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AC Milan will be up against Roma on Sunday evening, hoping to leapfrog the Giallorossi in the league standings, but it’s bound to be a difficult task for Massimiliano Allegri’s men.
After the disappointing draw against Pisa, Milan wanted to bounce back with a win against Atalanta mid-week but instead, they got another draw. In short, Allegri has had a lot to work on at Milanello, especially since second-placed Roma are up next.
Roma in 2025-26: Quick facts
➤ Manager: Gian Piero Gasperini
➤ Form (all comps): W-L-L-W-W
➤ Top scorer (Serie A): Matias Soule – 3
➤ Most assists (Serie A): Matias Soule – 2
➤ Injuries & suspensions: Angelino and Ferguson.
The 2024-25 season was rather hectic for Roma, or at least up until November, with two coaches shown the door (Daniele De Rossi and Ivan Juric) before Claudio Ranieri was brought back. Unsurprisingly, he managed to get the team going and secured a 5th-place finish in the end.
However, with Ranieri making it clear that he wouldn’t continue as a coach, the Giallorossi decided to go down the ambitious route by hiring Gian Piero Gasperini. After many successful years at Atalanta, the 67-year-old is now enjoying his first proper tenure at a big club (excluding the short Inter spell).
So far, the season has gone well for Roma with 21 points collected after nine games (seven wins and two draws). On the other hand, they haven’t had the toughest run of games and apart from the win against Verona, they have always prevailed by the odd goal.
We haven’t exactly seen the attacking-focused and flowing football that Gasperini provided at Atalanta, let’s just put it that way. As Allegri would say, however, the only thing that matters at the end of the day is winning games and Roma have done that.
Injury-wise, Gasperini has a rather good situation as only two players should miss the game, namely Angelino and Evan Ferguson. The latter suffered a sprained ankle last time out and should be out for a few weeks, which is a bit of a blow for Roma.
Interestingly, Artem Dovbyk isn’t in line to replace the Irishman, with Gasperini reportedly opting for Paulo Dybala as the ‘striker’ instead. Everyone knows the Argentine’s qualities, especially Milan as he has scored ten goals against them.
Behind him, the likes of Matias Soule and Bryan Cristante are expected to start. While the former was expected, fielding the latter in such an advanced position is certainly a bit surprising. After all, the former Milan man has made his name as a defensive-minded midfielder.
Predicted Roma (3-4-2-1): Svilar; Hermoso, Mancini, Ndicka; Celik, El Aynaoui, Kone, Wesley; Cristante, Soule; Dybala.
Predicted bench: Vasquez, Gollini, Ghilardi, Tsimikas, Sangaré, Ziolkowski, Rensch, Pisilli, Baldanzi, El Shaarawy, Pellegrini, Dovbyk, Bailey.
During his press conference earlier today, Gasperini admitted that they will try to stop Luka Modric, even if it won’t be easy. He also hinted that Dybala is in very good form at the moment and thus could cause a lot of problems for Milan.
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