Leao and Pulisic together again – how Milan should lineup vs. Genoa

On Thursday evening, AC Milan will hope to continue their winning streak, as they welcome Genoa to the San Siro for their first home game of 2026. 

It will be a case of starting how they mean to go on for Milan. Their only loss of the 2025/26 Serie A season has come at San Siro, and so they will hope a new year can only distance them further from that blip.

A win against Cagliari last time out showed that the Rossoneri are potentially changing the narrative when it comes to teams away from the European places. However, they cannot get overconfident.

Our Starting XI vs. Genoa

Reports have suggested that Massimiliano Allegri will not look to rest players for this game. So, a full-strength team is expected here.

Mike Maignan will keep his place in goal, then, whilst Fikayo Tomori is also expected to start, despite suggestions that he could be rested for this game. He will need to be rested at some point in this run we expect, but it may be best to do it later in the month. Then, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic have been given the nod to start, so we expect them to.

In midfield, then, Davide Bartesaghi will return to his normal position, whilst Alexis Saelemaekers stays on the right. Centrally, it is a case of keeping things the same again, so the French pair of Youssouf Fofana and Adrien Rabiot ahead of Luka Modric.

Finally, there could be a shout for Niclas Fullkrug to start here, given that Rafael Leao is not 100%. However, it seems the Portuguese is more ready than the German, so he should get the nod here alongside Christian Pulisic.

Pretty much, if not the strongest squad, which Allegri has available to him.

SempreMilan’s Predicted XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Bartesaghi; Pulisic, Leao.