Milan’s return from the international break will begin with an enforced adjustment. Alexis Saelemaekers had appeared ready to form a supporting partnership with Christian Pulisic behind the centre-forward, a combination seen against Lecce and one that had started to resemble the side imagined during the summer. Instead, the Belgian’s right-ankle sprain has interrupted that prospect at a delicate point in the season.
Tests carried out on Tuesday afternoon brought encouraging news: there is no bone injury and no damage to the ankle’s capsule or ligaments. Milan will nevertheless assess Saelemaekers each day, leaving his availability for the league restart uncertain rather than ruled out. With a crowded run of fixtures waiting, the club are expected to avoid forcing the player back before he is fully ready.
Saelemaekers and Pulisic had not been handed their places without resistance. Both were viewed as likely regulars in the summer, but had to earn their way into the first six matches of the campaign. Their place in the line-up against Lecce suggested a settled solution was emerging; the injury means that idea must now wait.
October offers little margin for an unnecessary risk. Milan are due to face Sassuolo, Salzburg, Atalanta, Bournemouth, Udinese, Bologna and Inter in succession, a sequence that will test the depth of the squad as much as the first-choice eleven. In that context, Saelemaekers’ recovery will be managed with the broader month in mind.
A contest opens on the left
His absence also gives fresh importance to the internal contest between Cisse and Moreira. It is not merely a decision for the next match: the player who takes the opportunity could establish himself in the coach’s plans for the weeks ahead.
Both have already experienced the changing rhythm of a young season. Cisse emerged early, scoring Milan’s first goal of the campaign against Torino before finding the net again away to Juventus. His momentum slowed in the trip to Lazio, where he started without making a decisive impact. Moreira came on and scored twice to rescue the result, changing the conversation around the attacking places.
Against Lecce, Cisse spent the entire match on the bench. Moreira was given the final 21 minutes and scored once more, taking his total to three and making the former Strasbourg winger Milan’s leading scorer so far.
There is no immediate advantage in preparation, as both players are away with their national teams. Cisse is with Italy Under-21s for European Championship qualifying matches against Armenia and Poland. Moreira will miss Belgium’s meeting with Turkey through suspension, but can return against France, featuring Milan teammates Adrien Rabiot and Mike Maignan. Both are scheduled to play on Monday, 5 October, before returning to Milanello the following day.
Cisse has the natural positional argument, with the left side of the attacking line his preferred territory. Moreira brings the sharper recent form and the confidence of his goals, even if he would be used in a less familiar area of the pitch. Saelemaekers’ setback has therefore created an opening: one of the two may now move from a useful alternative to a more permanent presence in Milan’s season.
