AC Milan are decimated by injuries at the moment with as many as twelve of Massimiliano Allegri squad out.
And these are not squad players for the Rossoneri, but core members of the first team. Full backs Mattia De Sciglio and Ignazio Abate are out for a couple of weeks, De Sciglio is out for up to a month while midfielders Andrea Poli and Riccardo Montolivo are expected to miss the critical Napoli game this weekend.
Up front the news is not any better as three forwards are out including young superstars Stephan El Shaarawy and M’Baye Niang while Giampaolo Pazzini will not be back until December.
To make things even worse for Allegri, reports out of Spain suggest that new signing Kaka is out for a month after picking up a thigh injury in Saturday night’s 2-2 draw with Torino, although Milan have yet to confirm this injury.
Milan have not played well this season and barely managed a draw under controversial circumstances against Torino. Not they face two tough opponents in Celtic and then Napoli, both of whom would be testing for Milan with a full squad.
Allegri’s job always seems to be under question and the pressure will be mounting if Milan start slowly in the Champions League and/or falter further in the league.
The injury crisis means that Allegri has only seventeen players to choose from for the Champions League game against Celtic in midweek,and then next weekend Milan has a huge match against Napoli next weekend.
After only 3 games, Milan already find themselves 5 points behind Rafa Benitez’s side and Milan cannot afford to let Napoli’s lead grow to 8 points this early in the season if they are to have any hope of winning the Scudetto this season.