AC Milan v Sassuolo: Crunch time for under-fire Mihajlovic

Under-fire coach Sinisa Mihajlovic is reportedly nearing the AC Milan exit door as his side prepare to host Sassuolo in Serie A on Sunday.

Reports in Italy suggest the 46-year-old has two matches to save his job after making a disappointing start to the season.

Club president Silvio Berlusconi has certainly done nothing to quell the speculation, commenting, “Mihajlovic’s future? Who knows…?”, in the wake of the recent 1-0 friendly defeat at the hands of Inter.

Former Milan coach Roberto Donadoni has been linked with a return to San Siro and did not distance himself from the role when asked whether he’d consider re-joining the club he also made more than 250 appearances for as a player.

“If there is a chance, I would evaluate it,” he told Gazzetta World. “It’s clear I have a special relationship with Milan. 

“In the recent past there were talks, but the club decided to proceed in a different direction.”
  
Milan have won only two of their last six Serie A games, crashing 4-0 to Napoli in their most recent home outing, and find themselves languishing in 13th place, seven points below city rivals Inter and eight adrift of leaders Fiorentina.

And they will not find it easy to jump-start their faltering campaign at the expense of Sassuolo, who are currently riding high in fifth place having suffered only one defeat all season.

Eusebio Di Francesco’s side have won plenty of plaudits for their free-flowing, attacking style and will be confident of troubling a Milan defence that is yet to keep a clean sheet in Serie A this term.

They will also be buoyed by the fact that they have won three of their four previous league meetings with the men in red and black, with one of those victories coming at San Siro in January.

Sassuolo warmed up for Sunday’s clash with a 2-1 league victory over Lazio, Simone Missiroli and Domenico Berardi both scoring their first goals of the season at the Stadio Citta del Tricolore.

Milan are again set to be without Andrea Bertolacci, Mario Balotelli, Jeremy Menez and M’Baye Niang and Mihajlovic is sweating on the fitness of leading scorer Carlos Bacca.

There could be also be a change in goal, where Diego Lopez’s place is said to be under threat from 16-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma – the Spaniard widely criticised over the goal that Torino scored in last weekend’s 1-1 draw.