Early team news for AC Milan encounter

Romelu Lukaku could be in a position to return to training, while Alexis Sanchez is back but his fitness will need to be assessed after sustaining an injury while on Copa America duty with Chile.

Belgian striker Lukaku is yet to feature for the Reds in this summer’s pre-season games, but the boss gave an update after Tuesday’s 1-0 friendly win against Kristiansund.

“He [Lukaku] got injured so it was best for him to stay home,” Ole said in his post-match press conference in Oslo. “He wouldn’t have been able to play. He might be able to train in the next few days.”

The clash at the Principality Stadium will, of course, provide the Reds with one last opportunity to add some valuable minutes to the tank and also offer Ole a final chance to tweak his tactical approach ahead of our opening game of the 2019/20 Premier League season, at home to Chelsea on 11 August.

However, one player who will not feature in Wales is Eric Bailly, with the confirmation on Tuesday that the Ivory Coast defender is set to be out for around four to five months with a knee problem.

Chris Smalling is one option to get a starting berth instead as the boss has rotated his centre-backs during pre-season. The experienced defender was one of just two players who travelled to Norway but didn't play against Kristiansund. Angel Gomes was the other and he could also be in contention to make an appearance on Saturday.

So far in pre-season, 27 players have featured for the Reds, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Anthony Martial, Daniel James, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford racking up more minutes than any of their team-mates.

The aforementioned five players were all involved for the first hour against Kristiansund, bringing their total number of minutes up to 257 in pre-season.

As for our opponents AC Milan, the Rossoneri sold striker Patrick Cutrone to Wolves on Tuesday. 

Coach Marco Giampaolo said after their 1-0 defeat to Benfica in the ICC last time out: "The team has worked very well and I'm happy. The next games will help us to improve our conditioning, chemistry and game management.  

"We need to integrate the players who aren't here now as best we can. The team is further forward than I expected because the players have great quality."

The final game of our pre-season campaign, against AC Milan in Cardiff, on Saturday will be shown live on MUTV, with kick-off at 17:30 BST. 

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