AC Milan will be looking to break their duck in terms of points in the 2024-25 edition of the Champions League when they welcome Club Brugge to San Siro on Tuesday evening.
Milan suffered back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen to begin their European campaign which means that the game against the Belgian side is an early must-win game, especially because a trip to face Real Madrid follows.
Paulo Fonseca admitted in his pre-match press conference that he is beginning to see signs of what he wants his side to become as the games go by, but this must translate into points and wins in the UCL.
Game date: Tuesday, October 22
Kick-off time: 18:45 (CEST)
Venue: San Siro
Referee: Felix Zwayer (VAR: Dingert)
Team news
As mentioned, Milan have not made the best of starts to their European adventure but it was always a possibility that the early games would be tough, with the Premier League table-toppers, the Bundesliga champions and last season’s UCL winners all coming in the first four games.
With no disrespect towards the opponents intended, Fonseca will have been looking at the games against Club Brugge, Slovan Bratislava, Red Star, Girona and Dinamo Zagreb as a real chance to rack up 15 points which should guarantee a finish in the top half of the new ‘big league’ phase.
Milan were boosted by a 1-0 win against Udinese on Saturday evening in front of over 70,000 home fans, but the team were made to work incredibly hard for the three points after Tijjani Reijnders saw red half an hour in, so there perhaps wasn’t the opportunity to manage workloads as Fonseca would have liked.
Nonetheless, it is a victory that can help breed a sense of unity and spirit given the adversity faced, but now the coach must decide whether to make big changes again as he did for the match against the Zebrette.
In terms of injury news, everyone is available except for the long-term injured players Ismael Bennacer, Marco Sportiello and Alessandro Florenzi who are working on their recoveries, plus Davide Calabria who remains out with a calf issue.
Matteo Gabbia missed the Udinese fixture after complaining of muscle discomfort after being with Italy though he is expected to at least be fit enough to make the bench, and Theo Hernandez’s suspension does not apply in the Champions League so he can play.
One thing that wasn’t to be expected from Fonseca’s presser was for him to name the team he will start – and we must wait and see if he was playing games with the media or not – but for now let’s take his word.
He confirmed that Mike Maignan will remain in goal, Emerson Royal will be the right-back and the centre-back pairing will be Matteo Gabbia and Fikayo Tomori again, meaning the pairing of Strahinja Pavlovic and Malick Thiaw from the weekend drop to the bench.
Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders will keep their spots in the midfield double pivot as per the coach, largely due to the lack of alternatives in the position, with Ruben-Loftus-Cheek ahead of them in a central role again. It could be that the Dutchman and Englishman swap places.
That means Samuel Chukwueze will not get a chance to build on his goal from minute one as Christian Pulisic returns to the right wing, with Rafael Leao coming back in on the left wing after being controversially benched versus Udinese. Alvaro Morata will lead the line.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Morata.
The opponents
The 2023-24 season was a turbulent one for Club Brugge, despite the fact that it ended with glory. They sacked head coach Ronny Deila in March and replaced him with Nicky Hayen just before the league broke off into it’s play-off phase to determine the champions of Belgium, with the tea having finished in fourth.
It proved to be an inspired change as they would win seven of their 10 games in the Champions’ Play-Offs, going unbeaten too, to lift the title. They also got to the semi-finals of the UEFA Conference League before being beaten 4-3 on aggregate by Fiorentina.
In terms of transfer business over the summer, they brought in Christos Tzolis from Fortuna Düsseldorf, Gustaf Nilsson from Union SG, Zaid Romero from Estudiantes LP and Ardon Jashari from FC Luzern each for a fee of €6-6.5m.
They made two big sales: centre-forward Igor Thiago left for Premier League side Brighton for a fee of €33m after just one season in Belgium, while winger Antonio Nusa headed to RB Leipzig for €21m.
Their start to the season in the league has been mixed, to say the least. The Blauw-Zwart drew one and lost two of their first three, then went on a four-game winning run before stuttering and winning one of their next four, leaving them fourth in the standings.
They also lost the Belgian Super Cup to Union SG 2-1, while in the Champions League their 3-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund at home in round one was followed up by an impressive 1-0 victory away at Sturm Graz earlier this month.
In terms of team news, Hayen has a couple of fitness doubts and they concern some pretty key players. Danish winger Andreas Skov Olsen – who has been linked with Milan in the past couple of weeks – is struggling with a calf issue, while Gustaf Nilsson (Achilles tendon) and Casper Nielsen (fitness) are expected to miss out.
Left-back Bjorn Meijer has been out for months after knee surgery and recently resumed training but he is not ready to return just yet, which means Maxim De Cuyper – another player linked with the Rossoneri and who scored against Italy during the recent break – should keep his spot.
Predicted Club Brugge XI (4-2-3-1): Mignolet; Seys, Spileers, Mechele, De Cuyper; Vetlesen, Onyedika; Skoras, Vanaken, Tzolis; Jutgla.
Head to head
Milan have played Club Brugge six times in competitive games in their history, winning three of them with one draw and two defeats.
The first encounter dates back to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 1975-76, when the Belgian club won the first leg 2-0 at home and advanced after the Rossoneri could only manage a 2-1 home victory.
Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan would progress in the last 16 of the 1990-91 European Cup to get some revenge, drawing 0-0 at home but winning 1-0 away to secure progress.
The most recent meetings came in the 2003-04 group stage of the Champions League. Andres Mendoza stunned the San Siro crowd by scoring the only goal in the first game, before Kaka got a late winner in the return game as both ended 1-0 to the away side.
More generally, the Diavolo have played 21 games against clubs from Belgium across their almost 125-year history, winning nine of them, drawing nine and losing three.
Key facts and stats
➤ Club Brugge have kept a clean sheet in each of their last two European visits to Milan, drawing 0-0 in the European Cup in October 1990 and winning 1-0 in the UEFA Champions League in October 2003.
➤ After losing each of their last two home games in the competition, AC Milan will be looking to avoid losing three consecutive home outings in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.
➤ Club Brugge haven’t lost any of their last four away games in the group/league stage of the UEFA Champions League (W2 D2), keeping a clean sheet in all four matches. Their last such defeat came away to Paris SG back in December 2021 (1-4).
➤ Milan have lost both of their games in the UEFA Champions League this season, losing at home against Liverpool (1-3) and away to Bayer Leverkusen (0-1). Only once previously have they lost their opening three matches of a single Champions League campaign, doing so in 2021-22 under Stefano Pioli.
➤ Club Brugge have kept six clean sheets in their last 10 games in the UEFA Champions League, including one in their 1-0 victory over Sturm Graz last time out. However, they’ve still conceded over a goal per game on average in this run (1.4), having shipped 14 goals across the four games they did concede in.
➤ Milan boss Paulo Fonseca has only won one of his last nine games in the UEFA Champions League as a manager (D3 L5), including defeats in his first two in charge of the Italian side. He’s never lost three in a row in the competition as a coach.
➤ Each of AC Milan’s last 23 goals in UEFA Champions League home matches have been scored from inside the box, with the last player to net from outside the box being Robinho in February 2012 v Arsenal.
➤ Maxim De Cuyper made 24 line-breaking passes in Club Brugge’s win over Sturm Graz last time out; the most by any full back in a UEFA Champions League game this season.
➤ Against Bayer Leverkusen last time out, Youssouf Fofana created the joint-most chances (3), completed the most dribbles (5) and won the most duels (10) of any player for Milan. The last player to replicate those numbers in a single UEFA Champions League game for the Italian side was Kaká in October 2007 v Shakhtar Donetsk.
Ones to watch
Naturally there will always be eyes on Leao and Theo down the left side, especially given they both didn’t feature in the last game, but there will be just as much scrutiny on Morata who is struggling to score regularly and Loftus-Cheek who hasn’t nailed down a starting spot under Fonseca yet.
The Fofana-Reijnders pivot will do an important job controlling the tempo of the game, while behind them Tomori will be asked for a solid performance in the centre of defence. following the debacle against Fiorentina.
Hans Vanaken has the task of being Brugge’s creative outlet given he is on four goals and two assists in the league already, especially with Skov Olsen (4G, 1A) and Nilsson (3G, 4A) expected to miss the game. Those three have carried the attack for the most part, but Tzolis has three goals including the winner against Sturm Graz in the last round.
De Cuyper is a talent worth keeping an eye on in the left-back role, while Raphael Onyedika will be in holding midfield (another player linked to Milan in the past). The centre-back pairing should be the very young duo of Jorne Spileers and Joaquin Seys, both 19.
Prediction
Milan should have too much for their opponents on the night, though as Fonseca highlighted in his pre-match comments they do have some attacking weapons to be wary of, meaning falling behind would be dangerous.
Milan 3-1 Club Brugge
We need to grab this one. The further along this group stage goes along, the more teams will close up at the end to protect their points. It’s not as straightforward having the so called easier games at the end. I’d rather us have them at the start. But nevertheless let’s roll!