The five key battles that could win or lose the game for Milan against Lecce | OneFootball

AC Milan will be looking to turn the derby win against Inter into a run of victories tonight when they welcome Lecce to San Siro.

Milan pulled out a rather surprise 2-1 win thanks to Matteo Gabbia’s 89th-minute header to claim the bragging rights, after a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool a few days prior that suggested Paulo Fonseca was on the brink of being sacked. However, that has to be followed up with a win tonight against Lecce.

The outcome of tonight’s game will be influenced by some key battles, starting with Rafael Leao against Patrick Dorgu on Milan’s left. Lecce are the opponent against which Leão has scored the most goals in Serie A (five goals in six matches), including a brace in April 2023.

Dorgu meanwhile is regarded as one of the best prospects in Serie A and Lecce did well to keep hold of him over the summer amid reported interest from top clubs, including Milan who ‘fell in love’ with the Dane. He is left-sided usually, but has been switched over to the right by Luca Gotti.

Meanwhile at the other end, Lecce’s main threat is Nikola Krstovic who has been directly involved in five of their last six goals in Serie A with four goals and one assist. He is the player who has both attempted the most total shots (26) and shots on target (10) in Serie A this season.

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He is expected to play as the right striker in a front two which will also see Ante Rebic come up against the derby hero Matteo Gabbia, and that means Fikayo Tomori will have to be attentive. With Gabbia’s rise the Englishman is playing to keep his spot and a clean sheet would stake a strong claim.

Tammy Abraham has had a very positive start to life as a Milan player and he was given the nod to start alongside Alvaro Morata in the victory against Inter, but with the Spaniard on the bench due to some joint discomfort the Englishman will have to lead the line and hopefully get his name on the scoresheet again.

His opponent is likely to be Federico Baschirotto, who is 28 years of age and went viral for having the physique of a bodybuilder. He is a solid and no-nonsense centre-back, so there could be an interesting physical battle while Abraham will try cause issues with his own size, speed and movement.

Since the start of last season, no Serie A player has been directly involved in more goals than Christian Pulisic in all competitions (31, 19 goals and 12 assists, level with Lautaro Martínez’s 27 goals and 4 assists).

The American has become Milan’s most reliably productive player and he will look to torment Antonin Gallo, Lecce’s 24-year-old left-back who has impressed to the extent that he ended up on the Rossoneri’s radar as a possible deputy to Theo Hernandez.

Finally, the duel between Tijjani Reijnders and Ylber Ramadani is worth mentioning, given the contrasting styles of the two midfielders. The Dutchman is the source of a lot of Milan’s creativity and fans want to see a partnership with Youssouf Fofana blossom.

On the flip side, Ramadani is an experienced defensive midfielder at 28 years of age and represents Albania at international level. He joined Lecce from Aberdeen last year, and is likely to sit alongside Lassana Coulibaly in a midfield pairing.