AC Milan and Roma will meet on the European stage for the first time in history, and tonight is the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie.
Roma are joint-third in the list of clubs that Milan have faced the most in their history, with the sides having clashed on 197 occasions across all competitions (level with Torino).
The record reads favourably for the Rossoneri with 84 wins in that span, 62 draws and 51 defeats, which gives a win rate of 42.6%.
Our pre-match preview has the latest team news plus some opposition insight from our resident Roma fan, while below are the best stats ahead of the game…
➤ This is the first time Milan and Roma will face in a European match – the Rossoneri were eliminated by fellow Italian side and city rivals Internazionale last season in the UEFA Champions League. Roma last faced an Italian team in Europe in the 2014-15 Europa League last 16, losing 4-1 on aggregate to Fiorentina.
➤ Milan are currently unbeaten in nine games against Roma (W6 D3), with all nine coming in Serie A. They last enjoyed a longer unbeaten run against them between 1970 and 1979 (20 matches).
➤ Having reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals last season, Milan have got to the last-eight of a major European competition in consecutive seasons for the first time since doing so six seasons on the bounce between 2001-02 and 2006-07. It’s their first not in the Champions League since 2001-02, when they faced – and eliminated – Hapoel Tel Aviv in the UEFA Cup quarter-final.
➤ Roma have only won two of their last 14 away matches in major European competition (D6 L6), with no wins in their last eight away knockout matches (D4 L4) and three goals scored across those games.
➤ Since their first game in this season’s UEFA Europa League in February, Milan have had more shots on target (28) and scored more goals (12) than any other side, with only Benfica (9.0) having a higher expected goals total than they’ve accumulated (8.7).
➤ Romelu Lukaku has been involved in 11 goals in his last eight away UEFA Europa League appearances (9 goals, 2 assists). Lukaku scored in all of his first five appearances in all competitions against Milan but has since failed to score in his last five; he does, however, have 39 goals in 70 games at the San Siro, only netting more at Goodison Park in his top-five European league club career (48).
➤ Roma’s Stephan El Shaarawy has five assists in nine UEFA Europa League appearances this season, having managed just one in 29 games before this season. He’s both the only Roma player and only Italian player to assist five goals in a Europa League campaign.
➤ Milan’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been involved in 11 goals in his 15 UEFA Europa League appearances (8 goals, 3 assists), netting four in four for the Italian side this season. Loftus-Cheek could be just the second English player to net 5+ goals in a major European campaign for an Italian side, along with Tammy Abraham in 2021-22 for Roma (9).
