Midfield protection and minutes to develop: How Milan should line up vs. Udinese | OneFootball

AC Milan have just seven games left this season, and their fourth-last away match is one at the Stadio Friuli against Udinese.

Given that Milan are ninth in the league and eight points off even the Europa League spot in the league, there is the real possibility that there is no involvement in European competitions at all in the 2025-26 season.

There is the obligation to finish the campaign strongly, with a Coppa Italia semi-final second leg against Inter to come and the mission not to record a worse league finish than 2014-15, the darkest season in recent memory.

How Milan should line-up

Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Emerson Royal remain injury absentees as they continue their recovery from their respective appendix and calf issues. Kyle Walker (elbow fracture) and Santiago Gimenez (sore side) join the treatment room and will not make the trip.

The big doubts concern the right-back position and the midfield pairing, presuming Conceicao goes with a 4-2-3-1. The rest of the defence should be Matteo Gabbia, Malick Thiaw and Theo Hernandez ahead of Mike Maignan.

On the right side of the back four, the most logical choice is to play Alex Jimenez. In truth he hasn’t yet shown consistently that he is the right mould to be a full-back, especially in a physical league like Serie A, but it feels more useful to give him the nod than Filippo Terracciano.

Youssouf Fofana and Warren Bondo should be the double pivot. Fofana has definitely suffered a dip in form in 2025 – understandable given how many minutes he had racked up by the new year – and Bondo has appeared raw at times, though they guarantee the necessary energy and grit.

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It also facilitates Tijjani Reijnders playing in a more advanced role, which makes the most sense in terms of having him operate between the lines against a deep and compact team. Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao are almost certain to occupy the wings.

With Gimenez out, Tammy Abraham and Luka Jovic are battling for the striker spot and the nod should go to the Englishman. He has scored in consecutive games, and having Jovic to bring on and partner him if the game dictates is a nice gear-up option.

We want to see more minutes for the players who it would benefit most. For example, Samuel Chukwueze needs to try get in some form, Davide Bartesaghi deserves a look at left-back and Riccardo Sottil should play over Joao Felix.

Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Jimenez, Gabbia, Thiaw, Theo Hernandez; Bondo, Fofana; Pulisic, Reijnders, Leao; Abraham.