Milan – Fiorentina Serie A Week 7
Week 6 before the international break had Milan tying Juventus away 0-0. The result good enough on the surface generated a lot of talking points. Juventus looked very much beatable and the old lady does not exactly have her strongest starting 11 this season. Pulisic’s penalty miss, Leao’s less than noteworthy sub appearance all made for questions.
Week 7 sees Milan host Pioli’s winless Fiorentina. The Viola have three ties and three loses to start the season and sit just above the relegation zone. They could be without their top goal scorer Moise Kean as he hobbled off early during Azzurri’s World Cup qualifying win at Estonia. Speaking of which, the international breaks spares very few teams and at points during the break it was feared that Milan will lose all of Rabiot, Saelemaekers, Estupinan and Pulisic for short or long weeks. However it seems that the former three are ok and at least healthy enough for the bench. Pulisic left the USA friendly against Australia with what looks like a hamstring injury. Official word of its extent is not made public as of this writing but a hamstring issue could easily mean 4 weeks out. This of course once again raised questions about the value of international friendlies. Milan’s already thin squad can barely afford players such as Pulisic missing. As fate would have it this may give a chance for Leao to silence his critics, he will get a chance to do so as a starter. If Rabiot is unable to start Loftus-Cheek should be the one to take the Frenchman’s spot. Saelemaekers’ spot could go to Athekame and Bartesaghi could deputize for Estupinan.
Gimenez will be given more time up front as Nkunku waits patiently on the bench. Tomori, Gabbia and Pavlovic are the starting defenders in front of Maignan in goal.