Tuttosport: ‘Day of truth’ – Fonseca hopes to have ‘Milan’s best defender’ vs. Juventus | OneFootball

Today has been described as the ‘day of truth’ for Matteo Gabbia, who hopes to return to full training and make himself available against Juventus.

As Tuttosport (via MilanNews) reports this morning, Milan will hold an afternoon training session at Milanello today. It is probably to give the many returning internationals – especially Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah in this case, who will have had long flights – the chance to recover from their trip.

However, the spotlight in Carnago will be on Gabbia, who should return to training with the rest of the squad, which would be a very important bit of news for Paulo Fonseca. The defender has been out of action for almost a month now: his last match was the Champions League match against Club Brugge.

He took a risk in that game having felt some previous discomfort and his period of absence is perhaps a warning to others not to do so. Now, though, the Italian is close to making a full recovery after working hard at Milanello this past week, following a personalised programme.

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Gabbia continued that plan in the first two days of this week, but from today he could rejoin his team-mates and thus it would mean he will be fine for Saturday. The paper describes him as the ‘best defender at Milan’, and the numbers show it.

With Gabbia on the field, Milan have a better points per game average than Napoli at 2.25 compared to the 1.29 when the academy graduate is not on the pitch. He is a fan favourite after his consistent performances and derby heroics, with a renewal until 2029 expected to follow soon.