The city rivals AC Milan and Internazionale will face each other in the semi-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday evening. In Italy, people are eagerly awaiting the first leg. San Siro can accommodate 75,000 supporters. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport the stadium could have been sold out as many as 26 times. Predictions about both positions are already being made in the dailies.
At Milan there is a big question mark behind the name of Rafael Leão. The Portuguese attacker fell out with a groin injury after ten minutes on Saturday during the 2-0 win over Lazio. Leão trained individually on Tuesday, so it seems unlikely that he will start against in Nerazzurri. He was replaced against Lazio by Alexis Saelemaekers. The Belgian seems to be the appropriate replacement for Leão. La Gazzetta dello Sport also expect Brahim Díaz to be preferred to Junio Messias. Trainer Stefano Pioli cannot rely on Zlatan Ibrahimovic (calf injury) anyway.
At Inter, Romelu Lukaku shows that he is in good shape at the right time. Still, there seems to be a good chance that he will have to settle for a reserve role against Milan. Edin Dzeko was rested last Saturday during the 0-2 win over AS Roma, just like Lautaro Martínez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Trainer Simone Inzaghi cannot rely on Milan Skriniar (back injury) on Wednesday evening, while Robin Gosens and Danilo D’Ambrosio may make their comeback in the selection after injuries.
Milan and Inter have played each other four times before in a European context. Remarkably enough, the Milanese did not lose any of these duels. They won twice and drew twice. The last time the two superpowers met in the semi-finals of the Champions League was in 2005. Milan was first 2-0 too strong, after which the second leg with a 0-1 lead for in Rossoneri was discontinued. Milan goalkeeper Dida was hit by a burning torch from the crowd and referee Markus Merk saw no other option than to abandon the game: 0-3 for Milan.
Probable line-up AC Milan: Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Tomori, Theo; Krunic, Tonali; Diaz, Bennacer, Saelemaekers; Giroud.
Probable line-up Internazionale: Onana; Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Dzeko, Martinez.