AC Milan will be back in action at San Siro tonight as they welcome Empoli, hoping to make it back-to-back victories after Sunday’s success in Naples.
The first ever matches between the sides came back in 1986 in a two-legged Coppa Italia last 16 clash, with Milan actually losing 2-1 on aggregate. The first Serie A meetings came the following season, with the Rossoneri winning 3-0 away and 1-0 at home.
You can read our pre-match preview here, while below are the best stats ahead of the game…
➤ Milan have won their last four Serie A meetings against Empoli, while they have never won five in a row against them in the competition (also four between 2003 and 2006 under Carlo Ancelotti).
➤ Empoli’s last Serie A clean sheet against AC Milan was back in October 2007, when they won 1-0 at the Meazza thanks to a Luca Saudati goal – since then, AC Milan have scored 27 goals in 12 such meetings (2.3 per game on average).
➤ Empoli have won three of their 29 Serie A meetings against AC Milan, each of them at San Siro – the last coming back in April 2017.
➤ Milan have lost just 9% of their Serie A matches played on a Friday (2/23) – among sides with 3+ games played on this day in the competition, they have the lowest loss percentage.
➤ After their 1-0 win against Lecce last time out, Empoli could win two Serie A games in a row for the second time this season; on the first occasion, the second match was against the other Milan side (Inter), while in both matches they kept a clean sheet.
➤ Empoli have won just one of their eight Serie A matches played on Friday (2-0 v Cremonese last November), playing out one draw and six defeats, including their most recent one against Atalanta in March.
➤ Milan have had the most direct attacks of any side in Serie A this season (74), whilst Empoli have had only 29, the second-fewest, ahead of Sampdoria.
➤ In the reverse fixture against Empoli, Rafael Leão both scored and assisted a goal; the Portuguese forward (currently 10) could equal his best tally of goals in a single Serie A season (11 goals for AC Milan last term).
➤ This match will see the three players to have covered the most distance via progressive carries (moving 5+ metres upfield with the ball) in Serie A this season: Fabiano Parisi (3035), Theo
Hernández (2741) and Rafael Leão (2699).
➤ Thanks to his goal against Lecce last time out, Francesco Caputo has become the fifth-highest Empoli scorer in Serie A with 18 goals. With one more strike, he will equal Ighli Vannucchi (19) as the fourth-highest for the club in the Italian top-flight.
