AC Milan dealt defensive crisis as player 'trains separately' ahead of Newcastle United clash

AC Milan are set to have just one recognised central defender available for Wednesday night's Champions League clash against Newcastle United.

Newcastle and Milan, who played out a goalless draw at the San Siro in September, face each other in their final Group F fixture and both still have a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition.

The Magpies must beat the Italian giants and hope Paris Saint-Germain fail to beat Borussia Dortmund. Meanwhile, Milan must win at St James' Park and hope PSG lose at the Signal Iduna Park.

Newcastle are likely to be without 13 senior players tomorrow but their visitors too have their own injury problems.

As per Football Italia, Milan have a big problem at the heart of the defence with former Chelsea man Fiyako Tomori the only fit centre-back.

The hope was Simon Kjaer would return but the Denmark international reportedly trained separately on Sunday, making him unlikely to even make the bench. Milan's other central defender options Malick Thiaw, Pierre Kalulu and Mattia Caldara are also unavailable through injury.

As a result, Stefano Pioli is likely to partner left-back Theo Hernandez with Tomori and brin in Alessandro Florenzi at full-back.

Elsewhere, Noah Okafor and Marco Sportiello are also sidelined but key attacker Rafael Leao has been passed fit.

Leao missed his side's 3-2 defeat to Atalanta on Saturday but is set to form a three-man attack including former Premier League duo Olivier Giroud and Christian Pulisic.

Newcastle were bolstered by the return of Callum Wilson and Sean Longstaff for the 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday but remain without the likes of Harvey Barnes, Joe Willock and Sven Botman.