After losing their 4th place to Inter over the weekend, Milan will aim to return back on track and hope for a top-four finish at the end of the season when they face relegation-threatened Cremonese today evening at San Siro.
Milan’s last match in the Serie A against top-four competitors Roma ended in a dramatic finish as two goals from either side in added time made it a thriller. Tammy Abraham broke the deadlock in the 90+4th minute to send the Stadio Olimpico in celebration but the Rossoneri had to spoil the party and midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers equalised three minutes later to make it a 1-1 stalemate.Â
The draw was beneficial for Inter who following their resounding win over second-placed Lazio usurped the 4th place from their neighbourhood rivals Milan. Now that all three teams, Inter, Milan and Roma are on level points (57), it is set to become a tight end to the season for Champions League qualification.
Meanwhile, Cremonese will hope to retain what little hope they have for survival in Serie A from this match. It will be a tough ask from them to even manage a point from an in-form Milan team who haven’t lost once in April, but the 19th-placed side have shown a bit of posture in their recent performances so an upset might be on the cards.Â
Cremonese will hope for a reversal of the performance they strung together in the reverse fixture back in November which ended in a 0-0 stalemate between these two sides. They have remained unbeaten in their last two match across all competitions, so they will carry the faith to potentially pull off a result.Â
Results from their last five matches across all competitions
Milan:
D W D D W
Cremonese:
D D W W WÂ
Team News
For Milan, star man Rafael Leao is expected to start from the bench. Centre-back Fikayo Tomori will serve his suspension after being shown the fifth yellow card for this campaign in his previous match.
Alessandro Florenzi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tommaso Pobega remain sidelined with long-term injuries.Â
One of Malick Thiaw and Pierre Kalulu could deputise for the suspended Tomori in defence.Â
As for Cremonese, Giacomo Quagliata will remain suspended for this fixture. Marco Benassi and Frank Tsadjout to remain sidelined with injuries today.Â
Striker David Okereke is set to retain his position upfront after scoring a goal in his last match. Daniel Ciofani and Cyriel Dessers too remain in the competition to start.Â
Predicted XIs
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Thiaw, Hernandez; Krunic, Tonali; Saelemaekers, Bennacer, Leao; Rebic
Cremonese (3-5-2): Carnesecchi; Sernicola, Vasquez, Lochoshvili; Valeri, Pickel, Castagnetti, Meite, Buonaiuto; Okereke, Dessers
Â
Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN
