AC Milan will be looking to take top spot in the group back from Lille when they face off again in the Europa League on Thursday night.
The two sides met earlier in the month and Lille stopped Milan’s unbeaten run at 24 games in all competitions with a 3-0 win thanks to a Yusuf Yazici hat-trick.
Here are some of the key stats and facts ahead of the rematch, courtesy of the club’s official website…
➤ Out of all the players who have attempted at least three shots during the Europa League so far, Brahim Diaz is the player with the second best conversion rate: only Ludogorets’ Manu (75%) has done better in this regard.
➤ Brahim Diaz (1.57 xG) is the Milan player who has the best Expected Goals to goals scored ratio in this season’s Europa League. The Spaniard has scored almost two more goals compared to what would be expected based on the quality of his chances.
➤ Brahim Diaz is the Milan player who has created the most chances (five) in the Europa League so far.
➤ Diogo Dalot is one of just three defenders to have scored at least one goal and provided at least one assist during the current Europa League campaign (Villarreal’s Foyth and Rangers’ Tavernier are the other two).
➤ Ismael Bennacer (100%) is the AC Milan player with the highest percentage of successful dribbles and the highest number of dribbles (nine) this Europa League campaign.
➤ Sandro Tonali is the first Italian player born after the turn of the millennium to start either a Europa League or Champions League fixture.
➤ Brahim Diaz, Rade Krunic and Jens Petter Hauge all scored on their European debuts with Milan (away to Celtic). Pietro Paolo Virdis (in 1985) and Marco Simone (in 1995) are the only two Rossoneri players to have found the net in both of their first two away fixtures for the club in the Europa League/UEFA Cup (excluding the preliminary stages).
➤ Should they play against Lille, Theo Hernández and Ismael Bennacer would take to the pitch for the 50th time in an Milan shirt in all competitions.
