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Match: AC Milan v Fiorentina
Date: 22 December 2018
Time: 15.00 Milan, 9:00 AM Eastern, 14.00 UTC
Venue: San Siro, Milano, Italy
How To Watch: ESPN2 & ESPN+ in the United States; DAZN in Canada, Japan, & Germany, SuperSport 9 in Nigeria and much of Africa; beIN Sports 1 & beIN Sports Connect in Australia; beIN Sports MAX 6 & beIN Sports Connect in France; beIN Sports HD 4 & beIN Sports Connect in the Middle East; Eleven Sports 1 in the UK & Ireland; Sony TEN 1 HD in India; ESPN Norte & Play Norte in Mexico; and ESPN Play Sur in Argentina and South America. Many other countries use Rai Italia America or Serie A Pass. Will also be shown on Sky Sport Uno, Sky Calcio 6 and Sky Go Italia in Italy.
See livesoccertv for more information or if you don’t see your country listed.
Bertolacci the last player to forfait the Fiorentina game.
— The AC Milan-Godfather (@ACMilanSydney) December 21, 2018
Here’s the likely lineup:
Milan (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Abate, Zapata, Romagnoli, Rodriguez: Calabria, Mauri, Calhanoglu; Suso, Higuain, Castillejo.
It appears that the injury bug appears to have been quashed at least a little bit, with Alessio Romagnoli fit enough to start for a second match in a row alongside Cristian Zapata, allowing Ignazio Abate to shift over to his natural position at right back, and Ricardo Rodriguez is likely preferred to Diego Laxalt at left back.
However, the problem is now with the midfield, as both Tiémoué Bakayoko and Franck Kessie are both suspended for the Fiorentina match. Bakayoko took a giant step backwards in the last match against Bologna, playing poorly and getting a red card for a second yellow, meaning that he will miss this match. Kessie also got yellow carded, meaning that he will miss this match due to yellow card accumulation.
Gattuso will likely draft Davide Calabria and Hakan Calhanoglu into central midfield, along with Jose Mauri after it was reported Andrea Bertolacci will miss the match through injury. It will be a difficult match for Milan to win, just as Fiorentina seemed to turn a corner last weekend by (finally) winning a match and scoring a goal.
We chatted with our friends over at Viola Nation this week, so please check out what we both had to say about the match. We both thought that the match would be a draw.
What do you think the score will be?
Forza Milan!