Milan vs Torino preview

August 19, 2016
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Torino vs MilanHaving been left in the limbo over the proposed club takeover, AC Milan enter the new season with a virtually unchanged squad, albeit hoping to improve on last term’s performances. ‘

Torino, on the other hand, have added some new players, but also saw some key men leave, and the match at San Siro will be a good test for the Granata.

AC Milan have been linked with just about any top footballer in Italy and abroad during the summer transfer window, but their dealings this summer were far from impressive.

In came Gianluca Lapadula, Leonel Vangioni, Jose Sosa and Gustavo Gomez, while Jeremy Menez, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Alessandro Matri left the club.

New coach Vincenzo Montella has got quite a few talented footballers at his disposal, but it remains to be seen whether he can do better than his predecessors.

The good news is that all key men remained at San Siro, although, in all fairness, only Carlos Bacca and Alessio Romagnoli were linked with a summer exit.

AC Milan have been made 1.85 (17/20) favourites to win their opening fixture of the new Serie A campaign, but Torino could prove a tough nut to crack.

Gianluca Lapadula and M’Baye Niang are rated doubtful, with Suso expected to start if the Frenchman fails to pass the fitness test.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Donnarumma – De Sciglio, Gomez, Romagnoli, Antonelli – Kucka, Montolivo, Bertolacci – Niang, Bacca, Bonaventura.

Last season was not that successful for Torino, who failed to mount a serious challenge for European positions and they will certainly be looking to make things right this season.

Granata have seen Kamil Glik and Bruno Peres leave the club, but their summer recruitment was pretty good indeed.

In came Adem Ljajic, Iago Falque, Leandro Castan, Lorenzo De Silvestri, Arlind Ajeti, Lucas Boye, Panagiotis Tachtsidis, Luca Rossettini and Sasa Lukic, with at least four of them expected to start against AC Milan.

Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic will need some time to rebuild the squad, and it looks as though important defender Nikola Maksimovic will be leaving after trying to engineer a move away from Stadio Olimpico.

As far as the game against AC Milan is concerned, the boss has doubts over the fitness of Davide Zappacosta, Iago Falque and Marco Bennassi.

However, it is the attacking trio of Adem Ljajic, Josef Martinez and Andrea Belotti that is likely to make life difficult for the Rossoneri defenders.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Padelli – Rossettini, Ajeti, Moretti, Molinaro – Acquah, Tachtsidis, Baselli – Martinez, Belotti, Ljajic.

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