sticking with Milan’s attack, Tijjani Reijnders is expected to play in a more advanced midfield role given the absence of other options. The Dutchman has seven goals in the 2024-25 campaign so far and 10 goal contributions overall, with the ‘new’ position surely likely to increase his propensity to provide end product.

The man tasked with stopping Reijnders’ influence should be the combative and experienced defensive midfielder Ondrej Duda. The 30-year-old Slovakia international could well be given a man-marking assignment to fully disrupt the opponent, which could produce a fascinating duel.

It has not exactly been the most positive of campaigns for Verona so far as they sit just one point above the bottom three, but Casper Tengstedt has been a real bright spark. The Dane has five goals from an attacking midfield position in the league, which is the most in the entire side, and at 24 he looks an interesting prospect.

Youssouf Fofana is not expected to get any rest despite the change in Reijnders’ position, and with Filippo Terracciano expected to get the nod to play in the double pivot alongside him – despite being a natural full-back – he might have to marshal his team-mate through things a bit.

Photo by Claudio Villa/AC Milan via Getty Images

What will be crucial against Paolo Zanetti’s 3-4-2-1 system will be the width they get from the wing-backs, starting with Darko Lazovic. The 34-year-old feels like he has been in the league an eternity, but with four Serie A goals to his name he certainly still knows how to get forward and find the net.

Emerson Royal on the opposite end will have a dual role: stop the advances of the Serbian when he tries to drift inside, but also support Samuel Chukwueze on the right side in the right moments. Emerson had the most touches in Genoa’s box of any Milan player on Sunday, but we are not sure he can get forward as much tonight.

Finally, we switch to the other wing where the young Alex Jimenez is tipped to get the start over Theo Hernandez once again. The Spaniard’s full league debut was impressive: he went into every battle at 100% intensity, combined well with Leao, wasn’t afraid to shoot and went on some dangerous runs too.

Verona’s right wing-back should be Jackson Tchatchoua, who has already chipped in with three goal involvements this campaign. While he doesn’t get forward as much as Jimenez, it will be a tough physical tussle for the 19-year-old, who must be attentive in defence as well as dangerous in attack.