AC Milan will travel to face their Lombardy rivals Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium tonight looking to make it two wins from two to begin the season.
After opening their Scudetto defence with a 4-2 victory against Udinese last Saturday, Stefano Pioli’s men know they probably face a tougher test against Gian Piero Gasperini’s side this evening, but arrive having won their last two away games in Bergamo.
You can read our pre-match preview here, while below are the best stats ahead of the game…
➤ Atalanta have lost each of their last three Serie A games against Milan, having been unbeaten in 10 of the previous 11 (W4 D6). The Bergamo side could collect four defeats in a row against the Rossoneri in the top-flight for the first time since 1993-1996.
➤ Atalanta will play their home seasonal debut in Serie A hosting Milan for the first time since 1955-56: on that occasion, the Nerazzurri won 4-3 and among the matches played in Bergamo, only on 24th December 1950 has seen more goals in this fixture (11, 7-4 win for Milan).
➤ With Stefano Pioli on the bench, Milan have always won their first two games of a Serie A season: 2020-21 against Bologna and Crotone and 2021-22 against Sampdoria and Cagliari.
➤ Atalanta, who won in Genova against Sampdoria in the first matchday of this term, have won both of their first two games of a Serie A championship only four times in their history: in 1949-50, 1964-65, 2008-09 and 2020-21.
➤ Milan have won their last seven Serie A games: the last time they had a longer streak in the competition was in 2006, under the management of Carlo Ancelotti (nine).
➤ Milan conceded two headed goals on Matchday 1 of this Serie A season against Udinese, half of the total (four) they conceded in the entire 2021-22 Serie A campaign.
➤ Atalanta have conceded the fewest shots on target (one of 11 total shots) in the first matchday, while only Napoli (six) have faced fewer total shots than Milan (nine) in general.
➤ Duván Zapata has scored just one goal in his last 13 Serie A games: this is his joint-worst run since the beginning of his time with Atalanta in the top-flight (in that case a goal in the first 13 appearances of the 2018-19 season).
➤ Ante Rebic scored twice in the first match against Udinese: no player in the history of Milan has ever started the Serie A season by scoring at least two goals in each of the first two games played by the Rossoneri.
➤ Atalanta are the only side that Rafael Leao scored against in two different games in Serie A in 2021-22.
