Alphadjo Cisse will celebrate turning 20 on the south coast of England, and he hopes to make it a memorable birthday with more European goals.

La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write that Cisse will blow out his candles at the Vitality Stadium, where the Rossoneri will be looking for crucial points tomorrow in their bid to secure direct qualification to the Europa League round of 16.

Today is his last day of being a teenager, therefore, and he will want to treat himself to another magical night like the one he scored a week ago in Salzburg. The forward scored a hat-trick against the Austrian side, which was the first in his senior career.

The man for Europe?

Cisse was praised by Ruben Amorim after scoring with his head, his left foot and his right foot, the perfect hat-trick as they call in. However, in the next league match – at San Siro against Atalanta – he didn’t even set foot on the pitch.

It’s almost as if the Portuguese coach had accepted Fabio Capello’s advice not to put too much pressure on the youngster from Treviso. It’s rare for a hat-trick scorer to sit back and watch his team-mates for 90 minutes in a big match. Despite this, young players need to be managed.

Furthermore, the numbers suggest Cisse is much more comfortable on European nights. Of course, the number of games he’s played is still too limited to constitute evidence. In Europe, he has shot twice as often as in the league (3 to 1.4), scoring a goal every 39 minutes (in Serie A it’s one every 121.5 minutes).

Cisse’s other unique trait is his goal distribution. In his first seven games with Milan, the young Alpha has scored five goals. None, however, have come at San Siro. All have been away from home and that’s why Amorim is banking on him for the trip to Bournemouth.

The Diavolo will face a team that are struggling in the Premier League but have won two out of two in Europe and are a top contender for the trophy. Why is Cisse performing better away and in Europe? One reason could be purely tactical: Milan are given more pace to exploit.

A transition weapon

Marco Rose’s Bournemouth especially love attacking and taking risks in their own stadium, so they will certainly try to dominate the game. Cisse will have to be ready to punish the English side’s exuberance to celebrate his birthday in style.

He’ll have to do so in the presence of his Brazilian counterpart, Rayan, whom Milan had previously eyed before the Cherries made their decisive offer in January. Curiously, this was more or less the same week that Milan secured Cisse from Verona, leaving him on loan at Catanzaro for six months.

Rayan immediately established himself in England, even earning a ticket to the World Cup with Brazil, while Cisse was injured in Serie B. Same age, different paths. Currently, Bournemouth’s Brazilian is not having a great time in the Premier League (zero goals in seven games), but has scored twice in Europe.

Rose will also have to prepare for the battle against Cisse, for whom the Rossoneri have already prepared a new contract with a pay rise as a reward. Beyond the financial aspect, Alpha’s mission is to fully convince Amorim to consider him a key starter.

The Portuguese coach has never used the 19-year-old alongside Christian Pulisic from the start behind the striker, almost as if the two are alternatives to each other. Sooner or later, the time will come to see them on the pitch at the same time. Could it be tomorrow?