AC Milan will play their first away Serie A game of 2025 on Tuesday evening as they make the short trip up the road to face Como.
Milan returned from Saudi Arabia with the Supercoppa Italiana in their back pockets and displayed it before the game against Cagliari, but the edge was taken off the celebrations as they were held to a draw.
Given the quest to get into the Champions League places, it is imperative that Sergio Conceicao’s side do not drop points against teams at the bottom end of the table, and he was understandably frustrated after Saturday’s match.
As mentioned, Milan will once again be called upon for a response after yet another disappointing league result. Building a run of wins has been their kryptonite so far in 2024-25, and Conceicao will look to fix some of the consistency issues.
What made the result against the Sardinians even more frustrating was that Lazio dropped points (against Como, ironically) and Juventus were held to a draw in the derby with Torino, so Milan squandered a big chance to close the gap.
However, in the midweek round of games the Bianconeri travel to face Atalanta while Inter host Bologna (who are still above the Rossoneri). At the weekend, Milan make the trip to face their fierce rivals Juve away from home.
In terms of injury news, Alessandro Florenzi is still recovering from an operation and Samuel Chukwueze is likely to be out for a few more weeks yet after a quite serious muscle injury during the draw with Roma to close 2024.
Conceicao announced prior to the Cagliari fixture that Ruben Loftus-Cheek has suffered a relapse of the flexor problem that has troubled him this season. He will be re-evaluated in a few days, but could miss a few games as a result.
Emerson Royal was forced to miss the Cagliari contest after serving a ban, which means that he will return to contention. Alvaro Morata – who scored in Saturday’s draw – and Youssouf Fofana are one yellow card away from a one-match ban.
It seems that the starting XI will remain quite untouched against Como, starting with Mike Maignan in goal. Emerson is expected to return at right-back after missing the game against Cagliari through suspension. Malick Thiaw and Fikayo Tomori are expected in the centre again, but Matteo Gabbia is pushing for a start.
In midfield, Conceicao is considering a flat midfield three, consisting of Yunus Musah, Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana, but Ismael Bennacer could be given an opportunity to start, so that will go right to the wire.
Leading the line should be Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao and Alvaro Morata, but the latter could be changed for Tammy Abraham, or even Francesco Camarda, perhaps.
Como (3-4-2-1): Butez; Goldaniga, Dossena, Kempf; Van Der Brempt, Engelhardt, Da Cunha, Fadera; Strefezza, Diao; Cutrone.
Milan (4-3-3): Maignan; Emerson Royal, Thiaw, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Bennacer, Fofana, Rejinders; Pulisic, Abraham, Leao.
