How AC Milan could line up against Chelsea amid nine key injuries | OneFootball

Stefano Pioli has a lot to think about ahead of AC Milan’s clash against Chelsea on Wednesday. The starting XI is already being discussed but the reality is that the manager doesn’t have many options.

As if the injury situation wasn’t already bad, Calabria, Kjaer and Saelemaekers are left the pitch injured in the 3-1 win against Empoli last night. This means that nine (!) will miss the game against Chelsea on Wednesday.

Pioli will thus have to rely on his squad depth, as we saw against Empoli by throwing on Rade Krunic to replace Alexis Saelemaekers. Junior Messias would have been the natural replacement, but he got injured the day before the game.

The XI against Chelsea, therefore, will be similar to what we saw towards the end of the Empoli clash. Kjaer is perhaps the only question mark with regards to the injured players, as his didn’t look as serious (he played on for quite a while).

Probable Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Tatarusanu; Dest, Kalulu, Tomori, Ballo-Toure; Bennacer, Tonali; Krunic, De Ketelaere, Leao; Giroud.

The biggest blows, of course, are Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez who have been key players for Milan this season. Losing the captain, Calabria, is not ideal either and the situation on the right in general sure is dire.

Charles De Ketelaere could perhaps be an option for the right-wing but the feeling is that Krunic will start there again, as he did well against Empoli. Most likely, there will be a lot of in-game rotation between the players in the attacking trio.

Should Kjaer make it back, then we could perhaps see him from start as well, with Kalulu moving out to the right. But the above XI is the most likely one for now. Ante Rebic, who scored yesterday, will be an option off the bench.

Injury list: Maignan, Calabria, Florenzi, Kjaer, Hernandez, Saelemaekers, Messias, Ibrahimovic, Origi.