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

AC Milan and Juventus will take on each other at San Siro this evening, and with a game of this magnitude, there are several interesting player battles. Below, we have picked out five that we believe will be decisive.

As per the latest reports, Christian Pulisic will be on the bench for Milan while Thiago Motta will field a 4-2-4 formation for Juventus. As such, the battles perhaps aren’t the ones we first expected but there are still some uncertainties to delve into there.

The key battles

Starting at the back from Milan’s perspective, Kenan Yildiz will likely be a handful for Emerson Royal on the right flank. The 19-year-old has four goals and three assists this season, while the Brazilian has shown that defending isn’t always his main strength.

In the heart of the defence, it looks like Matteo Gabbia could be up against Weston McKennie (!) and while the Italian has an advantage, the American is relatively good in the air. He also has a knack for finding the right spaces in the box, so Gabbia must be attentive.

Further up the pitch, the feeling is that Thiago Motta might try to limit Milan’s use of Tijjani Reijnders, and Manuel Locatelli will be the midfielder on that side for Juventus. The former Milan man is not afraid to get stuck in and is physically strong, but he lacks slightly in acceleration.

Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images

Since Pulisic most likely won’t play from start, all eyes will be on Rafael Leao instead and rightfully so, as the winger has been in tremendous form lately. He will be up against the 21-year-old Nicolo Savona, so that is certainly a battle to keep an eye on.

Finally, it will be some battle between Alvaro Morata and Federico Gatti – most likely anyway – as both are very strong in the aerial duels and in general physically. Hopefully, the Spaniard will come out on top against his former club.