The Supercoppa Italiana’s second semifinal between Juventus and AC Milan sees the debut of new Rossoneri manager Sergio Conceicao, who replaced Paulo Fonseca on the bench after the home draw against AS Roma last weekend.
Conceicao will also face his son Francisco who plays for the Bianconeri and can also count on the comeback of U.S. men’s national team star Christian Pulisic who is fully recovered after a calf injury. Here’s what you need to know:
Juventus: Thiago Motta is expected to name his best potential starting eleven, with Francisco Conceicao starting on the left wing to support striker Dusan Vlahovic, while Andrea Cambiaso will start as a left back alongside Federico Gatti, Nicolo Savona and former AC Milan defender Pierre Kalulu.
Potential Juventus XI: Di Gregorio; Savona, Gatti, Kalulu, Cambiaso; Thuram, Locatelli; Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Vlahovic.
AC Milan: New coach Sergio Conceicao will name his first starting eleven, with USMNT winger Pulisic expected to be back in the lineup on the right wing, while Alvaro Morata will be supported by Alex Jimenez on the left wing with Rafael Leao expected to be unavailable due to a minor injury on Friday.
Potential AC Milan XI: Maignan; Emerson Royal, Gabbia, Thiaw, Theo Hernandez; Bennacer, Fofana, Reijnders; Pulisic, Morata, Jimenez.
As mentioned, it has been all change at Milan in the past few days and that means they are heading into the new year with a new coach, giving every player in the squad a clean slate, in theory.
The issue is that there are a number of injury worries for Conceicao to contend with, mainly in the attacking department. Rafael Leao is not expected to be fit enough to start the semi-final and there are doubts about if he will even be on the bench.
Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor have both not made the trip with the rest of the squad as they recover from quite serious muscle issues. On Wednesday, Filippo Terracciano worked separately and it is possible that there could be changes in midfield as a result.
The biggest question mark concerns Christian Pulisic, who returned to full training with the rest of the squad but it remains to be seen whether he will be risked from minute one. If he were not available, it could lead to a change in formation, with two strikers being used.
Like Milan, Juventus also began a new era under a new coach over the summer, hiring Thiago Motta from Bologna after his contract expired. He had done a brilliant job with the Rossoblu, guiding them into the Champions League before departing for pastures new.
As per Transfermarkt, Juve decided to back their new coach with a summer spending spree to the tune of €168m. They spent over €50m on each of Teun Koopmeiners and Douglas Luiz, though the latter did come on an exchange deal.
Khephren Thuram joined from OGC Nice for €20.6m to complete the midfield overhaul, while Juan Cabal joined from Verona, Nico Gonzalez came from Fiorentina on an initial loan and Pierre Kalulu joined from Milan on a loan with option.
