Montella will play best AC Milan team in Coppa Italia

AC Milan boss Vincenzo Montella says he will field his strongest possible team for Thursday’s Coppa Italia clash with Torino.

Montella’s men host Toro – managed by their former head coach Sinisa Mihajlovic – at San Siro in the last 16.

Milan will be taking the competition seriously as they look to go one better than last season, when they lost the final to Juventus.

“We care about this match and the Coppa Italia,” said Montella.

“We have shown that we can play with different players, but I still will not make too many changes to the line-up.

“I will try to field the best possible XI after we know the situation with injuries.

“Torino have a fine attack with a lot of depth, but we will be good at closing down their lines.

“They have very good players especially up-front and in midfield. They are managed very well and we will not underestimate them.

“We will have to play at 100 per cent to win. It is like a final because each mistake could be costly. 

“We want to do well in this competition. We have to remember that making it into the final last season gave us the opportunity to play and win the Supercoppa.

“I have never won the Coppa Italia as a player and as a manager I made it to the final when I was managing Fiorentina, but we lost.”

Montella has fitness doubts over defensive trio Alessio Romagnoli (flu), while Luca Anontelli (muscle fatigue) and Ignazio Abate (knock).