Milan-Fiorentina: Allegri and Pioli’s doubts

Max Allegri from Livorno against Fiorentina. Stefano Pioli against his past. The week leading up to Milan-Fiorentina, scheduled for Sunday at 8.45pm, begins with several thoughts: doubts about the formation and necessary improvisations. The break for the national teams leaves some uncertainty for both coaches. Let’s see how they will try to make a virtue of necessity.

cheerful and Milan

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The match against Viola, for Allegri, will come at the end of a half-finished week of work, with fifteen players absent due to national team commitments (in a deliberately short squad, they are 80% of the group), commitments which in several cases have had consequences: the latest in chronological order is the blow to the calf suffered by Rabiot, who avoided training yesterday. Due caution, assures coach Deschamps (“He hasn’t trained as a precaution, we need to give him a little more time”), without there being any alarms regarding Adrien’s condition. Same fate for Leao, absent from Portuguese training yesterday after taking over against Ireland. There won’t be any against Hungary: simple management after a start to the season conditioned by the calf problem. Rafa will return to Milan and will already be on the pitch in the afternoon.

Milan’s doubts

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The doubts will therefore be above all on the flanks. Alexis Saelemaekers had given up after an hour in Belgium-North Macedonia: a problem with his right flexor which will force him to miss the match against Wales and, what interests the Milan fans most, the clash against the Viola on Sunday. Max will now provide the replacement. The assignment will only be awarded mid-week, once Zachary Athekame returns to the Rossoneri: the full-back will be in Ljubljana in the evening for Slovenia-Switzerland. Two days ago the Swiss federation announced his “promotion”: from the Under 21s he moved to the senior team to strengthen the senior group after some defections. The week will end with another step forward, his first as a starter with Milan after two league appearances as a substitute. In the role is the Saelemaekers nature reserve. Just as Bartesaghi is with Estupinan: the left-footed player from Ecuador remained in South America despite a slight ankle sprain suffered against Pulisic’s United States (substituted because he was not at his best) which forced him to make a substitution before the break. Once it was ascertained that the damage was minor, he could also play against Gimenez’s Mexico on Wednesday night in Italy. At present Estupinan is considered capable and signed up for Fiorentina. In attack, however, Gimenez will only return to Milan on Thursday but one of the certainties remains: for his generosity and work for the team he is irreplaceable. The real doubt is who will be at his side: Pulisic will be busy in Colorado on the usual Wednesday night, with a restart with the group at Milanello scheduled for two days later. His ankle will also need to be carefully evaluated. However, he is ahead by one shirt, pursued by Leao, if at the top, and Nkunku, also playing for France.

the doubts of pegs

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On the eve of the return to San Siro, Pioli is full of doubts. The first concerns Moise Kean, who has a mess with his right ankle. Given the way he walks, it is unthinkable that the centre-forward will be used tomorrow in Udine against Israel, but the match against Milan is also at great risk. From the Italian retreat on Wednesday Pioli will find a very fresh Roberto Piccoli, who only trained with Italy because Pio Esposito pushes and is driven by the value he has and the great media impact. In the event of Kean’s withdrawal, Piccoli will have to shoulder the burden of the Viola attack at La Scala del calcio. But Fiorentina’s troubles don’t end here. Tomorrow the team will meet again at Viola Park after two days of rest and Pioli will have to check the conditions of two other fundamental players: the Brazilian right winger Dodò and the attacking midfielder Jacopo Fazzini. Both had to leave due to injury in the last match lost against Roma, the only one in which Viola did not deserve to lose. There are possibilities of recovering them even if today they will continue to work separately. Like Simon Sohm. The Swiss has withdrawn from the national team due to plantar fasciitis which has been bothering him for some time. If Dodò were to give up, Pioli would have to turn to Jacopo Fortini in 2006 who did very well in Serie B at Juve Stabia, but understood that Serie A is another story. The use of Fazzini, the best news among the many summer signings of the Pradé-Goretti duo, does not exclude Albert Gudmundsson who sent positive messages with Iceland by scoring a brace against Ukraine.

the gudmundsson dilemma

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Gud is Pioli’s real dilemma. Bought after an initial loan, he has so far not repaid the trust placed in him by the club and coach. But it is clear that if Fazzini doesn’t make it, he will be guaranteed another starting shirt at San Siro. But if the national team was regenerating for Gudmundsson, it was not a happy parenthesis for Croatian central Marin Pongracic, who has so far been the essential player in Pioli’s three-man defence. The Viola defender asked for a substitution yesterday against Gibraltar in pain in the 60th minute. And now he too is one of the puzzles for Sunday evening.