A mouthwatering Derby della Madonnina is set to be played out on Monday as Inter will look to lift the Scudetto while Milan will do everything possible to spoil the party.
Milan are winless in their last three outings across all competitions as they lost twice to Roma in the two-legged Europa League quarter-final tie and settled for a 3-3 draw with Sassuolo. Manager Stefano Pioli’s fate was sealed following the 2-1 defeat to the Giallorossi as he is set to be sacked at the end of this season.
While the Rossoneri have a five-point gap between 3rd-placed Juventus, the 3-3 stalemate versus Sassuolo was seen as a failure amongst the club hierarchy. It was a disaster in the back as Milan let in Andrea Pinamonti and Armand Lauriente without any challenge. The visitors managed to level the scores through goals from Rafael Leao, Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor but three points were expected from the match.
Milan have lost five of the last derbies with Inter and a loss on Monday will be considered a catastrophe and they cannot afford to let their neighbourhood rivals deal them another blow.
Meanwhile, Inter have a chance to clinch the Scudetto with a win over their eternal rivals. They are gearing up for the occasion and have internally agreed to remain respectful of their opponents’ fans if they grab the three points.
The Nerazzurri’s last match ended in a 2-2 draw with Cagliari as goals from Marcus Thuram and Hakan Calhanoglu helped cancel out Eldor Shomurodov and Nicolas Viola’s strikes. Manager Simone Inzaghi will hope to keep his players’ heads clear ahead of the match and not let the buildup to the derby take over.
Statistical supremacy is on Inter’s side as they have scored a massive 77 goals this season and conceded only 17 across 32 matches. Even if Milan manage to win the game on Monday, Inter are virtually the Scudetto champions and it is only a matter of time before they are officially crowned.
Results from their last five matches across all competitions
Milan will bank on Olivier Giroud’s scoring record versus Inter as the Frenchman has netted three goals and registered two assists in the Derby della Madonnina to date.
Samuel Chukwueze might be on the starting line-up after excellent showings in the past few matches.
Fikayo Tomori and Matteo Gabbia should partner in defence as Simon Kjaer, Malick Thiaw and Pierre Kalulu are out with respective problems.
As for Inter, Simone Inzaghi will have Benjamin Pavard and Lautaro Martinez back on the squad following suspensions.
Alexis Sanchez and Yann Aurel Bisseck are set to be benched.
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Tomori, Gabbia, Hernandez; Bennacer, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Giroud
Inter (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez
