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

AC Milan are back in Champions League action tonight in front of their home fans, hoping to beat Girona and take a step towards the top eight.

After starting with consecutive defeats to Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen, Milan have won four on the spin in Europe. This will be Sergio Conceicao’s first game in the competition with his new club, and he will hope to continue his trend of making the knockout stages.

There are certainly a fair few injury problems for him to deal with, but the expectation must be that there is enough on the field to get the job done against a side that have lost five of their six matches in the UCL so far.

The five key battles

We start with a duel in the middle of the field between Youssouf Fofana and Yaser Asprilla. Fofana has worked a lot of overtime this season due to a lack of real alternatives in the squad, which has led to a sharp recent dip in performance levels, causing issues in the recent games against Como and Juventus.

The Frenchman is an effective presence in front of the defence on his day, but the €18m summer signing Asprilla from Watford will look to cause big issues in transition. He only has one goal to his name across all competitions, though playing in the playmaker role tonight the Colombian might get some joy if Milan are not careful.

Milan’s main threat remains Rafael Leao. Only Lille’s Edon Zhegrova (39) has made completed dribbles in the Champions League this season than Leão (38). His current per 90 minutes tally of 7.6 in 2024-25 is the second-most by a Milan player on record since 2003-04, behind only Leão himself in 2021-22 (8 per 90).

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Not only that, but he already has three goal contributions this season in the UCL, including a masterful performance against another Spanish opponent: Real Madrid. Given he has been occupying more central spots recently, he might look to target the experienced centre-back David Lopez, who admitted before the game that Girona will play at San Siro without fear.

Having served a suspension against Juventus, Alvaro Morata will be back in the side and he is someone that knows Girona well. The Spaniard has faced them six times in his career with four wins, one draw and one defeat. He has scored four goals in the process, including the hat-trick that he got for Atletico Madrid last season.

The other player that the Catalan side spent big on during the summer was Ladislav Krejci, who arrived from Sparta Praha. The 25-year-old Czech international is likely to be the one tasked with limiting Morata’s influence both inside and maybe even outside the box, given he likes to drift, while he has two goals this season so is a threat from set pieces.

One player that is perhaps yet to show much improvement under Conceicao – which was hard given his previous high levels – is Tijjani Reijnders. Like Fofana he has been overworked, and though his influence on games has waned slightly, he still has three Champions League goals this season and eight overall showing the threat he offers.

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His opponent will be the 33-year-old veteran Oriol Romeu, previously of Barcelona. He has shuttled between the two Catalan sides since 2022 but rejoined on a season-long loan deal in the summer and has made 14 starts, showing his importance. Romeu should for the double pivot alongside Ivan Martin in a 4-2-3-1.

We and with a battle between Strahinja Pavlovic and Viktor Tsygankov, with both enduring quite strange situations. The Serbian centre-back will get the nod mostly out of necessity because of Malick Thiaw and Fikayo Tomori’s absences, yet reports are suggesting it could be his last game as Fenerbahce have launched a bid of over €20m.

Tsygankov meanwhile was one of the stars of Girona’s incredible season in 2023-24, racking up 15 goal contributions playing in off the right side. This season hasn’t gone as well though, with only 10 starts, one goal and two assists to his name. San Siro certainly isn’t a bad place to try and regain some form.