Fonseca outlines Milan changes and wants to see “courage” in Leverkusen’s 4-2-3-1

Paulo Fonseca confirms how Milan will replace Alvaro Morata against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, stressing that they must “see this as an opportunity and play bravely”.

Kick-off takes place at 8pm UK time (7pm GMT) at the BayArena.

You can follow all the build-up and action from this game and Inter-Crvena Zvezda in the live blog.

Just before they turned up to warm up, applause rang out in the Rossoneri dressing room. So what did the coach say to cheer them on?

“I simply had motivating words for the team to play good football. We have to see this game as an opportunity and play it with courage,” Fonseca told Sky Sport Italia.

Fonseca explains Milan's adjustment without Morata

The only change from the starting XI that beat Inter 2-1 and also won Serie A at the weekend is Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who comes in for the not-quite-fit Alvaro Morata. Does this mean that the Milan team will switch to a 4-3-3?

“No, we are keeping the same structure of the team, only one player is changing. It's too risky to start Morata today and we have Tijji in that position, which he already held. There is another thing we need to do differently, which is the shape of the defense, but these are small details, not the whole structure.”

This fits with Ruben Loftus-Cheek's statement that he wouldn't be playing in such an advanced role this time, so Tijjani Reijnders appears to be more of a trequartista in a 4-2-3-1.

Will Milan continue with this system, effectively consisting of four strikers, or can Fonseca adapt to different approaches to maintain balance?

“A lot depends on how we want to defend. We will certainly change against a different type of opponent, but we now have a certain stability when we defend like this. It’s clear to me that we can’t have that structure and defense in that way against different types of teams.”

The pressure to survive in Europe is already high after the 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool, so the trip to reigning Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen is the worst game to follow.

Xabi Alonso's side lost just one game in all of last season, the Europa League final against Atalanta, and started that competition with a 4-0 away win at Feyenoord.