AC Milan vs. Cagliari: Team News, Predicted Line-Ups, Live Stream & TV Info

Saturday may be the last chance saloon for Filippo Inzaghi at AC Milan. After blowing a lead with seven minutes to play against Fiorentina on Monday, if Inzaghi's team fails to beat struggling Cagliari, he could finally feel the axe come down.

Date: Saturday, March 21

Time: 8:45 p.m. local time, 7:45 p.m. GMT, 3:45 p.m. EDT

Venue: San Siro, Milan

TV Info: BT Sport 1 (UK), beIN Sports (U.S.)

Live Stream: beIN Sports Connect (U.S.)

Preamble

It was truly painful to watch. Milan missed gilt-edged chances in the first half against Fiorentina and failed to create more than that despite an long spell of possession in the attacking third. Mattia Destro's redirection of a scuffed shot looked like it might bring Inzaghi a signature win, but in the Rossoneri defense melted in the last seven minutes, allowing a pair of headed goals and dropping all three points.

The truth is the club's front office never should have put Inzaghi in this position. It's one thing if a rookie coach makes his first mistakes at a place like Pescara, but it's an entirely different matter if he makes them at a giant such as Milan, especially when the club is desperately trying to reboot itself and get back into top-level competition.

Milan's chances of qualifying for European competition are almost nil. With 11 games to go, they're 10 points away from sixth—a position that will almost certainly come into play, seeing as how all four Coppa Italia semifinalists look set to finish in the top five. There is a possibility that seventh—a spot Milan is only two points out of—could come into play, but only if Napoli manage to win the Europa League and finish in a European qualifying spot.

Either way, given their form, it's very difficult to see the Rossoneri finding a place on the continent next season.

On the other side of the coin is Cagliari, who have gone through two coaching changes this year and lost five and drawn two in their last seven matches. The team displays the typical weakness of a Zdenek Zeman-coached side—negligent defending. The problem is that they also lack the strength of a Zeman team—high-powered offense.

The Isolani have scored more goals than any of the other relegation strugglers, but goals haven't been anywhere near enough to get them into a comfortable position. Serie A has seen an abnormally low number of managerial changes this season—six—and the fact Cagliari have accounted for a third tells you how badly this team is doing.

When these two teams first met in October, they played to a 1-1 draw. Giacomo Bonaventura was the scorer for Milan, canceling out the opener from Victor Ibarbo, who has since left for Roma.

Form Lines

AC Milan	Cagliari
L @ Fiorentina 2-1	D vs. Empoli 1-1
D vs. Verona 2-2	L @ Sampdoria 2-0
D @ Chievo 0-0	L vs. Verona 2-1
W vs. Cesena 2-0	L vs. Inter 2-1
D vs. Empoli 1-1	D @ Torinio 1-1

Predicted Formations

Milan	Cagliari
Lopez	Brkic
Abate  Paletta  Mexes  Antonelli	Balzano  Ceppitelli  Diakite  Avelar
Poli  Muntari  Bonaventura	Ekdal  Crisetig  Conti
Menez  Destro  Cerci	Farias  Sau  M'Poku

Players to Watch

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

It's difficult to understand why Alessi Cerci isn't playing on Milan's wing full time. His limited playing time in the first half of the season at Atletico Madrid has sapped his match sharpness, but he's still a far better option than Keisuke Honda. The Japan international has worked hard, but he's playing out of position.

Cerci is far more effective in that spot. He's already notched two assists without being totally match fit. Inzaghi needs to adopt the mentality of a man playing with house money, put Cerci in the starting XI and let him play his way into form.

One of Inzaghi's biggest weaknesses this season has been his unwillingness to sacrifice players he likes in order to introduce players into the positions where they are most likely to succeed. He needs to do that here and drop Honda for Cerci. He can't keep throwing him on with 10 minutes left in every game.

Enrico Locci/Getty Images

When a team is struggling the way the Isolani have been, it's often up to the captain to inspire the rest of the players. Cagliari veteran Daniele Conti is the man Zeman's men will look to for that inspiration.

A passing maestro in midfield, Conti is a vital link in the supply chain to the forwards, goes hard into the tackle and is a menace from direct free kicks. He will be well rested after serving a suspension—his second of the year—and will look to power the Cagliari engine against a suspect Milan defense.

Key Matchup

Claudio Villa/Getty Images

Marco Sau missed a chunk of the early part of the season due to injury, and following the departure of Victor Ibarbo, he is probably the Isolani's best attacker. He shares the team lead in goals, even though that comes in at the absurdly low number of four.

He hasn't had many openings this year, but like many strikers, he's probably licking his chops at the prospect of going up against Milan's leaky defense.

Gabriel Paletta has provided a bit more solidity at the back since he arrived at Milan from the sinking ship in Parma. But he can't do everything, and the Rossoneri have shown themselves as prone to late-game meltdowns.

Against Verona, three defenders congregated around the man in possession at the top of their box, Juanito, and left Nico Lopez completely alone. When Gomez tapped the ball into Lopez's path, the Mastiffs' super sub had a clean run on Diego Lopez and made no mistake with his finish. On Monday, the marking in the box completely broke down and Fiorentina scored both their goals from free headers.

Paletta and his likely partner, Philippe Mexes, need to keep Sau under wraps and play mistake-free soccer if they want to keep Pippo Inzaghi in his office for another week.

Odds
Courtesy of Odds Shark

Milan win: 5/7

Cagliari win: 7/2

Draw: 27/10