Carlos Bacca, Luiz Adriano start for AC Milan — Team News

“We prepared during the week and are Milan, so we must always aim to win”.

Mihajlovic’s decision to take off Honda for Zapata after the goal hurt the Milan midfield’s ability to create chances for strikers Carlos Bacca and Luiz Adriano as there was no longer a playmaker to link up the midfield with the attack. All worked hard but none were truly allowed to shine within the framework of a game shaped and dominated by Paulo Sousa’s Fiorentina.

Fiorentina dismissed Vincenzo Montella in June citing a breakdown in trust for their decision and Sousa was subsequently appointed as his successor. He was quoted in GOAL: “Until the sending off, the game was balanced, then things went bad”.

Sousa admits he was pleased with the intensity his side showed against the Rossoneri and hopes they have set the tone for the remainder of the season.

“We reacted better after the break even down to 10 men, but Fiorentina have strong possession anyway, so it’s even tougher a man down”. Ely, handed his Serie A debut, was particularly culpable.

With the full-backs, Luca Antonelli and Mattia De Sciglio, instructed to push forward and provide Milan’s width, there were opportunities in behind them for Fiorentina to exploit.

Once again he was able to run into space to the left of Romagnoli and, committing the 20-year-old, drew a foul and won a penalty which he himself converted to double Fiorentina’s lead.

Mihajlovic added: “We changed the playing system and we have different players, but we had to do better, definitely”. Meanwhile, the visitors have been one of the biggest spenders this summer and all new signings, along with new coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, will certainly be motivated to justify the money spent to bring them to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. As a result, Bacca and Adriano were simply given nothing to work with and Milan failed to register a single shot on target. Their new tactical disposition will guarantee more coverage than the old 3-5-2, but will force the two midfielders to do some extra work when the opponents try to put some pressure over them, since they will be numerically inferior against most Serie A teams in the middle of the pitch.

This one should be a cracker and is one I have personally pencilled in to get a look at as I think we have two really exciting teams here and this should be a really good match up.