18 hours ago
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Massimiliano Allegri confirmed earlier today that one of Zachary Athekame and Davide Bartesaghi will start on Milan’s left flank against Juventus tomorrow.
After playing the same left wing-back in the first five league games, Allegri will be forced to make a change tomorrow as Pervis Estupinan is suspended. The Ecuadorian was sent off in the win against Napoli, receiving a straight red card after stopping a clear goalscoring chance.
During his press conference earlier today, when asked about the matter, Allegri confirmed to the media that he will decide between Athekame and Bartesaghi for the role. For us, however, that choice feels rather obvious.
Bartesaghi (understandably) leads the race
Bartesaghi has done very well at the start of this season, impressing above all in the Coppa Italia game against Lecce, and he put in a good defensive shift against Napoli too. As such, opting for Athekame tomorrow would be rather strange, especially since he’s originally a right-back.
Furthermore, this is a big opportunity for Bartesaghi to prove himself against a high-level opponent, playing from the first minute in a hostile stadium. Not getting the chance after all would surely be a massive blow to his confidence, which is something Milan will want to avoid.
Another thing to consider is that Athekame only has 59 minutes of Italian football action to his name, whereas Bartesaghi made his debut at the start of the 2024-25 season. In short, the choice is easy for Allegri and perhaps his comments were just a bit of mind games.
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