According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Bartsaki performed well and Estupinian may not be able to return to Milan's starting lineup.

Against Parma, Allegri will face some lineup questions for the first time. The news alone is cause for concern, and after an October that was short on players, Allegri now has a choice to make. The most important question is the position of left back. Should Esteupinian or Bart Sacchi be used? The former was injured due to an ankle injury, giving Bartsaki from Milan's youth training a chance. The latter started against strong teams such as Juventus, Fiorentina, Atalanta, Roma and Pisa and performed well. Bartsaki impressed with his spirit, personality and technical quality on the pitch, especially his crossing ability. He's only 19 and Allegri doesn't seem ready to give up on him, at least for now. But what would happen to Milan if it were replaced by another player?

Background

First of all, Estupinian joined Milan from Brighton for a transfer fee of approximately 20 million euros and became Special Olympics' replacement. He started the first five Serie A games at the start of the season until his red card incident against Napoli at the end of September. He assisted and hit the post against Bologna, and then he has been injured in the national team and has been sidelined ever since.

Bartsacchi has been given a starting chance since the game against Juventus in early October and is considered a natural replacement for Estupinian. After a month, things may change. On the field, the two have completely different playing styles. According to the data, the biggest difference is the number of passes the two make after receiving the ball. Bartsaki averages 8.88 times per game, while Estupinian averages 3.69 times. This means that Bartsaki contributes more to Milan's offensive organization and can frequently find space to receive the ball and move forward, while Estupinian appears more static.

Crossing, Dribbling and Passing

If Bartsaki is good at reading the game, Estupinian is even better when in possession. Estupinian has a higher pass success rate (83.2%) than Bartsaki (79.8%), and he also has a clear advantage in forward passes: 4.58 times per game, compared to 1.70 times for Bartsaki. Even in terms of the number of passes attempted, Estupinian reached 57.56 per game, compared to 45.44 for Bartsakhi. In short, in these respects, Bartsaki's style is more conservative and less risky. The age gap between the two is obvious.

On the offensive end, another difference between Bartsaki and Estupinian is the "expected assists on goals", that is, the favorable scoring opportunities a player creates for his teammates: Bartsaki's average per game is 0.18, while Estupinian's is 0.10. This gap is closely related to Bartsaki's excellent passing ability. He sent several wonderful crosses during the game, but his teammates failed to grasp them. When it comes to "creating shooting space" (which refers to creating shooting space through dribbling, passing or running), Bartsaki also leads: 2.52 times per game, compared to 2.15 times by Estupinian. On the contrary, Estupinian performed better in dribbling (1.92 times vs. 1.63 times), dribbling (0.77 times vs. 0.30 times) and touching the ball in the opponent's penalty area (1.27 times vs. 1.18 times). Obviously, the two have different speeds.

Defense

As wing players, they not only have to attack, but also defend. Taken together, the defensive data is more favorable to Estupinian. Especially in aerial confrontations, Bartsaki won 0.59 times per game, while Estupinian won 1.50 times. The latter had an advantage in confrontations with his height of 1.75 meters. Estupinian's interceptions are also much higher than Bartsaki's: 1.27 per 90 minutes, compared to 0.59 for Bartsaki.

The data on clearances are almost the same (2.07 times and 2.08 times), but in terms of steals, Bartsaki has a slight advantage: 2.66 times per game, while Estupinian has 2.12 times. Only Allegri knows who is better, after all, he sees their performance every day. Estupinian has just returned from injury, while Bartsakhi is in good form and Milan has not lost a game during this period. The game in Parma will kick off the real rivalry.