Three times Milan struggled against a false nine in 2024-25 | OneFootball

Milan will face a Juventus side who look set to line-up with a false nine in San Siro, but Paulo Fonseca’s side have not always had the easiest of times playing against teams with that set-up.

Juventus will be without their leading goalscorer Dusan Vlahovic for the Milan game on Saturday afternoon, and will likely field either Weston McKennie or Timothy Weah as a make-shift centre-forward.

This could be a difficult test for the Milan back-line, although the defensive unit is boosted by the expected return of Matteo Gabbia at centre-back.

Three times Milan have struggled against a false nine

Milan fell to their first defeat of the season away against Parma in August. Though Parma lined up with Ange-Yoan Bonny, a traditional centre-forward, he would often drop deep and into the midfield to stretch the Rossoneri defence and allow other midfielders and wingers to run beyond him.

The Rossoneri conceded after two minutes on that occasions and then again after 77 for a 2-1 away loss.

There were similarities in the 2-2 draw with Lazio the following game. Taty Castellanos and Boulaye Dia would take it in turns to drop off, often getting the better of the Rossoneri defenders.

Milan again fell 2-1 down that match, before Rafael Leao came off the bench to rescue a point.

During the 3-1 loss to Liverpool in the Champions League, Diogo jota would also assume the role of an ‘untraditional’ centre-forward. He, too, likes to come deep and caused the Rossoneri plenty of issues in the spaces between the defence and midfield at Anfield.