Marco Silva to rotate Benfica side for Milan trip

Marco Silva is expected to make wholesale changes to his Benfica side for Wednesday's trip to Milan, with Trubin, Circati, Aursnes, Lukebakio and Durán among those in line to come into the XI.

The reasoning is straightforward. Benfica play two demanding fixtures in the space of five days, and three days after San Siro they travel to face FC Porto in the clássico do Dragão. Silva wants to manage the physical load of the players who have carried the heaviest workload so far this season, by all accounts, rather than risk them twice in quick succession.

Kick-off in Milan is at 20.00 BST on Wednesday, and it marks the opening game of the 2026-27 Europa League for both sides. It is also Ruben Amorim's first European tie since he took charge of Milan in the summer.

The officiating team for the night has been confirmed. Jarred Gillet, the Australian referee who has been based in England since 2019, takes charge, with Neil Davies and Nick Greenhalgh running the lines and Tony Harrington as fourth official. Stuart Atwell is the lead VAR, assisted by Poland's Tomasz Kwiatkowski.

Gillet, 39, has never previously refereed a match involving either club, and Wednesday's game will be his first at UEFA level despite having taken Premier League matches since the 2021-22 season. His European experience to date runs to a Champions League qualifier between Shamrock Rovers and Vikingur Reykjavik, and Conference League qualifiers including Dynamo Kyiv against FC Dila Gori — — and Aris Thessaloniki against DAC Dunajska Streda. None of those were league-phase fixtures in the Champions, Europa or Conference League.

A much-changed Benfica against a Milan side playing under a new manager for the first time in Europe makes for two teams still finding their shape in this competition, and how Silva's rotation holds up at San Siro may say as much about his squad's depth as the result itself.