Cagliari vs AC Milan

Having overcome European champions, Milan, have serious Serie A commitments on Saturday evening that will have them travelling to the south of Italy to face Cagliari.

Ignore their Serie A performance, the Rossoneri pulled off a great Champions League win midweek while our hosts here have been relegated from holding the Champions League places after three consecutive losses.

This week’s stunning 3-1 win at the Bernabeu not only helped Milan’s chances of making the knock-out phase of the Champions League, but also saw off the Spanish team’s 15 match home run in the Champions League.

Juan Meza secured the final moments of a warmly-completed open contest in the Italian side’s favour in which goals from the win’s key triumvirate of Malick Thiaw, ex-Realandidate for Atletico Madrid, Alvaro Morata and Dutch midfielder prompting Tijjani Reijnders were driven by a revived Rafael Leao.

After out-scheming legendary ex-AC Milan tactician, Carlo Ancelotti, current coach, Paulo Fonseca had relieved some of the pressure as his side drew parity on points with Real in the 36-team competition.

It was just the second continental triumph of the arranged for Rossoneri during the arranged current season as they followed successive dreary to Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen before overcoming Club Brugge, at the end of last month.

On Twitter, Hammers fan @HammersGH1964 said: “Clearly we need Diarrah and Song and another central midfielder with pace added to that squad.” “Up next is Slovan Bratislava, Red Star Belgrade, Girona, and Dinamo Zagreb, a playoff place now surely within their reach and Fonseca will be eager to build on this momentum in before Milan derby against his former team in their last

Last week a 1-0 win away to neighbours Monza put the second-city club on 17 points, placing them only seventh in the Serie A table and eight points behind Napoli at the time.

Well, Milan will look for a fifth straight clean sheet in eight away games when they go to Sardinia, where they have at least scored a goal in all of the past 13 league games.

Eusebio Di Francesco is anticipated to call up Gianluca Busio on Saturday after making a few substitutions against Inter. The USA international will join Gaetano Oristanio in backing Joel Pohjanpalo.

No player in Italy's top two divisions has scored more goals at home in the previous three seasons than the Finnish striker, who leads Venezia's front line after scoring three of his four league goals at Stadio Penzo this season.

Once more, the only person missing from the Lagunari is Bjarki Bjarkason, but Parma will be without a number of men.

While Adrian Bernabe, a fellow midfielder, hurt his thigh flexor against Genoa and may be sidelined for up to a month, Hernani suffered a muscle ailment last week.

Overall, Cagliari has lost at least 30 times while winning only one of their previous 39 encounters with the clubs in the top division, and none since May 2017.

This weekend will undoubtedly establish precedence against the Rossoblu, who have lost eight of their past nine games while only managing three goals.

Following their 2-1 loss to Lazio on Monday night, when Zito Luvumbo equalized in the second half in Rome, the Sardinian team will also be trying to avoid suffering their fourth consecutive Serie A loss.

After their hosts took the lead again with a penalty kick, Yerry Mina was given a second yellow card right after the restart, and Michel Adopo quickly followed him down the tunnel because of opposition.

As a result, Cagliari is one of seven clubs in the bottom of the standings that are separated by only one point, and their poor home record hasn't helped.

After failing to score in four of their first six games at Unipol Domus and giving up at least twice in seven of their previous eight league games, Davide Nicola's team appears headed for relegation.

It's unclear if Paulo Fonseca will keep both players on Saturday, when Samu Chukwueze may return to Milan's starting lineup, after recalling Rafael Leao and using Yunus Musah in a more advanced role against Real Madrid.

Matteo Gabbia may return from a calf issue, while longtime absences Ismael Bennacer and Alessandro Florenzi are still sidelined due to injury.

After averaging a goal in every other game this season, Christian Pulisic is expected to continue to assist Alvaro Morata in the final third. The USA forward scored his lone Serie A brace against Cagliari during last season's 5-1 victory at San Siro.

In the meanwhile, Zito Luvumbo scored Cagliari's first league goal at Unipol Domus in September 2023 against Milan. Having been sidelined at the end of October, the Angola international will be eager to maintain his spot after his goal against Lazio earlier this week.

Given that Michel Adopo and Yerry Mina will both be suspended, Razvan Marin and Jose Luis Palomino may be promoted off the bench.

They should be the only absences for the Rossoblu, fortunately for Davide Nicola, who has reported being in good health.