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

AC Milan have the chance to go top of the table even if temporarily on Saturday night, as they host Lazio at San Siro.

Milan are 12 games unbeaten across all competitions, and Sunday’s derby victory against Inter saw them go two points behind Roma, who play Napoli on Sunday. However, Lazio have some momentum after a difficult start to the campaign, and have lost just one of their last eight in the league.

It will be a tough test against Maurizio Sarri’s side, and Massimiliano Allegri will have to deal without his star man, Christian Pulisic. The forward complained of muscle fatigue in training during the week, and will sit out along with Santiago Gimenez and Zachary Athekame.

AC Milan vs. Lazio: Five key battles

We start with the duel in the control room between Luka Modric and Matias Vecino. Modric will start his 13th consecutive league game tonight, and everyone continues to be amazed by his remarkable stamina at the age of 40. As always, the Croatian will be Milan’s metronome, dictating the pace of the play and aiding transitions with his vertical passing to break lines, as well as doing defensive dirty work.

On the flip side, Sarri is having to adapt to what he has with Danilo Cataldi and Nicolo Rovella both not available for this one. Vecino will therefore be tasked with doing the distribution from a more deep-lying position, whereas he would normally be used in more of a box-to-box role given his propensity to make runs into the opposition’s area.

Photo by Claudio Villa/AC Milan via Getty Images

Down the Rossoneri’s right side, there will be a very interesting contest between Alexis Saelemaekers and Luca Pellegrini. For Saelemaekers this will still have a bit of a derby flavour given he spent last season on loan at Roma and actually scored against the Biancocelesti in their win towards the back end of the campaign.

He is in excellent form having played a key role in the derby victory too, but Pellegrini is a tricky opponent. The left-back likes to get forward and contribute to attacks so the Belgian will have to be vigilant, but going forward there could be the opportunity to create danger in transition, just like against Inter leading to Pulisic’s goal.

This may be an audition of sorts for Mario Gila, who continues to be linked with a move to Milan either in January or next summer. Igli Tare brought him to Italy when he was Lazio director and is supposedly keen on trying to sign him again, so paradoxically if he neutralises Rafael Leao then it might just convince the club further.

Speaking of Leao, he will be tasked with leading the line for Milan especially with Pulisic absent. His strike partner Christopher Nkunku hasn’t got a league goal yet, but the Portuguese could create spaces for him to try and break that duck. After not scoring a home league goal in 2024-25, Leao has three goals and an assist in his last three Serie A fixtures at San Siro, so he is back to his best.

Looking at Lazio’s attack, Tati Castellanos has been in the best form (five goal contributions in five starts) but is expected to be on the bench from minute one. Mattia Zaccagni therefore becomes the main threat, with the winger on three goals for the season in Serie A so far. He always causes problems cutting inside onto his right foot.

Fikayo Tomori will therefore have to be at a similar level to what he has been for most of 2025-26, which has seen him rediscover his best form as a the right-sided centre-back in a three-man defence. Tomori spoke during the week about a potential England recall, and if he can keep stringing together good performances then temptation will grow for Thomas Tuchel.

Finally, we end with a battle between two midfielders similar in style and appearance: Adrien Rabiot and Matteo Guendouzi. There is a lot that unites the pair, from their long flowing hair to their combative nature and a past at Marseille. They will be direct opponents in this particular game too, as fate would have it.

It feels like whoever wins this duel wins superiority in the middle of the park. Rabiot’s return has been huge for Milan, and the record with him speaks for itself: five wins against Bologna, Udinese, Napoli, Inter and Lecce in the Coppa Italia, plus one draw vs. Juventus. Milan have zero goals conceded from open play with the Frenchman out there, and he is very much Allegri’s comfort blanket.