How Milan’s squad for the Champions League
knockout phase could look

AC Milan will take on Tottenham in the Champions League round of 16 and Stefano Pioli will have the opportunity to change his squad. Compared to the one for the group stage, there could be quite a few changes.

As always when we discuss the Champions League squad, it’s important to take the rules into account. Milan can name a total of 25 players for the tournament but eight of these have to be association- (in Italy) or club-trained. A total of 17 players that don’t fit into that category can be named.

As a result, youngsters such as Matteo Gabbia and Tommaso Pobega are certain to be included as they are club-trained. If you can’t fill your eight slots of association- or club-trained players then you will not reach the limit of 25 players.

This happened to Milan for the group stage as Pioli included 23 players (not counting Primavera players that go on List B). With all of this in mind, we could see some changes to the squad this time out and the prediction is below.

Goalkeepers: Mike Maignan, Antonio Mirante.

Defenders: Davide Calabria, Alessandro Florenzi, Sergino Dest, Fikayo Tomori, Simon Kjaer, Pierre Kalulu, Matteo Gabbia, Theo Hernandez.

Midfielders: Ismael Bennacer, Sandro Tonali, Tommaso Pobega, Rade Krunic, Charles De Ketelaere, Brahim Diaz, Alexis Saelemaekers, Yacine Adli.

Attackers: Junior Messias, Rafael Leao, Ante Rebic, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Olivier Giroud.

Fode Ballo-Toure could miss out as Pioli feels Sergino Dest or Davide Calabria can cover that role if Theo Hernandez isn’t available (for whatever reason). Mike Maignan, depending on the severity of the injury, could also miss out to make room for an extra spot (as his replacement from the mercato would likely be association-trained)

The big battle will be between Malick Thiaw, Aster Vranckx and Yacine Adli for the spot that Ballo-Toure would free up. If Maignan were to miss out as well, two of these could be included.