Football Italia
·17 March 2024
Football Italia
·17 March 2024
Rafael Leao and Mike Maignan are able to start for Milan with surprise Noah Okafor as centre-forward in the trip to revitalised Verona.
It kicks off at the Stadio Bentegodi at 14.00 GMT.
The Rossoneri moved ahead of Juventus into second place last week and secured their passage to the Europa League quarter-finals with Thursday’s 3-1 win away to 10-man Slavia Praha.
Leao scored a stunning solo goal in that match and he returns here from his Serie A ban, as does Alessandro Florenzi.
Maignan limped off in Prague with a bruised knee, but there is no sprain and he is passed fit to start this afternoon.
The big change from Stefano Pioli is that Okafor is used as a centre-forward rather than in the supporting trio, leaving both Olivier Giroud and Luka Jovic on the bench.
Pierre Kalulu had not started since suffering a serious thigh strain on October 29.
Verona are revitalised by back-to-back wins over Sassuolo and Lecce, which propelled them out of the bottom three.
Thomas Henry is suspended after his altercation with Lecce coach Roberto D’Aversa, while Juan Manuel Cruz is injured.
Pawel Dawidowicz returns to the defence from his ban and Michael Folorunsho is celebrating his first Italy call-up.
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