AC Milan will face off against newly promoted Lecce at the Stadio Via del Mare this evening looking to put a couple of bad results behind them.
Milan threw away a two-goal lead against Roma last Sunday and were knocked out of the cup by Torino in midweek so a response tonight is a necessity. You can read our pre-match preview here, while below are the best stats ahead of the game…
➤ Lecce have won only two of their 32 Serie A meetings against Milan (2-1 in 1997 and 1-0 in 2006): a 6.3% win rate, their second lowest among sides they’ve faced 10+ times in the top flight (6.1% v AS Roma).
➤ Milan are unbeaten in their last eight Serie A meetings with Lecce (W5 D3), scoring 20 goals in the process (2.5 per match).
The 1-0 win via Axel Konan’s strike in April 2006 was Lecce’s only Serie A win at home against Milan: the Rossoneri have won seven such games (D8).
➤ Lecce are unbeaten in their last five Serie A games, and they could go six in a row in the competition for the first time since April 2012 under Serse Cosmi. In fact, Lecce could also keep a clean sheet in two top-flight matches in a row for the first time since 2012.
➤ Lecce have won their last two Serie A matches at the Via del Mare, and they could win three in a row at home for the first time since 2004 (six between the 2003/04 and the 2004/05 campaigns).
➤ Milan drew 0-0 in their last Serie A match against a promoted side (vs. Cremonese in November) and could fail to score in two such matches in a row for the first time since 2016 (vs. Bologna and Carpi).
➤ Lecce are one of two sides yet to score in the opening 15 minutes of play in Serie A this season (alongside Atalanta); on the other hand, AC Milan have scored seven goals in the same period, the joint-most in the competition.
➤ Lorenzo Colombo has been directly involved in more Serie A goals than any other Lecce player this season (four goals, two assists). Indeed, the striker previously played 11 games for Milan and scored one goal in the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League qualifying process against Bodø/Glimt.
Lorenzo Colombo of US Lecce
➤ Among the goalkeepers with at least eight Serie A appearances this season, Wladimiro Falcone has the second highest save percentage (75%), behind only Wojciech Szczesny (89%).
➤ Sandro Tonali will miss this game due to disqualification: since he joined the club in 2020, Milan have won 67% of their games with him on the field, while the percentage drops to 59%
without him (also the points/game ratio drops from 2.2 to 1.9).
