Chelsea vs Milan: Pre-Season Clash in Jakarta
Chelsea and Milan take their show on the road to Jakarta on Saturday, landing at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium for a pre-season meeting loaded with subplots, absentees and opportunity.
Kick-off is 1pm BST. The stakes are low on paper. The decisions are not.
Alonso juggling a stripped-back Chelsea
Xabi Alonso’s first pre-season in charge of Chelsea has turned into a crash course in improvisation.
A World Cup hangover has gutted his options. Enzo Fernández, Reece James, Malo Gusto, Jordan Henderson, Maxence Lacroix, Morgan Rogers and Valentín Barco are all out of the picture, still rebuilding fitness and nowhere near ready for Jakarta. It is a sizeable chunk of his core, ripped out of a squad already trying to learn a new manager’s ideas.
So Alonso turns to what he has.
The headline boost is the expected return of Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill. Both sat out the defeat to Juventus with minor knocks, and both are pencilled back in. Palmer, the creative heartbeat of last season’s attack, gives Chelsea a cutting edge they badly lacked in Hong Kong. Colwill’s presence steadies a back line that has been shuffled and stretched.
Then there is Mykhailo Mudryk. His story is different, and far more delicate. The winger only stepped back onto the pitch recently after serving a 20‑month anti-doping suspension, eased in with a brief substitute appearance. Jakarta should bring him more minutes, more rhythm, more of the raw pace and directness that once made him one of Europe’s most coveted wide men. Every touch now feels like part of a long road back.
One player who will not be involved is Trevoh Chalobah. Left out of the touring squad entirely, he edges closer to a permanent exit from Stamford Bridge. His absence opens space and oxygen for others.
New signing Danny Welbeck is one of them. The veteran forward arrives with Premier League scars and know-how, the kind of profile that can glue together a young, evolving attack. Alongside him, teenage winger Geovany Quenda is pushing hard for a starting role, a reminder that pre-season is as much about auditions as it is about results.
Chelsea’s likely XI underlines the blend Alonso is forced to work with: Penders; Palestra, Colwill, Acheampong, Palestra; Caicedo, Lavia; Estevao, Palmer, Gittens; Pedro. Established talents, returning prospects, and kids who see Jakarta as a chance to skip the queue.
Milan rotate, but Nkunku stays central
On the other side, Rúben Amorim arrives with his own headaches.
Christian Pulisic will not get his reunion. The former Chelsea winger is officially ruled out with a persistent thigh injury carried over from his World Cup campaign. New defender Mario Gila is also sidelined and will play no part. Two high-profile absentees, two plans torn up.
Amorim still has one major weapon fully available: Christopher Nkunku. The Frenchman scored the equaliser against Inter Milan in Perth, another reminder of his knack for decisive moments. He is expected to feature prominently again, even with the schedule biting hard.
That schedule dictates much of Amorim’s thinking. Milan have just come through an intense derby on the other side of the world and have only a short turnaround before facing Chelsea. Rotation is not a luxury; it is a necessity.
The beneficiaries are likely to be Luka Modrić and Gonçalo Ramos. Modrić, even in the twilight of his career, can still slow a game to his tempo, still dictate. Ramos offers movement and penalty-box menace, ideal for a side managing tired legs around him.
Milan’s predicted lineup reflects that reshuffle: Torriani; Terracciano, Gabbia, Tomori; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Jashari, Estupinan; Chukwueze, Nkunku; Ramos. Youth and experience, energy on the flanks, craft through the middle.
Contrasting summers, shared need for a spark
Chelsea’s form under Alonso has stumbled after an encouraging start. A win over Western Sydney Wanderers looked like a clean launch, but the wheels have jolted since. A narrow defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, then a 1-0 loss to Juventus in Hong Kong, and suddenly the mood is more cautious than celebratory.
The patterns are familiar: spells of control, missed chances, then a costly lapse. Pre-season or not, managers notice.
Milan’s tour has been steadier, if not spectacular. A 2-2 draw with Celtic, then a 1-1 draw with Inter, both against strong opposition, both showing resilience. Nkunku’s equaliser in the derby underlined their ability to stay in games even when stretched.
So Jakarta brings two sides at different stages of the same process. Chelsea searching for fluency and belief under a new coach. Milan trying to embed Amorim’s ideas while nursing a squad through heavy travel and bruising fixtures.
Jakarta as a proving ground
For supporters in Indonesia, this is a rare spectacle: Chelsea and Milan under the same roof, in one of Asia’s most imposing arenas. For the managers, it is something more pragmatic.
Alonso needs to see Palmer knitting attacks together again, Colwill organising from the back, Mudryk taking people on instead of just talking about comebacks. He needs signs that Caicedo and Lavia can control a midfield together, that Estevao and Gittens can carry their academy promise into senior football.
Amorim, meanwhile, will watch how Modrić handles the tempo in humid conditions, how Ramos links with Nkunku, how a rotated XI copes with the physical demands and the noise.
It is only pre-season. But in a stadium as loud as Gelora Bung Karno, with two restless giants still piecing themselves together after a World Cup summer, it will not feel like it.
You can stream the match live exclusively online via CFC+.
