The five key battles that could win or lose the game for Milan against Cagliari

AC Milan kick off 2026 with an away match against Cagliari, hoping to put pressure on the other teams at the top of the table.

Milan ended 2025 in a very positive way as they beat Hellas Verona 3-0 at San Siro. They temporarily went top with that win, until Inter emerged victorious against Inter and hopped back above their city rivals by one point.

Still, to be considered in the title race as we near the midway point of the season is a positive compared to 12 months previous. The trip to Sardinia, though, will be far from an easy game, especially based on last season and given the selection issues.

Cagliari vs. AC Milan: Five key battles

The main headline surrounding Milan at the moment coming into this game is that Rafael Leao is expected to be fit enough to start, as Massimiliano Allegri confirmed. It is a big boost given Christian Nkunku and Christian Pulisic have injury troubles, and the Portuguese should therefore lead the line for the Rossoneri.

Leao has scored six goals against Cagliari, his favourite victim along with Fiorentina. His opponent will be Yerry Mina, an experienced central defender who played previously for Barcelona and Everton, and has now racked up a season and a half with the islanders. He will not get many tougher tests this season, but will be up for the battle.

Photo by Giuseppe Cottini/AC Milan via Getty Images

Moving to the flanks, there will be an intriguing duel on Milan’s left side between the two Italians, Gabriele Zappa and Davide Bartesaghi. The former actually scored in the most recent meeting between the sides, which was also in early January but was back at San Siro, and he has made the right-back spot his own with two assists in the league.

On the flip side, Bartesaghi’s rise to stardom continues and he will once again keep summer signing Pervis Estupinan out of the side. This will be a game where he has to pick his moments to attack, while offering a bit of support for Pavlovic too in the left centre-back position.

Speaking of which, Strahinja Pavlovic is expected to grit his teeth and start this one despite suffering from a fever over the new year period. That is good news for Allegri, who will already have to do without his defensive anchor Matteo Gabbia, who continues to get back towards 100% after hyper-extending his knee (but should be on the bench).

Cagliari boss Pisacane is expected to field Marco Palestra as a right winger in a 4-2-3-1 system, which means he will be pushed up having played mostly as a right-back and as a wing-back. He has turned heads with some excellent performances, amassing three assists so far, also earning links with a move to Milan.

Photo by Enrico Locci/Getty Images

On the opposite side, Alexis Saelemaekers will come up against the talented Adam Obert with the hopes of taking control of the right flank. As we highlighted in a stats round-up piece, the Belgian’s important to this Milan side and Allegri’s system is shown by how highly he ranks in both attacking and defensive metrics.

Obert – like Zappa on the other wing – is a full-back who likes to get forward and contribute to attacks with overlaps. In this sense, Saelemaekers will again have to juggle his responsibilities, though the feeling is his main task will be getting service into the feet of Leao and the head of Loftus-Cheek.

Finally, Cagliari’s stand-out player so far has been Simone Esposito. The 23-year-old striker has five goal contributions in a team that do not score goals in bunches, and he is expected to start on the left of the trio behind the striker for the Sardinians this evening.

Thus, his duel will be against Fikayo Tomori, the man who has been in much better form this season and is one of Allegri’s key men. Talk of a renewal is in the air, but first and foremost the focus has to be on celebrating the new year with a clean sheet.