AC Milan must put off-field problems behind them when they travel to Bologna on Sunday or risk seeing their season unravel.

Having manoeuvred themselves into second place in Serie A behind rivals Inter, things started to go wrong for the Rossoneri when they were outplayed in the Milan derby.

Since then they have slumped out of the Coppa Italia at the hands of Udinese and were held to a draw by relegation-threatened Livorno in a half-empty San Siro, a result which left Milan eight points off top spot.

And there were signs of unrest in the Milan camp this week when Brazilian star Ronaldinho was forced to deny he had held a three-night party in the lead-up to the derby.

On top of that, owner Silvio Berlusconi expressed his surprise at the signing of Mancini on loan from Inter, saying he disagreed with the move.

Leonardo has called on his side to leave the past behind them.

"Now we must turn the page and return to winning ways at Bologna," he said.

The good news for Leonardo is Alessandro Nesta is likely to make a return from a thigh injury, with Dida also set to resume goalkeeping duties after missing the Livorno game with a back problem.

Mancini is not expected to be given a debut as he is lacking match fitness.

Anything but a win at Bologna could see the Rossoneri drop to third in the standings, with red-hot Roma level on 41 points with Milan.

But that is far from a formality against Franco Colomba's side, who are unbeaten in four games.

Bologna drew at Chievo last time out to lift themselves four points clear of the danger zone.

Striker Marco Di Vaio, who scored his eighth goal of the season at Chievo, hopes his team can produce another good performance tomorrow.

"We have to continue like this," said Di Vaio. "We were very efficient against Chievo and we had the chance to win the game but in the end we took home a point.

"The important thing is that we continue to work hard.

"On Sunday we face a very difficult test against second-placed AC Milan and we have to play at our best to get a good result."

Goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano has called on his team-mates to restrict Milan's attacking opportunities.

"The Rossoneri play very attacking football and up front they have a lot of quality," he told Bologna's website.

"Our job is to limit them, find spaces to hurt them, which is our best quality, so it will certainly be a nice match.

"While they want to get back to winning ways, we want to continue our positive run."