While both have ambitions of finishing in Serie A’s top four and thus securing a return to the Champions League, Lazio and A.C. Milan will put those hopes aside on Tuesday in hope of securing some silverware. Juventus—who have won this competition for the last four seasons—being eliminated in the last round has opened up the Coppa Italia to the remaining teams and these two will look to take a step closer to the trophy at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.

The Rossoneri will arrive in the capital buoyed by recent results, Gennaro Gattuso’s men enjoying a six-game unbeaten run while losing just once in their last 10 outings. Those results have seen them jump into the top four, powered by the form of two January signings as Lucas Paquetá and Krzysztof Piątek injected some much-needed quality into the side.

With his captivating blend of skill, vision and energy, the arrival of Paquetá has seen Milan create many more opportunities than they were previously capable, the Brazilian midfielder settling instantly into the starting XI.

Yet his impact fades into the background in comparison with that of Piątek after the Polish striker continued the incredible form he showed at Genoa in the first part of the season. Since joining the Rossoneri, the 23-year-old has scored seven goals in just 387 minutes of action, with his coach revealing he works tirelessly to find every advantage.

“Piatek has settled in very well and works hard, but he’s not a player who stands out in training,” Gattuso told reporters last weekend. “He looks after himself, but doesn’t do that much. He is far more practical, focuses on the important things and likes to test out the movements two or three days before a game. “Piatek is very interested in research and comes to ask the staff about the characteristics of the opposition defenders.”

He will certainly have done his homework on Lazio, one of the many sides he has already scored against this term. While the Rossoneri will enter this clash with very few injury problems, their opponents have a growing list of absentees with Wallace, Marco Parolo, Valon Berisha, Jordan Lukaku and Bastos all ruled out.

“The Coppa Italia is our objective,” admitted Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi last week. “We’ve got to take the right approach and hopefully we can recover a few injured players in defense.”

LAZIO (3-5-1-1): Strakosha, Patric, Lucas Leiva, Acerbi, Marusic, Badelj, Cataldi, Lulic, Milinkovic-Savic, Luis Alberto (Correa), Immobile

AC MILAN (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Calabria, Musacchio, Romagnoli, Rodriguez; Kessié, Bakayoko, Paquetà; Suso, Piatek, Calhanoglu

Canadian viewers can watch Fiorentina-Atalanta as well as Lazio-AC Milan right here on FloFC.

Adam Digby is an Italian football writer for FourFourTwo, The Independent, and elsewhere. Author of "Juventus: A History In Black & White." Follow Adam on Twitter.