Malaga will travel to San Siro after winning all of its previous group games, and they currently need just one point to guarantee progress to the round of 16. This team doesn’t seem like they missed Santi Cazorla as they are getting result after result in their favour whilst Arsenal struggle in Europe and domestically.
Malaga are the only team in the Champions League who are yet to concede a goal. After a 1-0 win over Milan last month, they will be looking for a repeat performance to wrap up the group stages and experiment with the squad for the remaining two group matches.
AC Milan dropped their much fancied three men defence and used a 4-2-3-1 last weekend against Chievo. The result was a 5-1 romp over Chievo and Manuel Pellegrini will be expected to use the same formation mirroring Malaga’s.
Bojan and El Shaarawy could well be a thorn in the side of Malaga, and the later seem to fill in the vacuum created by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Robinho is just returning for an injury but he is a doubtful for the game. Pato will start from the bench as Pazzini will take the reins on the front. Kevin-Prince Boateng is also available for selection but Ambrosini should keep him out of the starting eleven.
Malaga midfielder Joaquin is the player to watch after his goal sunk Milan at La Rosaleda in the previous fixture. Despite missing a penalty, Joaquin provided the crucial goal of the match to maintain his team’s unbeaten start.
He links up devastatingly with central attacking midfielder Isco and forward Javier Saviola. But Saviola is expected to make way for Cruz after Malaga lost 2-1 to Rayo Vallecano last weekend. Despite the loss Malaga are confident of getting a result at San Siro come Tuesday.
Jérémy Toulalan is close to match fitness but he won’t be risked against an opposition like Milan and Julio Baptista remains a long term absentee for Malaga.
The last time Pellegrini faced Malaga before joining AC Milan he was managing Real Madrid and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Don’t expect fireworks in this fixture as both teams are level in terms of attack and defence.
Prediction: AC Milan 1-1 Malaga
