AC Milan will close out their 2024 Soccer Champions Tour campaign on Tuesday night when they face off against Barcelona at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Things have certainly been positive for Milan in the United States so far as they have two wins out of two and they showed plenty of good signs in those games as well, and they could hardly have been against higher calibre opponents.
Milan began their second consecutive American tour last Saturday night with a 3-2 victory against Manchester City at the Yankee Stadium, a game in which Lorenzo Colombo – now at Empoli – scored a brace and Marco Nasti got the winner.
The victory against the Premier League champions was then followed by another against the champions of Europe, Real Madrid. Samuel Chukwueze got the only goal in that game and again there was plenty to be excited about again.
Now it is Real’s El Clasico rivals Barcelona who await in Maryland, and then the team will fly back to Italy to begin preparations at Milanello for the Silvio Berlusconi trophy and the Serie A opener on August 17th.
Date and time
It will be another tiring night for the Europe-based fans who want to follow the game because it will be played at 19:30 local time, which is 01:30 CEST, but it is a bit easier than the 02:30 kick-off last week.
The game will be played at M&T Bank Stadium which is one of the biggest venues in the United States. Opened in 1998, the stadium has served as the home of the Baltimore Ravens ever since, who are in the National Football League (NFL).
The stadium has a football capacity of 70,745, making it inside the top 10 NFL stadiums for capacity but also surprisingly one of the older structures. They also hosted Baltimore Bayhawks games in Major League Lacrosse (MLL), before they moved to Washington in 2007.
Team news
After staying back in New Jersey for the game in Chicago, the good news is that Rafael Leao and Noah Okafor will be available for the trip down to Baltimore. Yacine Adli is back in training after recovering from a knock, while Ismael Bennacer has also shaken one off and should feature.
Calciomercato.com have the predicted line-ups for both teams, with Fonseca expected to field Luka Jovic as the striker, Samuel Chukwueze and Alexis Saelemaekers as wingers with Christian Pulisic as the No.10.
Ismael Bennacer and Ruben Loftus-Cheek should be the double pivot, with Davide Calabria and Filippo Terracciano either side of Fikayo Tomori and Malick Thiaw, who are tipped to be the centre-backs ahead of Lorenzo Torriani in goal.
Predicted Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Ter Stegen; Fort, Christensen, Martinez, Balde; Casado, Gundogan; Victor, Torre, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Torriani; Calabria, Tomori, Thiaw, Terracciano; Bennacer, Loftus-Cheek; Chukwueze, Pulisic, Saelemaekers; Jovic.
How to watch
In Italy, the game will be broadcast by DAZN and SportItalia, while Premier Sports will show the game in the UK. ESPN+ has purchased the rights in the US, for those that don’t have tickets to the game, and you can find the full list of broadcasters here.
What the hell is a soccer?
GET USE TO IT! AMERICA IS YOUR DADDY NOW
Right, better to call a sport where you hold a ball in your hands “football”…American logic.
Right, and next I say the British invented the word soccer. Then you get even more triggered and I have a laugh at your expense because you had nothing to say about America being your daddy because you know its true.
That’s a common word here: triggered triggered triggered. But who is triggered, and for what? Silliness?
And what is true? That football is kicking a ball? In that case yes.
Anything else is stupidity of the highest degree.
Dont mind, atleast they are not some shady Saudi “Prince” who hates women.
So I guess you’re upset at the Italians too, for calling the sport “calcio” right?
Oh, you aren’t?
Ah OK. It’s just anti-American prejudice. I see.
Are you mad at the Australians too for calling it soccer as well?
Oh, you aren’t?
I knew it.
Re.
“It will be another tiring night for the Europe-based fans who want to follow the game because it will be played at 19:30 local time, which is 01:30 CEST, but it is a bit easier than the 02:30 kick-off last week”
Ha.
Welcome to my world following Serie A from Australia!
Looking forward to seeing how Fonseca uses Jovic, Okafor and Leao in this one.
Chuky to have a great game again!
Barca already set to sign dani olmo. Remember how paolo maldini almost sign him from dinamo Zagreb and Julian Alvarez from river plate. Now they value already rocketed. Pure instinct footballer..