With just a few days to go until the start of the 2024-24 Serie A season, AC Milan will close out their preseason campaign against Monza at San Siro in the Silvio Berlusconi Trophy.
Milan returned from the United States last week where they played three games in the 2024 Soccer Champions Tour against European heavyweights Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Things were certainly positive as the Rossoneri showed plenty of good signs in those games, winning three out of three in the process too, and they could hardly have been against higher calibre opponents.
Milan began their second consecutive American tour with a 3-2 victory against Manchester City at the Yankee Stadium, a game in which Lorenzo Colombo – now at Empoli – scored a brace and Marco Nasti got the winner.
The victory against the Premier League champions was then followed by another against the champions of Europe, Real Madrid, with Samuel Chukwueze getting the only goal in that game in Chicago.
The curtain came down with a penalty shootout win over Barca in Baltimore. Luka Jovic and Christian Pulisic scored before Robert Lewandowski’s brace, and Lorenzo Torriani was the hero when it went to spot kicks.
Now it is Monza who stand in the way of an undefeated preseason for Paulo Fonseca’s side, and though it may be a friendly there is still some silverware on the line to defend.
The Silvio Berlusconi Trophy
The game of course honours president Silvio Berlusconi, who was the most successful President in Milan’s 125-year history, with 29 trophies win in 31 years. After acquiring AC Monza in 2018, he led the Biancorossi back to Serie B after 19 years and then to a historic first promotion to Serie A in May 2022.
This year’s edition is scheduled for the first time at the San Siro Stadium on Tuesday 13 August having been at the U-Power Stadium last year. Kick-off will be at 21:00 CEST, but the Curva Sud will not be there with banners and flags.
Milan won the inaugural trophy last year on penalties, and this time around it will be a first appearance at San Siro for Fonseca. Not only that but he will face a Rossoneri icon in Alessandro Nesta, the new Monza coach.
The match is part of the celebrations for the 125th Anniversary of the club’s founding. The shirts worn by the players of both teams will be auctioned with part of the proceeds supporting a social project by Fondazione Milan, in collaboration with both clubs, aimed at helping young people in need.
Team news
According to what is being reported by Calciomercato.com, Fonseca is likely to make some changes compared to the team that mostly started the games in the USA by virtue of having internationals back.
Mike Maignan is expected to get the nod in goal with Davide Calabria and Theo Hernandez the full-backs. Fikayo Tomori keeps his spot, with new signing Strahinja Pavlovic his partner.
Ismael Bennacer could be joined by Tijjani Reijnders in the midfield double pivot, which then pushes Ruben Loftus-Cheek further forward into the attacking midfielder position he played in last season.
Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao are down as the right and left wingers respectively, with the other new addition Alvaro Morata leading the line.
We think that a more likely line-up is to see Malick Thiaw partner Tomori, with Loftus-Cheek alongside Bennacer, Pulisic as the attacking midfielder and Samuel Chukwueze on the right wing, possibly with Luka Jovic up front.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Tomori, Pavlovic, Hernandez; Bennacer, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Morata.
Predicted Monza (3-4-2-1): Sorrentino; Izzo, Mari, Caldirola; Birindelli, Pessina, Sensi, Kyriakopoulos; Maldini, Mota; Petagna.
How to watch
Milan-Monza can be seen on free-to-air in Italy on Canale 5. The match will also be available on live streaming through Mediaset Infinity, a service available through various devices via registration.
In streaming, you can also follow the match by connecting to the Sportmediaset website, while you can find the full list of broadcasters here.
