Several familiar faces on show: The five key battles in Milan vs. Bologna
AC Milan will go in pursuit of three straight Serie A wins for the first time under Ruben Amorim when they host Bologna tonight.
After responding to the disappointing defeat in Bournemouth with victory in Udine, Milan return to home comforts ahead of a big San Siro double-header. First it is Bologna, which sets the table nicely for Saturday’s Halloween derby against Inter.
However, there isn’t much to smile about on the selection front as the Rossoneri are still without eight injured players. There were hopes of having Mario Gila, Diego Moreira and Adrien Rabiot back, but all will be preserved in view of the weekend.
AC Milan vs. Bologna: The five key battles
With Bologna struggling to score goals this season (just eight in eight games) but also being quite good at keeping them out (10 conceded), it feels as though the game will quite simply be decided at both ends of the pitch, which seems like a very obvious statement admittedly.
Goncalo Ramos is the man who will lead the line for Milan tonight, hoping to score his fourth goal since arriving from PSG in the summer. He came close to it on Sunday, hitting the bar in the closing stages and also curling an attempt not too far wide.
His opponent will be Nicolo Casale, a player that Milanisti might recognise because he was linked with a move when he was at Hellas Verona. Anchoring the middle of a three-man defence, the 28-year-old is actually one of the elder statesmen in the Bologna side and he has scored a goal this season too.
Behind Ramos will be Alphadjo Cisse, who has probably been the surprise story of the season so far for the Rossoneri with his five goals across all competitions. All five – including the recent hat-trick against RB Salzburg – have come away from home, so he will be itching to get that first one in front of over 70,000 at San Siro.
He will come up against someone that Diavolo supporters again know well: Tommaso Pobega. In Palladino’s 3-4-2-1 he tends to be the balancer in the double pivot, so will have to keep tabs on his compatriot. The same is true in reverse though, because Pobega’s late runs caused big problems for Inter, who he scored against recently.
There will be somewhat of an indirect albeit fascinating duel between Davide Bartesaghi and Juan Miranda, who will occupy important but perhaps unfamiliar roles in their respect teams’ systems. Miranda – another player Milan were linked with – is more of a natural full-back but has license to get forward as a wing-back, and has contributed three Serie A assists already.
On the opposite side, Bartesaghi was in more of an advanced role against Udinese and caused a lot of issues with his power, his pace when in stride and his delivery. The challenge will be to build on that, but also provided support and cover for Pervis Estupinan in the right moments.
With Jens Odgaard expected to play down the middle of Bologna’s front three and with Riccardo Orsolini injured, Federico Bernardeschi will be asked to step up and lead the Rossoblu attack again, as he has on a couple of occasions so far making him the team’s top scorer.
He is likely to play a role cutting in off the right, which puts him in the firing line of Strahinja Pavlovic. Fresh off a contract renewal, the Serbian remains an absolute immovable pillar of Amorim’s defensive unit, and will aim to stifle a struggling forward group again with help from Koni De Winter.
Finally, we end with perhaps the most important tactical duel of the lot: Yunus Musah against Lewis Ferguson. Both occupy crucial roles in the pivot in which they are asked to drop back to help build out in certain phases, then drive forward with the ball and even lead attacks in others.
Ferguson has been irreplaceable for Palladino as he was for Tedesco before, having started eight of eight league games, but he is yet to amass a goal contribution. Last time out at San Siro, Musah showed up in a big way against his old loan club Atalanta, drawing the opening penalty too. Energy, quality and dynamism will be on display in the engine room.
