GdS: ‘Final call’ – Milan asked to beat Roma after midweek Olimpico disappointment

SempreMilan

·18 May 2025

GdS: ‘Final call’ – Milan asked to beat Roma after midweek Olimpico disappointment

AC Milan will take to the field at the Stadio Olimpico once again on Sunday night, a few days after their Coppa Italia final defeat.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, it is a case of same place, same time (a quarter of an hour difference). Milan return to the Olimpico in Rome, four days after the defeat in the Coppa Italia, with the same aim: to fight for a place in Europe.

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For the Rossoneri, the chance of getting into Europe will remain alive only with a victory. For this reason, everything else must be different: attitude, performance and result. This must then be repeated against Monza in the final game, in front of what should be an angry San Siro crowd.

In the meantime, however, here is the second trip of the week to the capital: after all the disappointment shown after the Coppa Italia defeat, Sergio Conceiçao has chosen the path of silence. A path he has already taken several times this season, with no press conference.

However, just watching him is enough to understand his bitterness: the coach hoped and above all believed in a different performance against Bologna. Tonight there is an appeal, which must be won to avoid a definitive sentence to a season without Europe.

Theo absent, Leao present

After the criticism following the match and the social photos that show him visibly weighed down, it turns out that Theo was also the victim of a blow to the thigh: a muscle problem that will not allow him to participate in the second trip to Rome.

The problem for Conceiçao is that Kyle Walker is out at the same time, with the flu. Alex Jimenez cannot be split in two, so if he plays on the left, Yunus Musah could return on the right. If he stays on the right, Hernandez’s deputy would instead be Filippo Terracciano or Riccardo Sottil.

In attack Rafael Leao (not at his best) and Christian Pulisic will start, even if neither of them were of particular help in the final on Wednesday. Samuel Chukwueze, on the bench in the recent period despite being in great shape, is now out because he is suffering from pubalgia.

The three-man defence system will be the same as in recent weeks, which had given the illusion of the team’s newfound stability. The results had been comforting and had allowed a partial climb in the table, but then the cup final did not provide the hoped-for ending.

Gimenez from the start

Santiago Gimenez should get the nod over Luka Jovic and he hasn’t started in the league for over two months, Milan-Como in mid-March. He scored his last three goals in three games as a substitute: a lucky lob against Venezia and a brace sought and scored in the league match against Bologna.

The game in which Alessandro Florenzi shouted at him from the sidelines: “Go Santi, score and save the season,” before being sympathetically hit by his coach. The reality is that the goals of redemption should have arrived last Wednesday, but there is still a chance to score an important one (or more).

Among other things, he was signed in the winter window with the club driven by the Champions League mission: the former Feyenoord man, with Joao Felix and Walker, was supposed to help Milan in the climb back into the top four.

Gimenez slipped into the same confidence struggles many other players did, only recently has he started climbing again. The risk is that it is too late, because only a Rossoneri win would postpone verdict to the last day.

Santi’s contribution to date speaks of six goals in 18 games, of which nine were as a starter and eight were substitutes. Jovic, with the roles reversed, is the striker ready to take over. The push of the Milan fans will be missing at the stadium, who will desert in protest.