After suffering a narrow defeat to the fellow English side Chelsea, the Merseyside club Liverpool will now be challenging the Italian giants AC Milan on Saturday. The Merseysiders have looked in a great shape in their pre-season tour until now as they have defeated Tranmere Rovers, Fleetwood Town, Wigan Athletic and Huddersfield Town without conceding a single goal and the aggregate of those four games has been 10-0.
On the other hand, AC Milan recently defeated the German heavyweights Bayern Munich 5-3 on penalties and will be looking to replicate the same form in the game against Liverpool. Liverpool have a tough competition ahead of themselves as they will be facing Mainz 05 and Roma soon after that, a big game against Barcelona will be waiting for them. Furthermore, Ac Milan kicked off their pre-season in style as they defeated the French side Bordeaux and Bayern Munich, and after Liverpool, Chelsea to close out its participation in the International Champions Cup before facing Celta Vigo and Sassuolo to close out the preseason.
Well, Liverpool and AC Milan do share a history together in 2005. We still remember how the Merseysiders went on from three-nil back to win the title, hence, this game has its own importance. Well, unfortunately, AC Milan have solely lost their pride in the European football since then, but we really think that they are on the track to mark a comeback, so here, we give you a combined lineup for Liverpool vs AC Milan:
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Gonnarumma-
No offence here, but the 17-year-old Italian shot-stopper Gonnarumma is currently enjoying his top form, and it is safe to say that he is a bit ahead of Liverpool’s current number one, Loris Karius. The 17-year-old was the star man of the game against Bayern Munich as it was him, who saved the decisive penalty.
Defence: Abate; Klavan; Lovren; Moreno-
With the absence of Nathaniel Clyne in the squad, the Italian defender Ignazio Abate will take his spot at the right back. The 29-year-old defender gave a prolific display of his skills against Bayern, hence, he earns the place ahead of Liverpool’s Connor Randall.
The centre back pairing is an easy choice for us in the lineup as both of AC Milan’s centre-halves have failed to match the qualities of Liverpool’s Ragnar Klavan and Dejan Lovren.
We could have made some alterations in the squad if De Sciglio was available on the tour, and since he is not, we have no other options other than Moreno.
Midfield Trio: Montolivo; Bertolacci; Ejaria-
ANSA/DANIELE MASCOLO
Unarguably the most senior figure in the team will be AC Milan’s defensive midfielder Ricardo Montollivo, who at some point in his life has played for Liverpool. His rock solid performance against Bayern earns him a spot in this lineup.
Marko Grujic was taken to the hospital after he suffered a concussion during when he collided with Chelsea’s striker Bertrand Traore, therefore, we chose AC Milan’s midfielder Bertolacci for the central spot.
The attacking midfielder will be none other than Liverpool’s 18-year-old Ejaria, who had a great game against Chelsea.
Attacking Trio: Mane; Niang: Coutinho-
Our team will be featuring one of the youngest attacking lineups in the form of Sadio Mane; M’Baye Niang and Philippe Coutinho. The Senegalese sensation has been performing really great in Reds’ shirt and will be guiding the team from the right spot, while the Brazilian attacker Philippe Coutinho will be doing his usual job from the left and then as a centre forward, AC Milan’s 21-year-old French attacker Niang, who scored the opening goal against Bayern, will be deployed.
