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Despite enduring another poor season, finishing seventh in the Serie A and playing some truly terrible football in the process, Milan can still salvage something from the mess. Milan were unable to qualify for the Europa League via the league, but should they beat Juventus in the Coppa Italia final on Saturday they can still gain entry to Europe's second tier competition. Moreover, the chance to finally earn some silverware makes a welcome change for Milanisti. The Rossoneri haven't made a Coppa Italia final since 2003 when they beat Roma 6-3 on aggregate and so it's worth getting more than a little bit excited about. Winning at the Olimpico would see Milan claim their twenty-ninth trophy in thirty years.
In Milan's way are the holders Juventus. As Milan have declined slowly and steadily over the past five years, Juventus have gone from strength to strength. Despite a difficult start to the year, the Bianconeri effectively strolled to the Serie A title once again and there's little to suggest that they won't bring their A game in this match as well. An appalling semi-final performance against Inter almost resulted in a Derby Della Madonnina final, but unfortunately Juve triumphed on penalties. It will take an excellent performance from Milan, as well as a hefty slice of luck to get anything from this match. Juventus are the best team in Italy, but they're not invincible. In fact, despite how this season has gone, securing a trophy would be enough to refer to it as a minor success, or at least a step in the right direction.
The positive for Milan is that Juventus are set to be without a number of important players. Gianluigi Buffon, whose heroics prevented Milan from securing a result against the champions back in April. will be benched in favour of Neto, whereas Sami Khedira and Leonardo Bonucci will miss the game through injury and suspension respectively. As for Milan, a switch to a 4-3-3 appears to be in order with Cristian Brocchi primed to field a youthful defence in the absence of the injured Ignazio Abate and Luca Antonelli. Andrea Bertolacci is likely to warm the bench due to his poor form, making way for Andrea Poli to play alongside a returning Riccardo Montolivo. Giacomo Bonaventura looks likely to receive his first start since returning from injury as well.
Team News
Milan: 4-3-3 - Gianluigi Donnarumma; Davide Calabria, Cristian Zapata, Alessio Romagnoli, Mattia De Sciglio; Juraj Kucka, Riccardo Montolivo, Andrea Poli; Giacomo Bonaventura, Carlos Bacca, Keisuke Honda.
Juventus: 3-5-2 - Neto; Daniele Rugani, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini; Stephan Lichsteiner, Stefano Sturaro, Hernanes, Paul Pogba, Patrice Evra; Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic.
How To Watch
Where: Stadio Olimpico, Rome.
When: 20.45pm local, 14.45pm EST, 21 May 2016.
TV: RAI Sport 1 (Italy), SKY Sports 2 (UK), GOLTV (USA)
Online: SKY Go UK (UK), fuboTV (USA)
International listings can be viewed here.
Score Prediction
They don't get any harder than this. It's a tall order, but we all remember what happened the last time Milan faced Juventus in a cup final. Milan to win on penalties.