AC Milan will face off against Red Bull Salzburg for the first time since their rebranding in 2005 when they kick off their 2022-23 Champions League group stage campaign.
The Rossoneri will be looking to build on Saturday’s derby win against Inter but they will face an opponent who are top of their domestic league having won the title last season and are in excellent form.
You can read our full pre-match preview here, while below are the best stats ahead of the game…
➤ This will be only the third European meeting between FC Red Bull Salzburg and Milan, with the previous two coming in the 1994-95 UEFA Champions League group stage. Milan won both clashes that campaign en route to reaching the final.
➤ Milan have only lost one of their 11 previous meetings with Austrian clubs in major European competitions (W8 D2), a 2-5 defeat to SK Rapid Wien in the 1957-58 European Cup.
➤ The Rossoneri have won each of their last five European matches against Austrian sides by an aggregate score of 16-2, most recently beating FK Austria Wien 5-1 in the 2017-18 UEFA Europa League.
➤ No Austrian side has ever beaten an Italian opponent in the UEFA Champions League in 10 previous meetings (D2 L8). There have only been three instances of sides from one nation playing more matches against sides from another nation without ever winning one in the competition: Czech Republic v English sides, Czech Republic v Spanish sides, and Romania v German sides (all 12 games, no wins).
➤ FC Red Bull Salzburg are participating in a fifth UEFA Champions League campaign, including in each of the last four seasons running. The Austrian side progressed from the group stage for a very first time last season before being eliminated in the last 16 by FC Bayern München.
➤ After a seven-season absence from the UEFA Champions League proper, Milan are competing in the tournament for a second successive campaign. They were eliminated from last season’s group stage, the first time they failed to progress from the opening group since 1999-00.
➤ FC Red Bull Salzburg have never previously lost their first group stage match of a UEFA Champions League campaign (P4 W1 D3 LO). Only Deportivo de La Coruña (five) have played in more Champions League seasons without ever losing their first match of a campaign in the competition than the Austrian club.
➤ FC Red Bull Salzburg remained unbeaten at home in last season’s UEFA Champions League (P4 W3 D1 LO), winning all three of their home games in the group stage. Only Manchester City (six) and FC Bayern München (five) played more home matches in last season’s competition without losing than Salzburg.
➤ Milan have won just one of their last nine UEFA Champions League matches (D2 L6), although that was their last such away game at Atlético de Madrid in November 2021. The Rossoneri last won back-to-back away games in the competition in October 2009.
➤ Excluding own goals, each of FC Red Bull Salzburg’s last 14 UEFA Champions League goals have been scored by players aged 23 or younger.
➤ Of Milan striker Olivier Giroud’s last 12 UEFA Champions League goals, 11 have been scored away from home. Indeed, of all players to score more than 10 goals in the competition, Giroud has the highest proportion scored away (78% – 14/18).
➤ Excluding own goals, all five of Milan’s goals in last season’s UEFA Champions League were scored by a different player (Ante Rebic, Brahim Díaz, Rafael Leão, Junior Messias, Fikayo Tomori), the most scorers by a team in a season in the competition without any netting more than one since Celtic in 2017-18 (also five).
Huge game that will likely go a long way to determining who goes through in this group.
Forget ‘history’ because experience in the current UCL is completely on Salzburg’s side here, they’re the regular campaigner at this level, with plenty of experience in getting to the last 16.
Somehow, Salzburg have no expectation and little pressure despite being the experienced campaigners! Dream situation for them
I think our current Milan team performs to it’s best UNDER Pressure. They can play a midtable side and be lacklustre and then get aggressive in a big game and dominate. One of the reasons we finished last in UCL last season was lack of expectations.
Our team now has the Scudetto on the chest and I’ve seen more fire from our players this season. There is pride and confidence in this team and we need to use that properly