According to this morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Conceiçao is not thinking about the final on Wednesday in Rome. Well, in truth he is thinking about it, but he believes that getting there with high morale after beating Bologna is the best way to do things.
That is why tonight the Portuguese coach – who will be without the suspended Rafael Leao and Youssouf Fofana – will field a strong team. Would it have been better to preserve the starters? Not for the coach, who wants concentration to remain high and to further test the three-man defence
It’s not like Milan can fully disregard the rest of the league season, either. The European spots now seem far away, but by winning the last three matches, who knows. Sergio does not intend to have regrets in this sense.
He knows well that the easiest way to qualify for next year’s Europa League is to lift the Coppa Italia, but Serie A cannot be ignored. Conceiçao, who has the opportunity to win four games in a row for the first time, has understood that this Milan cannot make calculations, deciding when to stop and start.
It is better in his eyes to give a clear signal: that tonight’s match is a sort of early final, sending the best players onto the pitch. The changes will be made during the game, bringing on fresh legs to manage things only when the match is (hopefully) in a good position.
Thus, the paper reports that the defence of Tomori, Gabbia and Pavlovic in front of Maignan will remain. Thiaw was alternated with Gabbia in training but the Italian is favoured, because Conceicao doesn’t want to disrupt a rearguard that has conceded two in five games.
The choice not to use Kyle Walker is also significant, as he has had not much playing time after recovering from an elbow injury. He hoped to start tonight, but instead Jimenez will still be on the right flank, with Theo on the opposite flank.
The two will also be starters in the final. The Englishman will have to accept it: when he said yes to Milan in January, he was convinced that his use would be different and that he would probably be a regular starter.
Tijjani Reijnders will retain his place in midfield given he is in great form, and alongside him there is room for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, a player Conceiçao likes a lot. The former Porto coach would have liked to have him available much earlier than the end of April.
The coach is trying to give him minutes to get back to 100%. In view of Wednesday, when Fofana will be back from his foot injury, he sees RLC as a ’12th man’ of sorts, ready to come on and offer important physicality.
The real ballot tonight is between Santiago Gimenez and Luka Jovic, the latter of whom will almost certainly be the starter at the Olimpico in the Coppa Italia final.
The back pain forced him to miss the match in Venice and meant he didn’t train much last week, so on Monday in Genoa he wasn’t at his best. Gimenez, on the other hand, is raring to go because he’s coming off a goal and an assist in his last two matches.
Sergio will choose the centre-forward only today: he’s tempted to trust the former Feyenoord player, but he doesn’t forget that the turning point came at the beginning of April with Luka at the centre of the attack.
The department will be completed by Christian Pulisic and Joao Felix. The Portuguese shone against Genoa and deserves a chance as Leao’s deputy, with his compatriot suspended.
