Santiago Gimenez will be thrust into the spotlight on Sunday when AC Milan visit Genoa at Stadio Ferraris in a match that could decide Milan’s Champions League fate.
Milan arrive in fourth place with two games remaining and know they must win their final two matches to confirm a spot in next season’s Champions League, a narrow margin made sharper by a run that has yielded just four points from their last six Serie A fixtures.
The arithmetic is stark: Milan have tallied 17 fewer points in the second half of the season and carry a raft of suspensions and injuries into Genoa — Rafael Leao, Alexis Saelemaekers and Pervis Estupinan are suspended, while Fikayo Tomori can return after serving a one-match ban and Luka Modric could be back on the bench following a serious facial injury.
Genoa, by contrast, enter the fixture with less at stake in terms of survival and more momentum: the club added 25 points during the second half of the season and arrive after a 0-0 draw with Fiorentina last week, though they have failed to score in three straight matches.
The recent history between the two sides suggests Milan can still be trusted here — Milan have won on their last three visits to Genoa and have lost just one of the clubs’ last 16 league contests — but form and availability complicate that picture. The clubs met in January at San Siro and played out a 1-1 draw, with Rafael Leao scoring a late equaliser.
Tactically and practically, Milan’s starting front line is the central question. Coaches tested Santiago Gimenez in training yesterday and, according to a Tuttosport report carried via MilanNews, Gimenez is currently ahead of Niclas Füllkrug to partner Christopher Nkunku. Both Gimenez and Füllkrug are named as candidates to start alongside Nkunku in the verified predicted XI that lists Maignan, De Winter, Gabbia, Pavlovic, Athekame, Fofana, Ricci, Rabiot, Bartesaghi, Gimenez and Nkunku.
The weight of the match lands unevenly. For Milan the stakes are binary: two wins needed to confirm a Champions League berth. For Genoa the contest is a test of whether their second-half revival can overcome a run of blank scorelines and whether home advantage at Stadio Ferraris can unsettle a Milan side that has enjoyed historical success against them.
Tension rises from a mismatch between history and current form. Milan’s superiority in the head-to-head — recent wins and a near-dominant run in the last 16 league meetings — sits uneasily beside their drop in output this spring, the four points from six matches and the 17-point slide in the season’s second half. Genoa’s improvement is real on the table, yet their inability to score in three straight matches and last week’s goalless draw expose a fragility that a depleted Milan attack could still exploit.
How Milan fill the void left by suspended forwards will define the match. If Gimenez starts as reported, he will carry the responsibility of converting limited chances and easing the burden on Christopher Nkunku; if Füllkrug is chosen instead, Milan’s profile on the break changes. The predicted XI gives a clear signal that, in at least one plausible lineup, Gimenez is the man expected to tilt the contest.
What happens next is immediate: Milan must produce two wins from two to secure their top-four finish, and Sunday’s result will either make that final day a confirmation or leave it as an anxious decider. For Genoa, a positive result would underline the club’s second-half revival and relieve any lingering questions about their form. For Gimenez — the named figure who has been tested and reportedly favoured to start — the match is the moment his selection either justifies the gamble or accentuates Milan’s late-season slide.
