Milan host Torino in their first home match of the season Saturday night. The match is sold out, with 72,000 fans expected to attend. While Torino started their season off with a scoreless draw, Ivan Jurić's side did defeat Milan two out of three meetings last season, including knocking us out of the Coppa Italia, so this one is unlikely to be an easy match. However, Pioli has a number of new players since the last time we met, and the fans will be eager to meet them, too. Let's hope that this match gives everyone a chance to make the proper introductions.
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| What is likely to be our starting 11 again, with Calabria in place of Florenzi |
Torino lost a few good players this summer, including Singo, Izzo, Aina, and also Miranchuk, whose loan deal ended. However, they also made some decent signings as well, signing Ivan Ilić permanently after his loan with il Toro this year, bringing in former Milan youth player Raoul Bellanova, who had been on loan to Inter last season and also Valentino Lazaro from our cross city rivals. They also permanently signed Nemanja Radonjić after his loan with them this year, as well as Adrien Tamèze from Verona. We didn't see any public fighting between Jurić and his sporting director this summer, so hopefully he is content with these signings.
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| Former Milan youth player and ex-Inter player? Yeah, he is going to want to score at San Siro for sure. |
Last week, they faced Cagliari in Turin, and played to a 0-0 draw. For that matchup, Jurić lined up: Vanja Milinković-Savić; Schuurs, Buongiorno, former Milan fullback Ricardo Rodriguez; Bellanova, Ricci, Ilić, Vojvoda; Vlasić, Karamoh, and Sanabria. He is missing both Djidji and Seck to injury. Jurić confirmed in his press conference that Schuurs will be starting, despite being linked with a potential exit this week.
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| Will Musah get to make his competitive debut Saturday night? |
Pioli has a complete squad, with the exception of the recovering Bennacer, so will have a wealth of choices. This include Musah, who will be available for the first time after serving a one match suspension last week, and new center back Marco Pellegrino. There is also a possibility of the young Bartesaghi joining the squad, as it has been reported that he will be Theo Hernández's backup this season.
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| Bartesaghi made a great impression this summer and is reported to be joining the first team. |
However, it is more than likely that Pioli will stick with the starting 11 from last week of Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Theo Hernández; Loftus-Cheek, Krunić, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, and Leão. We all know Pioli is an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of guy, and with his repeated concerns about giving the new players time to settle in, he is likely to stick with this lineup for a while, if possible.
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| Pulisic was MOTM on Monday, and responsible for nearly half of all jersey sales. |
The three points in Bologna to kick off the season were positive, but Bologna were also a bit unlucky, and Milan will need to be more focused defensively, especially with this Torino side. Yes, Pioli had a lot of shiny, new players, but he is. not wrong to emphasize that they are new, learning a new language, culture, tactics, and teammates. But if Milan can play well and hold Torino off, then it would be a perfect way for the fans to welcome the new players to the San Siro, the perfect way to make introductions.
This post inspired by the music of The Cure's "Hello, I Love You"