The premier European club competition kicks off today and what a first round matchup we have – Milan v Liverpool!
The season is still young and both teams have had moments of disappointment, with Milan struggling out the gates to start the season and Liverpool having a very surprising 1-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest this past weekend. Still, the excitement of Champions League football at the San Siro has got to have both teams eager to kickoff, especially with their storied histories of facing each other in this competition.
Let’s dive in!
LAST FIVE
MILAN: WDLDW
LIVERPOOL: LWWWD
FORMATIONS
MILAN (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria (C), Tomori, Pavlovic, Hernández; Fofana, Loftus-Cheek; Pulisic, Reijnders, Leão; Morata
LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Becker; Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk (C), Konaté, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Jota
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 3pm EST/8pm GMT
PLACE: San Siro, Milano, Italy
WHERE TO WATCH:
Paramount + has your Champions League action in the US. Check your local listings.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
MILAN
MILAN
Milan finally looked like a team who could compete for a Scudetto and make the knockout rounds in Champions League with a dominate win over Venezia over the weekend. Admittedly, Venezia is terrible, but Milan really did cut through them like butter and it had to boost confidence and morale in the locker room.
The keys for me, assuming Fonseca keeps RLC in the double pivot and Reijnders as the CAM, will be to get Theo and Leão a littler further back and sucking Salah, Alexander-Arnold, and van Dijk up the pitch and then stinging them on the counter. That means Fonseca will have to sit back some but I think if he can bait those three then exploiting them on defense should be relatively straightforward.
With Theo up the pitch then that is going to give Salah room so Pavlovic is going to have to be a menace out there and we’re going to need good Tomori today. I’m not thrilled about Calabria starting especially with Gakpo opposite…ok, I’m never thrilled with Calabria starting but hopefully Fofana, RLC, and Pulisic can help out and minimize the times he has to defend 1:1.
Morata is starting but him or Abraham are going to have to earn their money today and not waste opportunities.
LIVERPOOL
LIVERPOOL
The big change for Liverpool is obviously Klopp moving on and the team needing to refresh some of their aging roster. Still, plenty of talent and they’re going to put up a tough match.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
ATTACK
MOHAMED SALAH is still the talisman for Liverpool and the one Fonseca and company need to worry about the most. DARWIN NUNEZ definitely has the skill to burn you but isn’t the most consistent. The other attacking players I worry about are midfielder DOMINIK SZOBOSZLAI and ALEXIS MAC ALLISTER can be sneaky coming from a deeper lying position. CODY GAKPO had a strong Euros and DIOGO JOTA and LUIS DIAZ can sting you too. Lots of attacking talent for Milan to deal with on the day.
DEFENSE
VAN DIJK is exactly the type of CB Leão can expose. His darting runs will make van Dijk’s aging legs work overtime so it’s important to exploit this opportunity when it presents itself. IBRAHIMA KONATÉ is probably the better of the two and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get moved over to Leão’s side if he doesn’t start there (he’s currently slotted into the left CB position).
I’m not the biggest ALEXIS MAC ALLISTER fan as he can weasel his way under people’s skin (and a few dirty plays on top of that) so Milan is going to have to stay poised around him. Finally, the still formidable ALISSON BECKER is between the sticks. He’s not want he once was but Milan is still going to have to work to beat him.
PREDICTION TIME
Oh boy…not a lot of positive minutes to base these on…
BETTING IDEAS
Micahel Lisi: I’m assuming both teams will bring the heat. I like both teams to score for sure. Salah as an anytime scorer. Reijnders with a first half shot. Probably a draw…which would be fine with me!
I’m going to go with a 2-2 draw. Lots of action.
Let’s do this!
Forza Milan
gillis