Allegri warning: ‘Whoever wins the most duels will win the derby’

Max Allegri explains some of his AC Milan decisions for the Derby della Madonnina against Inter, warning ‘whoever wins the most duels will win the match.’

It kicks off at San Siro at 19.45 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s Serie A games on the Liveblog.

Allegri is no stranger to the Derby della Madonnina, although his most recent experience on the touchline of this fixture was in 2013.

Santiago Gimenez and Zachary Athekame miss out through injury, with Adrien Rabiot, Christian Pulisic and Fikayo Tomori returning to the starting XI after injury.

“It was important for us to get everyone back,” Allegri told DAZN Italia.

“Unfortunately, we had to balance out the training sessions during this period, now this is a very complicated game, on top of being a derby. It is crucial that we get a good performance and hope to reach March in good condition.”

Davide Bartesaghi has been chosen on the wing rather than Pervis Estupinan, a show of faith in the young AC Milan youth product.

“Bartesaghi is improving, he hasn’t got a lot of experience, but he does have a bright future ahead of him. Rabiot was out for a while, I don’t know how many minutes he has in his legs. This is a game that requires great heart and determination, but above all great technique.”

Allegri has complained recently at the sluggish starts from his team, so that is something they must try to avoid in this pressure cooker environment.

“Our first 25 minutes against Roma were just constantly giving the ball away, so we need to be sharper and more calm on the ball. This is a game of duels, whoever wins more of those will win the match.”

The Rossoneri have the opportunity to leapfrog their city rivals and catch Napoli in joint second place on 25 points with a victory.

On the other hand, defeat would see them slide down to fifth place, overtaken by on form Bologna.

“It is a marvellous evening, I always say we work in order to be here and experience these moments. I hope to win, then we’ll be happy, but otherwise we’ll keep working for our objective to finish in the top four.”