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

AC Milan and Cagliari will square off at San Siro this evening for Sergio Conceicao’s first league game in charge of the Rossoneri. As always, there are a few key battles that we think could be decisive for the outcome.

Conceicao will be able to rely on a strong starting XI, making two changes compared to the game against Inter. Rafael Leao is one of them, set to return from start, while Davide Calabria will replace the suspended Emerson Royal.

The key battles

It looks like Fikayo Tomori will get the nod from start once again, with Conceicao clearly preferring him over Matteo Gabbia. Cagliari striker Roberto Piccoli will surely target the Englishman as he’s not as strong in the air as Malick Thiaw, nor does he have the same strength in the duels.

On the left-hand side, as we saw in the reverse fixture, it will be a proper battle between Theo Hernandez and Gabriele Zappa in both phases. Above all, though, the Frenchman will have to do much better defensively as the Italian dominated him last time out.

In the centre of the park, Yunus Musah showed against both Juventus and Inter that he can be a real asset when moving forward. He has an ability to attract defenders and open up space with his runs, so he could be a handful for Cagliari’s Michel Adopo tonight.

Further up the pitch, and on the other side, Rafael Leao will be looking to replicate his fantastic showing against Inter. Assuming that Zappa will push forward a lot, the Portuguese winger could force midfielder Antoine Makoumbou to cover on the flank – especially on counter-attacks.

Finally, Christian Pulisic has shown that he can create something out of nothing but tonight, he will also aim to be more successful in the 1v1s. Not being 100% condition-wise in the last few games has made that difficult, but this time out he could win the battle against Adam Obert.