‘The mystery of Gabbia-Thiaw’ – Milan’s centre-back pairings compared

The changing of the centre-back pairing is something that AC Milan have become accustomed to this season, but the little use of one pairing is a mystery.

La Gazzetta dello Sport ask the question: why don’t Matteo Gabbia and Malick Thiaw ever play together? It comes instinctively when watching Milan’s matches and especially considering one sensational fact above all.

Gabbia and Thiaw have remained on the pitch together for 661 minutes, in which they have conceded only three goals: on average, one every 220 minutes. One goal conceded every two and a half games.

Milan have tried all the other combinations for a long time and no other pair has managed to go beyond the average of one goal conceded every 72 minutes. A huge gap. In essence, you could say Gabbia-Thiaw is three times better than all the other pairs.

Sergio Conceiçao, despite this, practically never uses them, at least from the start. Gabbia-Thiaw were starters with him only in Milan-Verona on February 15. Only one match from the start, like for Gabbia-Tomori.