Gary Kelly picks his combined Leeds United and AC Milan XI, including Raphinha and Mark Viduka

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Leeds United have announced that they will play against AC Milan in a pre-season friendly this summer in Dublin at the Aviva Stadium.

The seven-times Champions League winners have a trophy cabinet in that competition which can only be bettered by Real Madrid, with Leeds United now set to take on Milan on Saturday 9th August 2025 at 3.00pm.

The 51,700 capacity arena will play host to the Premier League club’s final pre-season friendly and is the second pre-season fixture which has been scheduled so far, with more to come early in the summer.

The other has been revealed as yet another trip to face bitter rivals Manchester United overseas. The two sides met in Oslo a few years ago but will meet in Stockholm on Saturday 19th July at the Strawberry Arena, with kick-off at 2.00pm.

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Gary Kelly’s Raphinha and Mark Viduka answers will please Leeds United fans

Roque Junior is the only player to feature for both Leeds and Milan in his career, but both historic clubs have had numerous iconic players play for them.

Even with Milan’s rich history, there are some huge calls to make between Leeds’ greatest ever players and the legends of AC Milan that have spanned many decades of the club’s rich history.

Gary Kelly was asked to create a combined XI by Ticketmaster Ireland. For the goalkeeper and defence: “Nigel Martyn or Dida? Gary Kelly or Cafu? Ian Harte or Paulo Maldini? Jack Charlton or Franco Baresi? Lucas Radebe or Alessandro Nesta?”

Kelly’s responses: “Oh, Nigel. Come on, Cafu. Maldini. Oh, Jack all day. Just as a manager!”

However, the latter made him hesitate, he added: “Jesus, this is the hardest quiz question ever!

“I’d go the Chief, ’cause he loves Leeds. We all love Leeds, Chief.”

The next players included some difficult decisions in midfield. The first pits Irish football icon Johnny Giles against the elegance of Andrea Pirlo.

He said: “Johnny, because he lives in Dublin and he’ll catch up with me and he won’t buy me any Bacardi ever again. The two of them — they’re all legends. Everyone that I’m picking — they’re all legends.”

He was then asked: “David Batty or Gennaro Gattuso? Billy Bremner or Ruud Gullit? Raphinha or Rafael Leao?”

Kelly answered: “Oh, has to be Batts. Billy, all day long. Raphinha.”

The final two are perhaps two of the most controversial, but one will make Leeds fans smile. He was asked: “[Mark] Viduka or [Filippo] Inzaghi? Harry Kewell or Kaka?”

“Ah, big Mark! All day long. Oh, Kaka! All day long! Kaka. All day long.”

It’s sure to be an exciting occasion when Leeds play Milan, according to Kelly.

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Gary Kelly leaves Harry Kewell out of Leeds XI

Perhaps the most interesting aspect is to leave out Kewell so emphatically. Of course, his head-to-head was against Ballon d’Or winner Kaka but it was perhaps his quickest and most emphatic answer.

Leeds’ best ever left-sided wide player is arguably Eddie Gray anyway. Many fans of a certain age would have been tempted by him over Kaka out wide.

Kelly played for Leeds for 15 years and it was never in doubt that he would name many of the legends he either played alongside or has come to know well since retiring.